What do you prefer and why.

I am currently putting a streight shackle in mine.

if you have a stock shackle set up and you push the front tire into stuff the shackle moves back and the spring bends. not always a bad thing but it gets worse if you use longer shackles and what not. I actually bent a YJ main leaf but then again I was trying to see if revolvers would work on the front.....they dont.

The benefits that are usually associated with the shackle reversal are better ride and better articulation. The downfall would be stuffing the tire into the back of the wheel well. Personally I don't think that the zuk weighs enough to get all of the reversal benefits and don't forget about the fangs up front and brake drive.

For just a regular shackle you can you use MLinks or reveolver style shackles are better IMO. Granted the only shackle reversal I have experienced was calmini's 5" one and it was junk it got nowhere near the articulation it said it would and had IMO poor approach angles.

I did a **SEARCH** on this in got 389 matches :eek: . A lot to read, but there are opinions and information galore out there on this one.

Originally posted by Tusker
I did a **SEARCH** on this in got 389 matches :eek: . A lot to read, but there are opinions and information galore out there on this one.


So dose that mean you are better than me because you did a search on this and think that I didn't?? :rolleyes:

It depends on the type of wheelin' you do.

Around here they are very disliked. We do a lot of vertical, and a reverse shackle axle tends to climb 'out from under' the truck. They generate a lot of wheel hop and cause excessive weight transfer. Lots of drive shaft slip is required, and they tend to be very hard on drive shaft u-joints (when the pinion swings away).

I know several people who have run them (including myself), and were all very HAPPY when they were removed. ;)

I noticed a lot of SR rigs in Arizona, however they seemed to work well there. Lots of cases where you need to push a single tire over a large object. With the SR, the tire moves back with the forward motion, preventing the suspension from binding.

The only thing I miss was being able to lift the back tires off the ground when I slammed on the brakes (major nose dive). :) It was a fun party stunt... :D

i've bent two front yj springs on my ride with a regular shackle set up. my shackles are 2'' longer than stock. a SR would fix this but then i have to move my axle forward cause i'm too close to the body as it is. just need to be more carefull what i slam my shackle in to and yj are plentifull

I've run both setups... You may have run across some of this if you did the search, not sure though...

Either one, when set up "properly" works well.

If you have a relatively flat spring, with a shackle at the front, as the suspension articulates up the axle will move back.

If you have a relatively arched spring, with a shackle reversal, as the susp. articulates up, the axle moves back.

If you run a flat spring with a SR, the axle moves forward just like an arched spring with front shackles.

I preferr the shackle at the front... You don't have to deal with extra long slip yokes, and the axle walking the pinion way down, brake dive, etc...

A properly set up front shackle really doesn't take that much away from approach angle, especially if you have a big enough tire.

You can eliminate some of the pinion "walk"/u-joint problems with a SR by setting the spring pads so the pinion pionts at the t-case and cutting and rotating the knuckles back to good caster.

YMMV

I converted to a s?r setup four years ago on my sam. (4" frame ext , 1.5" inboard , rear springs up front ) ride improved along with flex but driveline slip travel became an issue. I liked the aproach angle improvement the most ( no shackle hanging down)

With the shackles mounted in the front, when you pull up to a large rock and push your tire up against it, the spring will push back, planting the tire on the rock which helps it climb. If you had S/R in this situation, the axle would swing away from the rock, relying on the tread only to grip & try to climb. If the other wheels are helping enough, this may not make a difference, but then again, it might....

I've been around the block a few times, and I have never seen anyone really point this out with respect to shackles mounted in front vs. rear.

Here is another fact to consider: look at all the professional Rock-Crawling guys' rigs. You will find that the ones that are leaf-sprung have the shackles in the front most of the time.

I like my Yota's shackle in the front...I've got an 88 Fourrunner that is gonna get a solid beam axle and the shackle will be in the front also. see these links http://dreamwater.com/zuk/sr.html

http://dreamwater.com/zuk/upperwoodpecker.html
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ps---I did a shackle reversal on my old 1990 Sami in that same year and it 'hurt' the overall good feel it used to have but what was done was done.