Diy4x shackle flip length

[skyhigh4by]

I'm lowering my truck a some and trying to fix angles at the same time. First I had 8" lift which I got by an ez inch and 6" shackles. I shortened them to 4.5" for a while but now I want to go even lower. Would like to get down around 5.5"-6" overall height so my question is... How short of a shackle can I run before it starts having negative drive ability effects? Can I run a 3" or even shorter shackle?

 

[wetoolowdingbangow]

I'm lowering my truck a some and trying to fix angles at the same time. First I had 8" lift which I got by an ez inch and 6" shackles. I shortened them to 4.5" for a while but now I want to go even lower. Would like to get down around 5.5"-6" overall height so my question is... How short of a shackle can I run before it starts having negative drive ability effects? Can I run a 3" or even shorter shackle?

The shackle is sort of secondary to the springs. If you have 4 inch lift springs and you want a 5 inch lift it aint gonna happen. Im not sure what springs your running but you may need to change those out. I have about a 5-6 inch lift with 56s, shackle flip and 6 inch shackles on an ez inch. My front are 47" leaf springs which i think are 4 inch lift springs with an ez inch.

I think anything shorter than a 4inch shackle and youll be having interference problems. Another thing to think about is pinion angle...


White ones mine...

 

[skyhigh4by]

I have stock 56" leafs with an ez inch and the diy4x flip. With 4.5" shackles the rear sits about 1" lower than the front 8" lift springs. I have 6° shims going backwards to tilt pinion down but it's still up too much have terrible vibration and 50mph. I want to go even lower because I will be lowering the front an inch or 2 as well and want to rotate pinion down more at the same time

 

[wetoolowdingbangow]

I have stock 56" leafs with an ez inch and the diy4x flip. With 4.5" shackles the rear sits about 1" lower than the front 8" lift springs. I have 6° shims going backwards to tilt pinion down but it's still up too much have terrible vibration and 50mph. I want to go even lower because I will be lowering the front an inch or 2 as well and want to rotate pinion down more at the same time

Ok the rear is good then. What i did was pull the 3rd main leaf and the 4th and put the spring pack back together. Thats how mine is so low.

Are you using a CV driveshaft? You need to be in the 4 inch lift zone for double joint driveshafts. As soon as i got over 4 i had to buy a new driveshaft.


As for the front you definitely have to get rid of those springs. Or at least take some springs out but it may be weird to drive real soft unless your looking for flex...

 

[skyhigh4by]

Stock driveshaft that's lengthened a little. I'm the front I was planing to pull one leaf out and see where that got me. They are BDS springs they're already pretty soft but drive good so it will just be trial and error to see what I like and how low I can get on those springs. After that I'll just tailor the rear to level. If I only get down to 6.5" or 7" then I'll just live with it. Main thing I want to try to get the pinion rolled back down a bit closer to the tcase output. I have 1" tcase drop as well and they're still way apart on angle

 

[skyhigh4by]

The pinion is pointed up 14° and the tcase is pointed down 7°. Thats after the 6° reversed shims and 1" tcase drop. Not really sure how else to get them lined up. The vibration is terrible and its most noticeable at the speed Of my local highway. 50mph

I have 56" springs and right now the hangers are bolted in position for 56" springs, the shackle is basically vertical and even with a couple thousand pounds in the box it still doesn't flatten out much even when I was using 6" shackles(really stiff springs). I have read a little bit about switching the hangers around so they are setup for 52" springs thus creating much more shackle angle. In my head I feel like doing this could 1. get me more shackle angle 2. allow me to run a shackle of at least 4" length without getting lift out of it and 3. the increased shackle angle would actually raise the rear of the springs thus rolling the pinion down and fixing some of the pinion angle issue.

Am I completely out to lunch or does this make sense to anyone?

 

[cybrfire]

Where is your EZ inch, in the front or rear?

Minimum I'd try with the shackle length in the rear is 4" and you might get a little "buck" out of that.

Your best bet for optimizing your driveshaft angles is one of two things.

The money way, swap to a CV type driveshaft and point the pinion back up at the tcase.

The labor way, cut and reweld the perches.

The CV type driveshaft is usually the better way to go.

 

[skyhigh4by]

Where is your EZ inch, in the front or rear?

Minimum I'd try with the shackle length in the rear is 4" and you might get a little "buck" out of that.

Your best bet for optimizing your driveshaft angles is one of two things.

The money way, swap to a CV type driveshaft and point the pinion back up at the tcase.

The labor way, cut and reweld the perches.

The CV type driveshaft is usually the better way to go.

EZ inch is in the rear mostly just to move the axle back due to the flip swinging it forward.

Ive been considering moving the perches. Custom work like a cv shaft would cost an arm, a leg, and my first 3 born around here.

What do you mean by "buck" like wheel hop? With the original 6" and now with the 4.5" I have to really be careful how I let the clutch out or I get some serious hopping going on that makes the entire truck shudder.

 

[cybrfire]

EZ inch is in the rear mostly just to move the axle back due to the flip swinging it forward.

Ive been considering moving the perches. Custom work like a cv shaft would cost an arm, a leg, and my first 3 born around here.

What do you mean by "buck" like wheel hop? With the original 6" and now with the 4.5" I have to really be careful how I let the clutch out or I get some serious hopping going on that makes the entire truck shudder.

When you compress the spring, it needs to grow in length as it flattens out. The shackle provides this room for growth. When it is to short, it'll be "like" bottoming out on a bumpstop but not quite the same feel. I call it a "buck."

 

[wetoolowdingbangow]

When you compress the spring, it needs to grow in length as it flattens out. The shackle provides this room for growth. When it is to short, it'll be "like" bottoming out on a bumpstop but not quite the same feel. I call it a "buck."

I was just going to say the same thing. It definitely feels like a sharp buck because the spring has no where to go.

Skyhigh the bucking you're feeling is called spring wrap, very common with lift springs and no anti wrap bar.

 

[skyhigh4by]

I was just going to say the same thing. It definitely feels like a sharp buck because the spring has no where to go.

Skyhigh the bucking you're feeling is called spring wrap, very common with lift springs and no anti wrap bar.

I know what spring wrap is. Pretty sure I shouldn't have wrap with stock height 1 ton springs. Don't have the packs right in front of me to count but I think theres 10 or 11 springs plus the overload. They shouldn't wrap at all. They don't even compress much with a full load of gravel in the bed.