[drolston]

Or without a spring spreader. With the frame on jack stands and the axle hanging from the spring, put a floor jack under the spring perch (not touching the shackles) and raise it a little to take the pressure off of the shackles; like, with the bolts off you can wiggle them a little. Then knock the shackles off the pins and lower the jack with a jack stand under the banjo. The shackles can go back on the same way. Actually a cheap old screw jack works fine for this. That is all I had when I first started changing out broken axles.