For those of you with $20 shackles...

[98EBinMO]

Howdy,

Quick question- I have read until my eyes hurt about shackles- Warrior and otherwise... I bought a set of the AZ $17 two peice shackles- I am not worried about putting them on- it looks like a pretty straight forward process...

So my question is: I am wondering how they have held up over the years, and those of you that welded something between them- where did you weld it, and how has it worked? (did the welds hold, etc...)

I am going to put them on this week, and am going to weld a support while they are on the rig (any problems this will cause???...

ANY REPLIES ARE WELCOMED!!!

THANKS-

P.S. I was going to order the Warriors, but they are on two week backorder through Tellico ($66 w/shipping)... (and I think everywhere else...)

 

[Jason_25]

I am running them and have offroaded them many times. Once, I even dropped them onto a large rock with no damage. Although I do think that I probably should have gotten the warriors though for that extra margin of safety.

 

[Robert]

I had the Autozone shackles for the first two years, the first year of which I had a 1/4" plate welded between the two shackles. For some reason that I can't remember, I had the center plate cut off and drove it for a year that way. They never gave me any problems and held up well through some pretty rough stuff. When I put my body lift on, the Autozone shackles looked pretty bad (cheap) so I put the Warrior shackles on.

 

[98EBinMO]

Thanks...

I guess I will try them... I just wanted some input from someone else to help ease my worry-

Thanks for the input...

 

[toad]

If you weld them on the truck, disconnect the battery or unplug the computer or you will fry it.

 

[Fusion213]

I have a piece of square tubing welded between two bars(1/2" steel) and it's help up well... blew up some concrete once when coming down too hard

 

[98EBinMO]

Shackles hitting hitch?

Hey,

Thanks for all the replies- this board is GREAT!!!

It really makes me much happier to be an Explorer owner!!!

Anyway, I crawled under my rig last night (98 E.B.) and held the AZ shackles up to see if they would hit anything... it looks like the pass. side one will be VERY close to the hitch- I'm afraid its gonna tear something up if I put it on...

Question: I'm not sure how leaf springs move when they are compressed... do they move backward (ever?)

I have a feeling I'm gonna be cutting the ear off my hitch to get them to clear...

Any Ideas???

Thanks for any and all responses!!!!

 

[rhyno]

I thought the same thing before installing the shackles, but they do not hit. They will be the same distance from the hitch as your stock shackles.

 

[98EBinMO]

I guess I'll try them tonight...

rhyno- I was wondering about that... I'll put them on tonight, and see how it works

THANKS!!!

 

[ExplorGM]

Cheap Shackles

Mine have held up for about 5 years now. They have taken some pretty good impacts also. I left the stock shackles on to provide support also.
On the other hand, if I was not so cheap I would get something like the Warriors ... I have Con-Ferr JP Gold Anodized lift shackles on my trailer and they look great.