shackles wont pivot

[Travis Stevens]

ok so i ordered some AALs and i was looking at my shackles and i noticed that they were oddly stiff as in they werent attached to the leaf spring but they dont pivot freely and they are in this position (drivers side view: \ ) when i push on them in this direction <--- they are very stiff and only move an inch or so and then snap back right to where they were before i moved them... any ideas what i can do to free them up?

 

[Mark k 4]

ive seen guys use the stock bottle jack to push it down away from the frame

 

[Jerry Gerner 2]

Mark, he's already installed them. Travis, it sounds like the shackle bolt has started to seize to the bushing sleeve. I had this happen with my old set and didn't know until after I was rearended and had to replace the leafsprings, shackles, frame/ shackle bushings. You can try drowning the sleeve/ bushings with PB Blaster and or drill a small hole into the leafsprings' eyelet loops, install a grease zurk fitting and try to pump grease into the sleeve. Worst case scenerio is that you have to cut the shackle bolts off to salvage the shackles and replace the leafspring bushings. Good luck on this man. I still have my old set of leafsprings with the shackle bolts still seized inside of them.