Shackle Reversal

I took mine off too. It's strictly a trail Jeep that never sees high sppeds.
I am considering the shackle reversal though. Really, the only reason I want it is to be able to get over rocks easier.

 

I think it is more driver than anything else.

 

There's no doubt about that, but it's happened to me a couple of times; I couldn't get over a small boulder, kept hitting the shackle. With just the spring perch up front I think I would've been able to get my tire up on the rock.

I run 32" tires, small for rockcrawling type trails, so I'm looking to pick up inches wherever I can.

 

"Really, the only reason I want it is to be able to get over rocks easier."


So, just how big are the rocks in Kansas? Hee Hee Hee!

 

I added it and immediately experienced a huge difference in stability and steering on the road. Off road I didn't see any difference other than the increased clearance resulting from not having the shackle sticking out below the bumper. However, I think that a great deal of the steering improvement was due to the improved caster angle. The ride was slightly better as well, but not nearly as noticable.

 

I have seen a lot of rigs with shackle reversal and a lot with out. If you just want to get over rocks easier I would sugest it. It seams to be easier to bump over rocks. A cheap solution to the front driveshaft is to make a square one with reciever square stock. My budy has one on his yj and the thing works great has 18 inches of slipR) Best part of all is it only cost him 20 bucks for the two sizes of square stock and a case of beer to have the ends welded on.

 

I've built Jeeps both ways and if you're not concerned about on-road handling, ride-quality or high-speed off-road performance, I wouldn't recommend doing a shackle reversal. Jeeps actually climb better with the shackles in front because the front axle can pull the vehicle up/forward from the rear spring hanger. Compare that to a Jeep with a shackle reversal where the axle is pulling on the shackles. The front half of the springs compress as the shackles get pulled forward and the whole front end can start to lift and lose traction. Practically speaking, I don't think it's really that big of a deal and there are positives/negatives both ways. I just wanted to point out one potential 'disadvantage'.

 

Cool. it's alway good to get different points of view.

 

When you reverse shackle, don't you have to make your front spring hanger quite tall to keep the spring at the right position? That is if you are using the same spring just reversing the shackle end. In this case I don't see any extra "rock" clearance.
I was just thinking of doing it for street driveability, but I have found out my driveability problem was a detroit locker in the rear end, removed that and it drives like a dream, now I have to spend the bucks for the selectable locker and I will have the best of both worlds, street/off-road.

 

Yes, you do need to drop the spring hangers down a bit. This is what I did on our CJ7.



You could keep the main spring hanger tucked up pretty close to the bumper if you cut and re-welded your spring perches on the axle to compensate for the different angle, but the 'stock' geometry seems to work pretty well. There's not much of a gain in the approach angle compared to stock-length shackles, but spring hangers welded to the frame also aren't going to transfer impacts to the leafsprings, which can cause them to bend and break.

GPin-
You want to sell that Detroit?

 

Hey Jesse at TLT, I don't know how old that picture of your Jeep is, but the u bolt on the drivers side next to the pumpkin looks loose. At least it looks like daylight showing at the bottom.

 

I find it very interesting that your detroit caused street drivability issues. Are you just talking about the noise and banging while turning? Or did you have a pull or something going down the highway?

 

Thanks, but it was never driven like that. I just had a hard time locating one of the factory Ford U-bolt plates to saddle the webbing on that D60.

 

Now I'm confused. Why would you need to lengthen the front spring hanger? Are you saying that the springs are not symmetrical? Can you just switch the direction of the springs?

 

Some people choose to make the front spring hanger taller, or mount the spring farther away from the frame in an attempt to correct castor angles due to the length of the shackle.

 

I did not like the feeling on the street of the locker locking and unlocking while going into corners. It would push while locked and when it unlocked it would drive the inside tire around the corner and actually want to speed the jeep up. Just doesn't feel right. Too unpredictable, so now open I can actually relax while driving, straight or around corners. I think a spool would be more predictable to drive than something that automatically locks and unlocks. My jeep came with a trac-loc posi and it drove good on the street also.

 

I gained several inch's, maybe 5, with my new front spring mounts. I did have the spring perch's cut off my front axle so I could reset my castor anyhow.

 

Well. the bolt through my front mount is about an inch lower than the hole on my original shackle mounts. Then the shackle hung down about 4 inch's. So I am just estimating I gained that much. Probably closer to 3-4 now that I am figuring it in my head. Darn 3rd grade math fails me again!

 

If you go from 4" shackles to 6" shackles, you really only add about 1" of lift, so I would guess that you didn't gain quite that much.