You mean for the rear or front?
CK5
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Steering correction and shackle length questions
- Thread starter Babaganoosh
- Start date
You mean for the rear or front?
This guy ^^^
but does that sound about right? Shackle flip rear stock springs with 6" shackles and 4" front lift springs?
Sounds right. That's what I have in mine IIRC. 4" ORD rear shackle flip and their HD shackles, 4" front springs and HD shackles, raised steering arm and it all works together just perfect.
If you are calling ORD for the springs then get their HD shackles for the front too, huge improvement over the thin stock ones. In any case CALL them and talk to them on the phone. They will set you straight with everything you will need to make it right the first time rather than picking stuff here and there off the website and finding out you picked the wrong thing after it's already been shipped.
If you are calling ORD for the springs then get their HD shackles for the front too, huge improvement over the thin stock ones. In any case CALL them and talk to them on the phone. They will set you straight with everything you will need to make it right the first time rather than picking stuff here and there off the website and finding out you picked the wrong thing after it's already been shipped.
Im gonna have ord make up some springs from alcan for the front. Just was having trouble figuring out the whole shackle flip stuff. I dont want zero rates, more chance for wheel hop so i want it as you said, all right the first time. Thanks for the advice guys, great thread babaganoosh! 
I know you've said this before, but I'm still having difficulties understanding your reasoning behind this.
Maybe you could explain this so even I understand
I think the angle would make the suspension softer since the axle get some extra upwards movement "for free"
as the shackle angle increases and moves the spring upwards on compression.
So as I see it, the suspension gets softer and softer until it actually bottoms out, and then it gets really stiff for obvious reasons.
But if properly set up that should never be allowed to happen, just add shackle length or decrease shackle angle some.
Remember that a leaf spring is arched, because of the arch it gets longer or shorter as you apply force to the middle of it. Draw a really happy face on paper, then a really short shackle at one end. If you want the happy face to become a frown can that one end of the spring travel horizontally enough to invert and become a frown? No it can't because the shackle angle and length prevented the spring from getting as long as it needed to, eye to eye.
Change either the length of the shackle OR the angle and the spring can behave differently. Which one you change and why is above my thinking.
Really I understand it best when I quit thinking about a leaf spring moving vertically and think about the shackle end moving horizontally.
Fred_M1010
1/2 ton status
Yes I'm fully aware of that, but I think I expressed myself poorly.
when I wrote that the suspension bottoms out, I meant that the shackle bottoms out against the spring (or the frame if it's the front springs).
But when properly set up that shouldn't be allowed to happen.
And when I say properly set up I don't mean that thery're on a certain angle at ride height, that would just be guessing.
It depends so much on what springs/shackles/etc you're using.
When I calculated the length for my front shackles, I measured the leafs from bolt to bolt along the arc with a tape measure,
and then used that measurement to see how far back the rear spring eye would go when the spring is completely flat.
Then I measured the distance from the shackle hanger mount to that point,
and added distance for the spring eye radius (and in my case a cross brace)
and some margin for deflection in the bushings.
(Not enough though, as I underestimated how soft even polyurethane bushings could be
)In the rear I did the same thing, but since I used the stock shackles,
I measured how far forward I could move the hanger, instead of how long the shackle should be.
If you allow the springs to bend beyond flat, the shackle would turn and go down again, so in that extreme end they would be a little stiffer.
But I think that's just a good thing.
For the same reason a stock front spring would suffer from an increased shackle angle, since they're already flat or even inverted.
But who uses stock springs anyway
