Shackle angle Q -- position finalized

[thedrip]

First.. guess I decided to have a little garage day all by myself after work this evening. I get lots done at night when the little lady works a closing shift (dont see her until 10pm).

Started off by dropping the old rear axle & springs. Then I fired up the torch. 26 rivets and one BFH later (5 on the other side) I got all the brackets on the drivers side off. Decided to mock up where I've been planning to put the new hangers. Front is just where I wanted it, except there will be a 1" spacer added between the frame rail and lower bracket, this will lower the whole bracket 1", lining up the top of the bracket with the top of the frame.

I'm thinking I need to move the rear hanger forward a little bit for more angle. Springs are chevy 56", long side forward. no weight on spring (obviously), also no hanging weight other than the spring itself. 6" shackle. This is making me consider not finalizing the rear hanger position until MUCH later on in the build process when I can mock it up with weight on it.


New rear suspension mocked up on the drivers side. Axle location ended up right where I where I wanted it (right where it was before).

Front hanger. Moved forward 4" from existing location. Conveniently there were 2 holes, both 4" forward of existing holes to attach the lower bracket to. This is where the 1" spacer will be, between the bottom of the frame, and the lower bracket.

Frame is not sitting level in this picture. Shackle angle is almost perfectly vertical. Mount point for the top of the shackle is moved forward approx 1" from stock.

Tilted camera to picture as if the frame was level. I think the hanger needs to move forward another inch at least.

 

[sled_dog]

looks close to right to me. What kind of weight will be on it? Full bed or flatbed, or no bed? Maybe just a little more angle if its not going to be too heavy of a rig. I'd say if you plan to mount those brackets like that, you better plan on adding some more support. Going to be relying on shear strength of bolts in that setup.

 

[thedrip]

There will be more brackets. Thats held on by 1 bolt and a c-clamp right now. It barely supports the weight of the leaf spring (my c-clamp is bent, doesn't clamp so good no more). Weight on the truck will be a flatbed (a real short one, less than 48" long), but I like to carry a good variety of tools and spares, and the spare tire ain't gunna be too light either. Dunno what it'll be yet, but I'm building around a set of worn out 42" tsls I have here.

 

[Citizen Rider]

Id tack them on, then wait till you got most of the weight on top, that way you dont think you got it right, and end up being totally off

 

[thedrip]

Heres another setup.. rear hanger is about 1" forward of where it was. I also tried rotating the hanger some, to come up with a square line at the back where I'll be cutting the frame. This puts the shackle about where it would be with an off the shelf shackle flip.

 

[Greg72]

Take your best guess and throw a couple temporary bolts in that bracket to hold it..... you are right that there's no way to set your shackle angle until the spring has the correct amount of weight on it.

 

[jones]

Trazer build?I'm doing the same thing and am roughly at the same point.weren't you going to paint the frame and everything?Can you bolt your axel/tires onand drop it to the floor to at least get some weight on it.that might help you a little bit.take into consideration the weight of the materials that you'll be using for the bed.I'll be using 3"x4" aluminum tube for the frame itself.maybe 150-200#@most which I don't think it would have much of an effect on shackle angle.keep with the pics, though.solve the issues before I get to them

 

[thedrip]

Yes, trazer build. I've been trying to get as many of my chassis holes drilled as possible before painting. I sat on the frame rail and jacked the spring with a floor jack (it's a trick, try it sometime). Shackle angle looked almost good enough then. I think I'll plan on the shackle mount being directly below the front mounting holes for the stock bracket. Looks like thats where the available shackle flips put it. maybe a hair forward of that.

 

[thedrip]

Took another whack at it tonight. Another trail ride as a passenger inspired me to get at least an hour of work done tonight. Finalized the rear shackle hanger (on both sides!). I made a template of the holes I drilled on one side, to make the other side match (using the old shackle hanger holes as reference points). This picture is with a 2x4 clamped to the spring to make it flat. This is the flattest the shackle will ever get, and ride height will have a little less angle than this. I also stood on the leafspring (its a single leaf only) to get as much spring droop as possible, and the shackle was not quite vertical. I'm happy with the angles. Yes I will be bracing it further.