Shackle reinforcement kit - 907120

[jneely]

I have made some progress on disassembly of my new donor car, and found an interesting problem on the rear spring shackles. The rear mounting locations are both fatigued with pound-out of the bushings.

The whole bushing and receiver tube that was originally spot welded on the frame rail panel came out with the shackle.

Interestingly enough, I found reference to a rear shackle reinforcement kit with part no. 907120 in the blue shop manual. I'm curious if anyone has ever seen one, or have reference to it in a service bulletin. I'd like to incorporate any improvement with my eventual repair. I can use thicker metal, but don't want to take up necessary operating clearance for the shackle to articulate, and don't want to create a stress concentration at a different location.

[Thomasso]

Cut out the damaged areas and weld in thicker plates.  Of course all correctly aligned.  securely weld in the bushing sleeves on both sides.  It doesn't look like yours was even welded on the inside.  Although mine were broken loose they were nothing like yours.  Post pictures.

[MarkH]

I've got a fairly good but incomplete collection of Service Bulletins and haven't seen mention of that kit.
It would be nice to find an image or at least a drawing to know what reinforcing they did.

[Aeroman]

Probably 35 years ago or more, John Parker put one of those kits in Old Toby for me. I never saw anything but the bill. Sorry, no pics of the NOS parts.

[jneely]

May I see a photo of the installed setup? -Assuming its visble externally.

Thank you

[Aeroman]

I believe the kit took up the slack were the holes gullied out in the rear mounts. I'll get some pics next time I can get under Old Toby.

[jneely]

Following up for historic purposes - in case someone else is searching for info..

The rear spring perch reinforcement is documented on 1954 Kasier-Willys Service Bulletin, #246. The kit contains simple reinforcement plates that are welded to either side of the 'frame rail,' as well as a new shackle that is 0.50 inch wider on top. I was not able to find anything for the shackle part number - hoping that it may have been adapted for other Willys models over the years.

Without the unique shackle to accommodate wider frame rails, I had to adapt my repair to fit within the existing shackle width. I opted to modify 1.125 inch washers that had an OD just inside the existing recess on the outer frame rail. I welded those to the original bushings that were tack welded in the frame, and provide a larger area, outside the damaged frame rail to weld to. The damage to sheet metal was only one-sided on my car, so this worked for me. YMMV

Photos attached

[RT]

Thank you so much, jneely.
I will have to do that to mine soon.  Always nice to see what the factory had to say about it.

RT

[Thomasso]

I would say that they are or were all bad on all Aeros.  Did my second side recently.  Old eyes, difficult access and difficulty getting a good ground made for an ugly repair.

[jneely]

Yes, the inner right hand side is a bugger to get to, with the spare tire well in the way. And my body is on a rotisserie, such that I can flip it over.

Of the 5 Aeros I've had, only 2 were damaged at rear spring perches, so not all cars have failed..