help me with my shackle problem

[vinny d]

i have a 94 ex stock my shackles rusted through i was wondeing what would be the better way 2 go should i just replace my shackles with stock ones or should i go with the war 153 shackles and if so what else would i have 2 do with them any input is good

 

[Slowlyvverot]

you could go with the warriors, which are beefy will apparently never break. or you could spend about 20 bucks on a set of autozone shackles, which are much less beefy. but ive never heard of anyone having problems with them. or you could try and find a set of stock shackles from a junkyard. not sure what you'd pay for them. it's your call but i think money is the only deciding factor.

 

[vinny d]

thanx man yea money is a factor but the long run is a factor 2 eventually i would like a 3 inch BL if i went with the warriors would i have 2 do anything else with the suspension thanx nd happy holidays

 

[manaen]

You are probably going to have fun getting those bolts out of the leaf packs. Extensive heat cannot be used in this situation due to the rubber bushings. What I found that worked was an air hammer to break the bolt loose and push it through. But it took me a long time to get it moving. Make sure you soak it really well with PB Blaster (or whatever creeper oil you use) a day or so before working on it.

 

[little x]

You won't need to do anything else suspension wise. I'd go with the warrior's if you have the $. If not, the auto zone shackles should hold up just fine.

 

[grant00]

I'd say the warriors but the'yre going to look goofy if you do'nt have the body lift or anything else on. I only have the body lift and the shackles. I haven't touched the torsion bars yet but my X sits with teh front end just a tad lower than the rear. Im going to get some torsion keys soon once i get the money so i dont have to stiffen up the torsion bars by cranking the bolts.

 

[Anime]

IF you get the warrior WAR153 shackles, you WILL need to lift the front end with either the F-150 spring spacers or some other kind of spacer (or 2 inch lift springs).

If you don't lift the front, the left side sag caused by the gas tank WILL cause the front end to lean to the left and WILL wear the outside of the front left tire down REALLY fast.

Don't ask me how I know.

I would just get stock replacement or aftermarket replacements if you don't want a suspension lift. Otherwise, the shackle/spacer lift is pretty inexpensive, and a good cheap way to get larger tires on there along with a body lift.

 

[grant00]

oops didnt even notice you had a '94. sorry about that. just scratch all I said about torsion bars hahahaha

 

[nitro71]

I just ran the War 153 shackles on the rear for quite some time. Made the rear stick up just a bit. Looked better than sagging. Unless you are going to put 2" suspension springs on the front run stock shackles.

 

[matts91XLT]

do the auto zone shackles give u the same lift (if any) as the warrior shackles??

 

[Anime]

Most replacement shackles sold at auto parts stores are "adjustable" in that they have multiple holes for height adjustment, mostly to fit a variety of vehicles with different stock length shackles. Of course, this can be used to lift a vehicle with shorter shackles by using the longer length of the shackles.

The autozone shackles can give you some lift, maybe even more than the warriors, but they aren't the same thick steel or heavy duty welded construction. They are fine as a stock replacement, though, and a much better option than riding on unsafe rusted out shackles that could fail any time soon.

 

[SwaintaN]

yeah them rear shackles can be a pita, if your looking for the war shackles, there is some on ebay, not listed as war shackles but your gonna havta paint em, the way they send em... rust quickly, i need to resand and paint mine.

here are pics of just have on the shackles. and some of the crap i went through, all mine did was level it out with the front, that is how bad my sag was tho.

Ive heard bad things about them adjustables from the auto stores, a few people near me had em, bent very easily when hitting a pot hole.

 

[Blue_93]

IF you get the warrior WAR153 shackles, you WILL need to lift the front end with either the F-150 spring spacers or some other kind of spacer (or 2 inch lift springs).

If you don't lift the front, the left side sag caused by the gas tank WILL cause the front end to lean to the left and WILL wear the outside of the front left tire down REALLY fast.

Is this true? Because I would like to get the warrior shackles but I don't want to lift the front. I just want to fix the sag of my rear end.

 

[SwaintaN]

while mine was just war shackles on the back, no lift in front, it did not do that to mine, mine actually didnt get the lean til the full blow RC 4" lift kit was put on

 

[manaen]

Is this true? Because I would like to get the warrior shackles but I don't want to lift the front. I just want to fix the sag of my rear end.

you don't need to, but the rear will not be even with the front, you will have a raked look. You may like this, and depending how bad your rear leaf's are it may not be that drastic.

 

[Blue_93]

OK, Thanks for the info guys. I kinda like the hot rod look that I might get but I think it's bad enough that it won't be that jacked up like you said. My leafs bearly have any curve left in them.

 

[Anime]

An interesting option to the WAR153's, if you just want to fix the sag, but don't want any additional lift, is a leaf spring swap from side to side and WAR123 shackles.

I've done this and actually have about 1/4" of lift in the rear over stock.

You can just put on the shackles without swapping springs but then you still get the right rear sitting high and the left front tire will wear faster on the outside due to the change in corner weighting.

The only caveat is the WAR123 shackles come drilled with 1/2" holes and 1/2" bolts. You'll need to enlarge the holes with a 9/16" drill bit and get the right length 9/16" grade 8 bolts or 14mm grade 8.8 metric bolts and metal locking nuts.

It's more hassle, but it's the best of both worlds, the strength of Warrior shackles and in the right size to deal with the spring sag.