Length of shackle....???

[greengoose]

I am going to try the torsion twist / Shackle lift. I called desertrat.com for the Warrior Shackles and they said they were only 1 1/4" . An earlier post talked about some Auto zone 2" shackles @ $11 each. Which one is better? 2" or 1 1/4" (which is supposed to be stronger.)
I would like to go with the Warrior but I thought the extra 3/4" is better.
-Bryan

 

[leebo]

Bryan......Go with the warrior. I've seen both the shackles and I didn't like how the cheaper ones looked. The warrior's are way beefed up compared to both the stock ones as well as the cheaper ones. I ordered my shackles from 4wheelparts here in town for around 50 and it took about 3 days to get them from Warrior. If you need any help with the lift give me a yell, I've never done the t.t. and I'd like to see how it's done.

 

[Tito_146]

I just did the TT on my 96 and the front is now standing higher than the rear. Went to auto zone for the shackles and didn't like them. They look too week for a heavy vehicle like the explorer. I would like to see the Warriors. If they are better I'll get them. May be I'll combine them with an add-a-leaf.

The torsion twist is really easy to do. A good advice is also since you are going to be working there, replace the torsion adjusters. This will eliminate any noise in the front end you might have.

 

[greengoose]

I ordered my shackles on Friday. They said that there were only one set of shackles available and that they were only 1 1/4" longer than stock.

I read about it creating a 1.5-2.0" lift....????

Does the shackles cause the springs to flex more than 1 1/4" thus giving a 1.5-2.0" lift total???

-Bryan

 

[swak6287]

i just got mine installed. did the TT too. i got total 34 inches in the front and 33 1/2 at the rear..from ground to top of wheel.

 

[greengoose]

swak6287,
I assume you meant "top of wheel well"....Do you have any pictures? How happy are you with the results?
-Bryan

 

[swak6287]

i am very happy with the result. and i am onllly running 235/70/15 tires. i uses rancho 5000. cornering is great. only complain is it is a little vibraty.

 

[skender]

Warrior Shackle lift

When I put my shackles on I compared my before and after measurements and I got a 1 and 7/8 inches of lift. I then did a 1.25 " TT in the front and did the measuring all over. I was shocked to see that I lost almost .5" inches of rear lift after the TT. I then put on my adjustable Hellwig leaf healpers and tweaked with them a bit to get back .25 in the rear. for a total of approximately 1.75 " of rear lift to 1.25 in the front. Thinking about it after it made sense. Twisting up the torion bars puts more load on the rear leaf pack. In effect pushing your rear end down ( Heh... rear end down...). Everyones leaf pack is different... not to mention eplporer come with varying length stock shackles. These are all reasons why people who do the shackle/TT report different results. Worrior puts 1.25 " of lift on their packaging. I would have had 1.5 without the leaf helpers. Some have reported lifts of up to 2" in the rear. At any rate Shackle/TT's are like a box of chocolate, ya never know how much lift your actually gonna get....

 

[redexplr]

hey green goose did you ever end up putting the shackles on?? It seems everyoen gets a little bit different results, myself i go about 1 3/4 in lift when i installed the warriors. If you want to see the difference it made along with my 31" tires go to the before and after forum and check out my pictures just look for my screen name in the forum and the subject line should say something like before and after warrior shackles and 31" tires. happy wheelin

 

[greengoose]

I received my shackles and borrowed a floor jack and some stands. Right now Im stuck trying to relieve pressure off of the spring so I can push the bolt out. I got the nuts off but the bolts wont budge. Im still looking for a few ideas on how to simplify this. I placed it on stands and tried to lift the axle up and down with the floor jack.....still cant get the bolts out. I think I might need an extra pair of hands to raise and lower the jack while I push on the bolt. Any experienced tips would be appreceiated.
-Bryan

 

[Yomie]

I am assuming that you have the jack stands on the frame holding the truck up, with the axle just drooping below, am i right?

Well, my rear tires were about 3 inches from the ground and what i did was took a rubber mallet and hit the bolt through the shackle while i pulled on the other end of the bolt to get it out. If you are still having problems you could lift the axle slightly to relieve a lil bit of pressure off of the shackles.

 

[redexplr]

hey greegoose,
ive heard everyone say having the frame on jackstands and then using a jack to lift the axle a little. But i kinda the opposite, i just jacked up the frame as hi as i could and got it on jack stands. you need that axle to droop, this is what relieves the pressure from the spring. When a leaf pack uncoils it will curl up into a c or semi elliptical shape, therefore by letting the axle droop you are letting the spring go into its desired position and relieving pressure. I tried it the way everyone siad on this site and then i tried it the way i told you and it was 100%easier. try that and see if it helps you. let me know what happens
oh and once you get the pressure relieved what i did was with a soft tip mallet hit the bolt out as far as i could drive it, then i took some vice grip pliers and clamped then onto the bolt head and twisted and pulled and yanked
just remember although mentally its hard to imagine, the more the spring is curved and the axle drooped the less the spring pushes up on the shackle. It may seem that the drooped axle would be pulling down on the shackle but the more the axle is up the more pressure the srping will have to push up. i hope this helps you out i know it helped be get my shackles in with no problems. Let me know if you have any problems

 

[greengoose]

redexplr,
That did the trick. I just let the axle hang and the bolts popped out easily. I had to go buy a reciprocating saw to cut the bolts off since the trailer hitch was in the way. The battery is charging for the saw. I should finish it up tomorrow. Hopefully the wife wont go into labor tonight while the truck is disabled. Only 17 days till the due date.....WHOOO HOOOO!

I thank everyone for their advice on this SIMPLE mod. Im embarrased that I was soooooo close to having it figured out but couldnt.

-Bryan

 

[Alto]

Yahoo!

Glad that things worked out for you. I also found that with one person jack stands on the axle and jacking the frame works easier. When you can move the leaf spring with you hand and even compress it a bit you know that its loose as its going to get. Much luck on the other. An congrats on the new arrival how much longer. Its not quite like waiting for explorer parts in the mail is it.

 

[greengoose]

Im DONE!!!!!!!.... Had to cut the bolts off. New saw cut them like butter. Did the torsion twist and bottomed out the screws and got 3.5" of front lift. I couldnt belive how much room there was to play with on the torsion screws. Since that was toooooo high I cranked them back down to 1.7". Drove around for a bit and they settled around 1.5".
When all was said and done I ended up with a 1.5" lift. Each wheel lip to floor measured 34.25" (I have a Limited so my wheel wells have low flares.)
Come see my finished truck...click on Before and After on my web page.

http://www.lvcm.com/spacebunny/goose.htm

Thanks Everyone for the help.

Tomorrow....Go make a deal at Firestone for some 265/75/16 BFGs.

Only 16 or less days till BABY arrives.

-Bryan

 

[redexplr]

greengoose,
im glad i could help you out, i feel so proud to have helped someone on here even though i think i hardly know anything. I guess you can learn something and get help from anyone huh. Well im glad to here everything worked out and congrats on your lift and on the baby to come!! I think thats funny that you have your "car seat" mod listed on your profile. anyhow great lookin explorer! Whats next?? body lift? If you want to see how my explorer turned out after shackles go to the before and after forum and look for my name on a post called before and after warrior shackles and 31" tires.
happy wheelin! oh also post some pics on here when you get the new tires too! id love to see how it turns out.
--andrew