Replacing spring shackles with hassler shocks

[Terry_007]

Sometime this coming winter I'm going to install the correct spring shackles on my 14 wide-track touring. The shackles on it are fine, just want them to be correct. My car is equipped with a nice set of Hassler shocks and I like them so plan on keeping them. Looking at making a spring spreader but am wondering if I'll need to remove the Hassler shocks in order to do this. Willing to learn from anyone who has had experience replacing shackles on a car with Hasslers on it. Thanks,
Terry

[KeithG]

Hi Terry, Yes, you'll need to remove the Hasslers to make this spring shackle change as the Hasslers have a quite strong spring tension on them. Lang's and probably the other vendors have a special tool for compressing and then removing the Hassler springs. I used this tool when rebuilding the front end on my '14 and it works pretty good.

When doing this, carefully check the main Hassler bolts for wear, as they wear significantly from all that spring tension. When I did mine, I was able to buy new Hassler main bolts from Jack Daron, but unfortunately he passed away a couple of years ago and I don't know if those bolts are still available.

Keith

[Terry_007]

Will I need to completely remove them, or just loosen them?
Terry

[KeithG]

You might as well remove them since you'll want to check on the Hassler main bolt for wear. You'll have to relieve the tension on the Hasslers anyway & the rest is easy.

Keith

[Terry_007]

Thanks. Will take some photos and post here when finished. Probably not going to be a project until after Hershey though.
Terry