Front Springs, Shackle Location

[Boonie Buster]

Ok, So looking at the Barbie Jeep build of NotMatt's, got me thinking, He put the shackles to the front (of the vehicle) and not to the back (rear of vehicle) end of the spring. What are some advantages/disadvantages to it?

I feel for a rig like mine it would get my springs lower and more level. So I could see that being an advantage, also the swing radius of the axle drooping would benefit driveline stretch.

A disadvantage I could see would be, them trying to unload i guess when coming up against a stump or large obstacle, and raising the front end up unneccasarily... or just generally getting hung up and hitting on things...maybe...

Anything else? Any dislikes/likes to that style? I know that almost all jeeps do it that way... and most trucks are the other way...:eeek:

 

[NotMatt]

The only reason I didn't do shackle reversal was because Johnathan said he'd murder a puppy if I did. :redneck:

 

[Boonie Buster]

The only reason I didn't do shackle reversal was because Johnathan said he'd murder a puppy if I did. :redneck:

Oh....so you're a follower eh?! :fawkdancesmiley::haha: If he told you to build a jeep would you......of wait.....:eeek: :redneck:

I think he might have already murdered said puppy....the damage has been done...:booo:

 

[pokey]

The reason the factory did it on older jeeps was to improve ride characteristics. The biggest down side to having the shackles in the front on a wheeling rig is that when you bump your tires into a obstacle they want to go up and forward thus pushing the rig back to a point. With the shackle reversed the axle wants to go up and back therefore allowing easier forward momentum. The downside to a reversal and one that is easily cured is that the driveline moves back when bumping into something. I have seen several transfercases destroyed because the builder didn't alter the driveline to account for this.

 

[BeatCJ]

Shackle reversal is pretty common on Jeeps. They tend to ride and handle better on the street with the shackles at the rear of the springs, except under hard braking the nose tends to dive. If you expect it, you can deal with it just fine. It tends to reduce bump steer and wandering. Like you said, you can have problems with the driveshaft length, and the stuffed tire move back into the fenderwell. Also, when stuffing a tire, it moves away from the obstacle, reducing traction.

Shackle at the front end of the spring, when the tire stuffs, it moves ahead on the wheelbase, helps traction. For me, the pros and cons made me just decide to leave it alone. I don't think I would mess with it, on a leaf spring vehicle. If it's an issue, I would suspect you would get more bang for the buck spending your time and money on links and coils.

 

[Murkman]

I have two nearly identical flatfenders. One has shackles in the stock configuration. The other is reverse shackle. Both are spring under.

Hands down the flattie with reverse shackle flat out handles the the flattie with the stock shackle location.

Trail ride, FS road ride, and street ability are the biggest advantages. The flattie with reverse seems to keep the tires on the ground better. It just seems to be able to better conform to the trail contours.

When the shackle was reversed we lengthened the frame 3" (forward) to compensate for the tires rebounding into the fenders. I aslo used a longer spline when the driveline was built.

I also have a yj with reverse shackle. Spring over. The same considerations were made when it was built. The same results are observed as with the reverse shackle flattie.

Make a note that to obtain postive results you must do this work as a well coordinated properly planned job. To merely move the shacle from its stock location to the rear would not do you well.

My vote would be for a shackle reversal.

 

[WHITE TRASH1]

If you can get the leafs eye's mounted near flat from end to end you'll get better results no matter where teh shackles are. For me I run them in the rear of the spring. I mounted the shackle tube high up in the frame so I get the natural arc of a long shackle without having it hang so far below the frame. This also allowed me to have a short front hanger and the nose pick is mounted to the hanger directly so I can slide right up rocks and downed tree's with ease while a front shackled rig has to figure out their own way to do it.

The thing that kills me is when people mount the shackles under the frame so the spring eye's are anywhere from 6-10" difference in height front to back. That makes the tire swing back and forward under compression and droop rather than nearly straight up and down on a rig with a flat spring.

 

[Cascade_Crawler]

Lincolnlock, redbeard, and I have driven a lot of fubar obstacles on leafs, with shackles in the front. It works, period. I tried the shackle reversal for awhile, it does not climb as well. Yes it drove nice, but who cares when you have to run a long slip driveshaft and your front axle wants to wonder when you put the front end in a bind?