Mild lift

[adub98]

New to the forum. Anyways a few buddies and I were bored this past weekend and decided to go explorering. They talked me into doing more than I should have let them. My 98 is all stock. I want to do the torsion bar lift. What do you guys do in the back. My LR leaf spring is sagging so I was hoping to find a new set on ebay or something but I want to lift the back end. Shackles seem like the way to go. I don't need tires yet so I just plan on doing the lift at this point. How do you determine your rear end ratio and trans? I've got the 4.0 V6 SOHC with auto 4x4.

 

[carlover]

Shackles or an AAL are the way to go for the rear. For your gearing check the plate on the inside of your driver door and find out what the code is.

 

[adub98]

What are AAL's? Where would I get shackles? I need new shocks anyways, whould I get longer ones?

 

[carlover]

AAL= Add a leaf, just a simple leaf you add to your spring pack. I run universal shackles from auto zone and have beaten them pretty good with no problems at all. They are less than 20$ if you go that way. Others on here run warrior shackles im not sure of the part number but im sure others will chime on with it. No you will not need longer shocks, stock replacements will be fine.

 

[Regulator_XLS]

make shackles dude, heres the plan courtesy of one of the other guys on here, he helped me out with them,
as far as install me and my buddy did it in about an hour
heres how we did it as my tools are limited

1. Jack up the side of your truck as much as you can
2. slide some jack stands under the frame where you just jacked it up, usually right in front of the leaf springs closest to the front end.
3. Un bolt the bolts on your factory shackles
4. jack up the side of the axle your working on to take the pressure off the spring
5. Hammer out the bolts in the shackles, watch your hands itll snap up pretty hard and rest against the frame.
6. Take a piston jack and place it on top of the leaf spring and jack it up to the top of the frame, this will start to push the spring down to the level you need it at to install your new shackles.
7. Install em, one side at a time, tighten everything to 40lbs of torque
8. Put your truck back on the ground and give er a run, my jack wasnt high enough to do this and leave the back wheels on so i took my wheels off one at a time as i did the shackles

 

[adub98]

Ok I think I'll go down to Auto Zone tomarrow and talk to them. I'd like to keep is simple so I can put it back to stock if I decide to sell it ever so shackles seem the way to go. I don't plan on wheeling it too much. Just a little more ground clearence for the trails. I do have a sagging left rear leaf spring. Is this a common thing or what?

 

[Regulator_XLS]

yup, gas tank and driver on the same side

 

[adub98]

is there anything to fix the sag besides replacing it? it looks horrible.

 

[Regulator_XLS]

switch the left springs with the right, or go to a wreckers and pull the right springs from an explorer and put them on the left of yours

 

[adub98]

Oh ok good call. I"ll start looking around.

 

[Regulator_XLS]

dont pay more than 75

 

[The_Driller]

i made some 12" long but have yet to drill the holes, any idea how much a lift it will give me?

 

[sparkyXplorer]

Depends on where you drill the holes at...

 

[The_Driller]

10" C-C. and was it 9/16" hole right? How long a bolt did you use? 7"? with nylocks?

 

[sparkyXplorer]

Well if you are going 10'' C 2 C and the stock are like (I believe)4.5" C 2 C then you have 5.5" more so 5.5/2 = approx. 2.75" but you can only go so long before that general rule doesn't work...

I just bought warrior's part number #153 and I am pretty sure they are 9/16" like you said...as for the length of the bolt I am not sure I would have to go measure you just need it long enough to go all the way though shackle on both sides of the leaf itself and make sure it will go all the way through the lock nut so you can make sure if locks correctly, might also want to put some locktight compound on the bolt...

 

[The_Driller]

Right on thanks I think I will try 10" C-C and see what it does then crank up my torsions to 2" i want it to be a little higher in the back but not by much. I think I have 3/4" steel plate for my shackles that are home made so I am thinking 7" bolt would be lots I think Stock is 5.5"

 

[adub98]

Yeah I'm gonna call the junk yard tomarrow to what they got.

 

[Ynot Explore]

Hey Regulator XLS- thanks for posting that schematic and pics.. Looks like an awesome truck.
For clarification, did you follow those dimensions when you made your shackles? How much lift did you gain? I'm planning to do the same thing to my 99 Sport, but as it is my daily driver, (I wheel my Jeep YJ) I'm only looking for 1.5 inches lift, max.
Please post up, and I'll get right on my shackles!

 

[Regulator_XLS]

i did them the exact same without the centre brace, i got 1 5/8'' of lift, but i also have a heavy rear bumper which cause me to lose about a half inch of lift before the shackle install. so really it raised it just over 2''. hope this helps!

 

[adub98]

Got the shackles today from Autozone. I'm looking for a new left rear spring so I"ll then I'll put the shackles on at the same time. I'm at school and don't have any tools here either so I'm gonna have to wait til I go home next time to do the torsion bars and shackles.