Is this good or bad? strange shackle...

Here are some pics of my front shackles. They are long C shaped metal pieces welded to the frame. I removed the center support to install a power steering pump and should be welding on a new one. Anyhow, my question is what the heck are these things. I am new to the jeep stuff. Is this a reverse shackle or just a homemade shackle. What would you do if you were me? Would you remove this, keep it, or add to it. Your suggestions are very helpful. Thanks!

 

Looks to me like frame drops or whatever they are called since you have a reverse shackel setup, basicly a homebrewed lift. I would get rid of them since they look like they are going to cause all kinds of frame flex.

 

What could I do to replace them? To get the same lift it has now. I am not sure what to do with it.

 

Does it drive ok? The shackles in the back looks ok. Just like the old military setup. But the front looks really down too far. I would think it would really affect caster. :?

 

It drives all over the road, worse than typical. I am not sure what to do if I remove these? Is it as simple as getting a new reverse shackle kit? Or just new Shackles all around. I am up for anything.

 

If it drives or wanders all over the road, like said the setup probably affected the castor really bad. If the shackles look to be ridgid enough which in the picture they don't, you could leave them or have something fabricated that is a little beefier and use them. The castor can be checked and then corrected with shims. The castor should be somewhere between 3-6° with 4-5° beeing more the norm. How thick is the material that the front setup is made from and how long are they actually?

 

I think there is some room for improvement there. I would make some adjustments to get the castor set right. To do that you could just move the springs higher in the front mounts until the castor angle is correct. An angle gauge is available at places like menards. Just take degree measurements off of the bottom ball joint. Also moving the spring further up in that mount would take some of the leverage off of it. I also think some gusseting of some sort would be good. I think they could also be made to look a little prettier.

Or... you could buy a set of replacement mounts and put it all back to stock.

 

The drop at the front looks consistent with most shackle reversals. I would have the castor checked at a competent front end shop and see how far and which way the angle needs to go. IMHO the shackles on the rev look a little short to me. You can buy a shackle rev kit from MORE. The homemade brackets you have don't appear to be very well engineered for the amount of stress they take. Typically the front mounts have a piece of tubing welded between them for rigidity.

 

I think most of the guys hit it on the head. Caster is most likely the cuplrit. I'd start with some longer shackles on the front. Flex out the Jeep and then check the bottom of the frame right behind those shackles. I'd be the spring pack is hitting the frame when the springs compress. That can also give you some handling feedback. Longer shackles will give you a bit more caster and keep the springs out of the frame. The downside is you'll get a little more lift.

If the added lift bothers you I'd redrill the forward spring mount holes a little higher to lower the Jeep back down. This will also give you back some caster. The you can fine tune it with some spring shims to get the caster in the 4-5 degree range (where the bottom kingpin/balljoint is in front of the top) like Mcruff said. I'd bet you're running close to 0-degrees caster.

You should also weld that reinforcement between the front spring hangers. I'd use a piece of 0.120-wall 1-3/4 tubing at the least.

Don't forget when you're chasing down your handling gremlins to check the conventional stuff like tie rod ends, steering linkages, bearings, ball joints or kingpins, tire balance, etc.

<edit> just noticed your steering box mount and box are kinda rigged with washers/spacers. Make sure your box isn't moving around on you.