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Lowering shackles with shackle flip

S

spearchucker

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Just wondering if anyone has used these lowering shackles, or something similar, in conjunction with a shackle flip in order to give you another inch of lift. Would they be stout enough or are they just meant for street use. I would think that it would also rotate the pinion angle up more if one were to need it. Not that I'm going to use them but I've wondered why I haven't heard anyone use them before.
 
i know a few people have used lowering shcakles, i'm not sure on that exact model, i remember someone talking about the one from jcwhitney.com because it has a bar that runs across it. JCWHITNEYIf you search for Tweetysaurus (sorry if spelled wrong) i believe he's running a set of drop shackles. /forums/images/graemlins/waytogo.gif

Nate /forums/images/graemlins/k5.gif
 
I used those in conjunction with a 2.5" shackle flip. I boxed the open side of them first to make them stronger. I have been running them for a couple of years now and they are holding up fine.

Russ
 
they'd be fine, only thing is that they will hurt your shackle angle and as far as articulation goes thats not so good. Won't kill it but won't help anything.
 
I was going to build my own shackle flip using them but opted for one of the first 10 Echobit shackle flips when they first became available.
 
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they'd be fine, only thing is that they will hurt your shackle angle and as far as articulation goes thats not so good. Won't kill it but won't help anything.

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how do they "hurt" the angle?
I run them on my set up and the angle is perfect for what I wanted (it sits at about a 45* angle. I'v even seen stock shackles bend so plating them is required.

Whats the articulation part?
a longer shackle will provide more articulation.
 
with an ORD flip or homegrown shackle flip a longer shackle will create a worse angle.
ordflipmain.jpg

See with the ORD flip the angle is not as good as I think it could be. Its pointed at almost a 90. Adding a longer shackle in this case will do nothing but hurt shackle angle, though it will provide a little more lift. I am going to run lowering shackles on my K5 but using 2wd front mounts off the rear suspension so I will set my own shackle angle. In a case like mine, yes they will help articulation.
 
well mines running 57's and I flipped my ORD brackets from side to side. My front springs have the same angle too.
 
well thats different. ORD flips are set 2" forward of stock shackle location for better shackle angle(yes it does create a better angle though it could yet be better I htink). Flip them around, you gain 2" over stock. Difference with your 57s between them and 52s obviouslly is 5". That 2" makes up 2 of those inches. Add a 2" longer shackle, makes up for more of the 5". Will have a better angle. I'm talking with 52s. With 56s or 57s yes they will help. If you simply moved the ORD flip back 5" and didn't have it flipped around the angle would be worse.
 
My brother has my old 79 and he did the cut through style and his shackle is straight up and down. but I got him interested in putting his 52's up front and putting 57's in the back of his.
 
i seem to always get the tail-end of these longer sping/flip posts so i'm sorry if i'm beating a dead horse (wow, could you imagine...)
anyway, i've been getting a little detail each time about the 57" spring swap (yes i've searched through the forums) and had a couple of questions (still!). /forums/images/graemlins/1zhelp.gif
-does the 57" spring swap move your axle back?
this will mean a longer drive shaft, brake lines? potential fender cutting? shock placement travel issues?
-you guys mentioned using your shackle flips on opposite sides to make up for some of the difference,
a fliped flip right?
- what are my choices of shackles? i'm gonna have to make up the length somewhere right?

i'm pretty stoked on this project, probably more stoked
on the ford tower swap now that i've figured that out, but just the same.
probably the coolest thing here is the innovation i've been exposed to. Where I live you've got jeep people who have had every toy/mod in the book just presented to them (very little homemade stuff), or dudes with huge springs on full sizes for straight muddn'.
any info would be shweet. /forums/images/graemlins/ears.gif
(is that dumbo?)
 
just bolting the 57" fords int he rear of a rig will move the axel forward. you have a couple options for this.
1)drill the spring pack
2) use an off set zero rate
3) turn the fords around..moving the axel farther back into the wheel well.

depending on where it ends up you may need to mod the driveline. moving the axel back to pre flip/pre spring swap would be the cheapest.

unless you move the axel to an extreme new location(like turning the fords around) you won't have to mod the shock mounts or wheel well trimming. if you do move it then you'll have to deal with the driveline, brakelines and shocks.

by moving the flip brackets you move the upper shacklemount to make way for a longer spring wiehter it is 56" chevys or 57" fords or any other choice(63's or dodges/jeep/s10)

shackles.. theres all kinds of choices there. basicly you will need something to allow the spring to flex and shackle angle.

hope this helps.
 
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i know a few people have used lowering shcakles, i'm not sure on that exact model, i remember someone talking about the one from jcwhitney.com because it has a bar that runs across it. JCWHITNEYIf you search for Tweetysaurus (sorry if spelled wrong) i believe he's running a set of drop shackles. /forums/images/graemlins/waytogo.gif

Nate /forums/images/graemlins/k5.gif

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Yup, I am runnin those and I had to use a 8* shim to correct the pinion angle plus I am runnin a CV style shaft in the rear as well. Wheels great for now. But I am in the planning stage of 3 link for the rear.
Bill
 
8* shim? wont increasing your rear shackle increase you pinion angle? /forums/images/graemlins/thinking.gif
 
The flip moves the point 1" forward, so when you turn it around it's a 2" difference. There's more to shackle angles than just droop so you do have to pay attention to laying it down too far. I ran a 55" spring with a flip turned around and could have stood the shackle up a bit more to get more bump travel. That was with a spring designed for about 9" of bump and that's not a number that you're going to get out of a stock type spring.
 
stephen of course makes the good point of more to shackles than just droop, does anyone have that article that was on Echobit? Had a whole article about figuring out the perfect shackle angle, I never saved it and now Echobit is gone.
 
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