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Homemade shackles

Center support pipe would only work with extreme length shackles though. Would recomend latteral support for all longer shackles.
 



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The .250 material will be plenty strong for shackles. A center bolt or cross bar is not needed. In fact, it will slightly hinder flex on off-road trucks, as it forces the twist to occur within the leaf spring instead of letting the shackles do the work.

FYI, I've seen cars and trucks with leaf springs run without shackles at all when the areas have rusted out and the back of the springs poke through the trunk floor. Most of you guys are over-designing -- not a bad idea -- but it just doesn't take that much work to make a pair of shackles. Save your fabrication for something more important like rock sliders. :D
 






I just finished mine up yesterday and am putting the second coat of flat black on today. I used 2"X 1/2 flat bar since we had some laying around on the rack outside the shop. They are 10.25"long with the holes 8.25" center to center. Nothing too special since I am getting a set of 31's. For now I am just going to run the 31's with the small shackle lift and TT
Shackles002.jpg
up front until I have more time/cash flow to go bigger

Shackles005.jpg
 












will this give the 2" lift

the springs are 2.5 wide...figure an extra 1/4 inch for bushings on eash side...(3 inch)and figure on 3/8 plate times two....3/4 so a 4 or a 4and 1/4 bolt with like 1 inch of thread should be good....the stock shackles are 6 inches bolt to bolt....if you want 2 inches of lift out of them they need to be 10 inches...with shackles your actual ride height is 50%of the differnce from stock that you choose...
 






Wow so I figured I would check into this instead of buying the warrior shackles... I didn't want to pay $70 - $80 for shackles that would only give me 1.5" even if they were heavy duty. Called my local metal shop and got a 3/8x2"x4ft piece for 6 bucks!
 






I didn't want to pay $70 - $80 for shackles that would only give me 1.5" even if they were heavy duty.
If lift height correlates to lift cost, then trophy trucks must be a danger to jet liners :).
 






Definitely subscribing to this thread. I am going to make some shackles for my 99 XLT this week at work. Also doing the TT. Should have pics eventually.
 






Just realize that there is a point of diminishing returns when using JUST shackle lifts. After the size shackles shown here, you start to get a LOT of leverage and you also start tipping your pinion upward quite a bit. A couple inches of lift is no biggie, but more than that and you need to figure out a different lift system such as springing over the rear axle (cost to do that is minimal -- if you can weld, you could probably get it done for under $30 not counting the new shocks) which will give you about 5.5 inches of lift without some of the problems inherent in just boosting up the stock pieces.
 












Make a copy from the pictures/drawings earlier & take them to an Engineers or Metal Working/Welding shop, thats all I did, they are only mild steel. :D
 












I will add mine to this thread. I didnt need as much lift as the warriors since I have an add-a-leaf but it has sagged over the years. Made my shackles for a 1" lift so they are about 1" shorter than the warriors.

Cut out of 3/8" plate and then a square tube welded between them

picture.php


picture.php
 






Looking good :thumbsup::australia
 






I didn't even see this till now. I made mine out of 1/4" plate. and I just did a copy of the stock shackles, but made them longer. exact length I never measured. but I can check it easy enough.
DSCN1805.jpg


DSCN1807.jpg


DSCN1808.jpg


they are longer than stock. although my stock ones are rusty and the paint is falling off. they are in good shape.

just wanted an upgrade I guess. and I had the metal to do it.

excellent thread!
 






Picture_0451.jpg

I got some Auto Zone shackles and drilled them out large enough to fit the factory bolts. Then took the smaller bolt that came with the kit and used them as a center brace.

how much lift did the autozone shackles provide you with??
 






Lift 1,5 or 2"

Lift 1,5 or 2"

Hello everyone,

After much reflection and research.
I decided to make the lift on my EXPLORER.
I have the desire to make things simple.
while trying to have efficient.
My intention and gave a little one more cool image of my X. with this tires mounts and rims 16"
http://www.allopneus.com/BRIDGESTONE-DUELER-AT694-265-75r16-112-s-10386.html#performances

http://www.jante-alu.fr/jantes-dotz-hammada-dark-special-suv-4x4-d29482.htm

Do you think I need to install.
of sprockets of rear differential very strong to compensate for assembling the new tires and rims

What do you think of my choice of the following parts to mount a small lift 1.5 or 2 " on my 94 Explorer .
I need something more?, this is sufficient?
All your opinions are appreciated


Do you think I need to install.
of sprockets of rear differential very strong to compensate for assembling the new tires and rims


What do you think of my choice of the following parts to mount a small lift 1.5 or 2 " on my 94 Explorer .
I need something more?, this is sufficient?
All your opinions are appreciated [/B][/COLOR]

This:
rad2A3E7.jpg

Lift Shakles 1.25 Invh Rear 66$

I wonder if these http://www.tellico4x4.com/product_info.php/products_id/6362 were well ok for my project



rad66C2E.jpg

Skyjacker Short Add-A-Leafs 104$


rad6FEC2.jpg

Rear Rancho RS 5000 94$


rad4B08E.jpg

Skyjacker Front Suspension Coil Springs 132X 151$


radBFB08.jpg

Front Rancho RS 5000 88$


If you think I made ​​some mistakes .
It is with great interest. I'll follow your advice
Thank you very much


Or do you think I can do better
 






Here is a set I made a while ago, before finish welding of course.
2011-07-01_09-24-23_563.jpg
 






Would 6mm thick flat bar X 300mm X 75mm wide be strong enough for shackles without a brace in the middle?
 



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6 mm (15/64) x 300 mm (11 13/16) x 75 mm (2 61/64)

should be more than thick, wide and long enough to do what you want to do. Just remember you need four equal length pieces. you need to make sure all the hole are centered to each other.

And it is nice on the longer length shackles a center spacer of some kind, preferably welded to keep the side plates frpm bowing under load.
 






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