We only did the rear of the cruiser right now (I'm too broke to do the whole thing).. Used a set of cleaned up stock 40 springs, and re-used my con-fer shackles. Didn't touch the spring perch/shackle hangar. Springs are flipped for the added WB.

But, even after some wheeling to break in the springs (they've settled almost 1"), my shackle angle is still 20-25* from vertical!

I will take a photo tonight, but from doing some rough numbers, it looks like the shackle hangar would have to be moved forward nearly 5" to get the shackles at a 45*!

Can this be right? The way it looks now, if I could have run 55 springs, the shackle hangar wouldn't have to be moved at all to get a decent shackle angle...

Everything is greased up, nothing is binding...

Nolen, hurry up with them longer springs! :D

I'm aiming for a 60* angle when I'm done...

Don't worry about it, my rears are pretty much vertical right now:eek: :flipoff2:

i moved my hanger to get rid of this problem

I don't want to move the hangar just to move it back when we go with longer springs (like some pseudo-55's), so I'm thinking of having a new hangar made to mount forward of the stock one, which we could cut off when the longer springs are installed.

M.D., glad to hear it's not as uncommon as I thought.

methinks the shackle angle woudl be PERFECT with 55 springs and the stock shackle hangar position!

If you can't find 55 springs, Nolen suggested to me to run F150s. I was up at the BENDER:skull:BARN this weekend and scored a set, they're real long and the pin is WAY offset. ;)

Originally posted by Mustard Dog
If you can't find 55 springs, Nolen suggested to me to run F150s. I was up at the BENDER:skull:BARN this weekend and scored a set, they're real long and the pin is WAY offset. ;)

Yeah there you go. I changed my shit all around in this past weekend. I scored a set of F-150 springs for the rear so the 55 springs I got are gonna go in the front. OH YEAH!!! The F-150 springs are all over the place. Way soft and should be flexy as a mofo with my hyper shackle set up too. :eek: The front of my rig flexed great before and with the 55 springs it should only get better and better. :D

Glo, did you get the ones with 5 leafs or 6? What would you go with for the fronts other than 55s?

Originally posted by Mustard Dog
Glo, did you get the ones with 5 leafs or 6? What would you go with for the fronts other than 55s?

Mine are of the 6 leaf varity. Not sure which is the ones to have. I may end up taking a leaf out to bring the back down a little bit.

If I did not have the 55 springs for the front I would probably be running the F-150 springs up front as well. Just because they are all over the local pic n pull.

the f150 springs were from the rear of the truck, right?

Originally posted by Macgyver
the f150 springs were from the rear of the truck, right?

That's what I scored, the ones with 6 leafs like Glos;)

What years on the F150s? I'm ready to do a spring over as we speak and am looking for springs. will they give me the same lift as my stock fj40 springs would?
Any information would be greatly appreciated.

From a search, a couple of guys said late 70's early 80's... 2wd, f-150, 56" long, 25/31" offset, 2.5" wide.

I don't have many pick-n-pulls here.. they all want to know year, model, 2wd/4wd, etc..... can anyone be sure of a year they used?

I'm guessing with a short side of 25", I could run the short side forward, long side to the rear, and woudl be nice and soft, and not push the wheelbase *too* far out.... so much for departure angle...

Spring eye fits in the 40 spring hangar OK?

thanks, but thats a bit to much off set for me.

One thing about a SOA, because of the pulling direction of the u-bolts, it will naturally want to make your springs go soft and flat much more so than a SUA setup. If your springs are stock/stockish with some years on them butt seemingly healthy, a SOA can kill them pretty quick. So, if you think you're not in danger you may want to wait it out, carry a good pry bar with you in case it inverts, and in a few months you'll probably be back to normal. Or you could get a nice set of anti-inversion shackes if you want to save the hassle of switching springs around.

Originally posted by Eskimo
I'm aiming for a 60* angle when I'm done...

The closer to horizontal the shackle the greater the stress on the shackle hanger and the leaf spring...I would not aim for more than about 45*

Glo, the only problem with using the 55 springs up front is that you do not get the increase in approach angle that you would expect. So if you had your springs reversed and a SR you would be 3.5" longer in WB. If you put the 55 springs back on you would be back to where you were before... Of course that does not take into account the amount you moved the front spring hanger forward ;)

Another option is stock FJ60 springs. They are a slight bit longer than the 55 springs but have an offset spring pin.....

Heck, I could probably get 107" out of a set of 60 springs ;)