1937 Pontiac Rear spring Shackle replacement. Difficult?

[Guest bofusmosby]

One of many things I will be doing shortly will be replacing the rear leaf-spring shackles. I kind of have a nightmare about the rear end, leaf springs, etc going in different directions. Is this an easily done job? I am assuming that I first jack up the rear end, and insert jack-stands. I am assuming that these should NOT be put under the rear axil, but somewhere else. Then, I will used the jack and I guess jack the rear end up to the point to take the pressure off the springs and shackles. Am I missing something here? Any do's and don'ts I need to know?

Thank you in advance for you answers.

[aussiecowboy]

Shackles are dead easy. As you suggest, jack the car up and place stands under chassis rails. Use the jack under the differential to take pressure off the spring, undo the shackle and slide out. You'll probably need to adjust the jack up and down a little to find the sweet spot. Are you replacing the shackles or just the bushes?

[Rusty_OToole]

You need a jack or jack stands supporting the rear axle. It should be adjustable like a scissor jack. You want to take the weight off the shackle but not have the jack lifting it up or weight bearing it down if this makes sense. If the shackle comes out great, but usually they don't. The quick method is to cut them loose with a Sawzall. Are they rubber or metal? I suspect metal bushings on a 37. You will have to use your own judgement. They are usually a tough thing to remove. They rust up and grow together over the years.

[Guest bofusmosby]

Thanks guys. These are metal, not rubber. Under the car things don't look that bad, so I am in hopes that this will not be a major job. I got an estimate of $140 from a local shop, and because of the price, I will be doing these myself. The front ones still look OK, so all I will be replacing are the rear ones. Actually, one of the rear ones looks pretty good as well, so if the bad one turns out to be a real pain, I'll leave the other one, and only replace it if it starts to go bad.