better articulation

[greyzook]

Gday, i am trying to find a way to get good cheap articulation out of my zook, currently i am running a 1.3 NT sierra with 29" MTRs, enfocer raised springs, enforcer shocks and rhyno raised shackles. I took some blokes advice and pulled out a leaf out of each spring which made it a lot better ride. But i am still after more articulation, caus airborne wheels occur a little too often, any suggestions or solutions? Anyone using drop shackles? Cheers

[redzook]

have u still got a sway bar fitted?

what type of driving do u do?

[greyzook]

na i got the sway bar off,

most off road driving is on rocky hills

[N*A*M]

hills type rocky eh?

where may i find said hills?

[greyzook]

hills type rocky eh?

where may i find said hills?

wombat state forrest

[christover1]

not much more ya can do, other than longer shox or better springs...altho I got a bit more out of mine by lowering front shock mount to get most out of front springs, and longer shackles to allow back to werk best. offsetting ya wheels out a bit can help too

[greyzook]

has anyone had any experience with drop shackls? Are they worth 400 bux?

[bigsteve]

Gday, i am trying to find a way to get good cheap articulation out of my zook, currently i am running a 1.3 NT sierra with 29" MTRs, enfocer raised springs, enforcer shocks and rhyno raised shackles. I took some blokes advice and pulled out a leaf out of each spring which made it a lot better ride. But i am still after more articulation, caus airborne wheels occur a little too often, any suggestions or solutions? Anyone using drop shackles? Cheers

has anyone had any experience with drop shackls? Are they worth 400 bux?

No They will shag your springs.

And before someone suggests doing it I'll say Dont do a Leaf over conversion (Just to fuel the age old debate)

[greyzook]

Why not a leaf over conversinon?

So pretty much ther is not really much i can do

[christover1]

has anyone had any experience with drop shackls? Are they worth 400 bux?

total waste of money $400 can be spent more wisely. they can only expand as far as your shocks and springs allow, and they dont allow springs to twist, and travel is just flop rather than being forced down......although longer shackles is cheaper and worx it aint legal. christover

[SAWZALL]

Rear springs up front, spring over OR, the ultimate, coil conversion. Apparently someone is coming out with a kit soon

[*BESTY*]

Why not a leaf over conversinon?

So pretty much ther is not really much i can do

You shouldn't be asking Bigsteve about SPOA.....I think he has found his vehicles gets a lottle bit tired on every 4WD trip he does......








It has a lie down....usually on its side, but occasionally onto its roof

[bigsteve]

Why not a leaf over conversinon?

So pretty much ther is not really much i can do

I wouldn't stop anybody from doing a leaf over, for me it was a cheap way to clear my 32's but it took its toll on my springs and rear shocks and wasn't suitable for the driving I want & like to do.

[Luigi Malone]

Gday, i am trying to find a way to get good cheap articulation out of my zook, currently i am running a 1.3 NT sierra with 29" MTRs, enfocer raised springs, enforcer shocks and rhyno raised shackles. I took some blokes advice and pulled out a leaf out of each spring which made it a lot better ride. But i am still after more articulation, caus airborne wheels occur a little too often, any suggestions or solutions? Anyone using drop shackles? Cheers

Grey i'm using revolver copies and rears up front (&rear) from OME
With this setup I get a lot of down travel. Which makes me happy.
If I had access to them i'd go Shackle reverse with YJ springs. But the RuF and revolvers is cheaper. And the YJ stuff is like hens teeth.
Don't spend the $400 though. Save it for something you really need.
Down travel is overated, or so i'm told.
SpOA is a large hassle. With many unforeseen associated problems.
Buy a cruiser instead, or a vitara and spend even more.
Power is secondary to suspension and tyres IMHO.
There's always the coil kit being made by whats his name on this board.
Spend it once and at one time, or spend it in dribs and drabs trying to achieve what you should have done in the first place.
LM.

[greg]

The down travel of your car is going to be limited by two things:
1. Shock Length
2. Spring Length and Flex
(plus a few other things like binding, drive shaft length etc)

You can fix either of these two items by replacing them with new (longer) shocks, or new (longer and more flexible) springs.

You can easily test if the shock is you limiting factor by crossing up the car and measuring droop (bump stop to axel), then remove the shock and do cross it up again. If the distance has grown, your shock is probably too short and could be replaced to improve travel.

If your shock isn't limiting the travel, its probably the spring - to fix this you can make the spring more flexible (thinner) by removing leaves (as you have said you have already done) until the car flexes as much as you want, without loosing more ride hight then you want. i.e. i have Old Man Emu springs that i am about to remove some leaves from until they sit dead flat so the car is as low as possible, and has the most travel possible.

Describe what these shackles of yours look like - they could also be replaced depending on whether or not they would be limiting travel (which we will know once you describe them to us).

Cheers

[greyzook]

thanx evryone for your replys
greg, i just brought the spring and shocks soi dont really want to replace them any time soon, so you would recomned to take another leaf out? but this would reduce ride height correct? the shackles are rhyno shackles , and they are made from pretty solid 10mm thick metal, and they are raised 2 inch, and look pretty tough

[greg]

thanx evryone for your replys
greg, i just brought the spring and shocks soi dont really want to replace them any time soon, so you would recomned to take another leaf out? but this would reduce ride height correct? the shackles are rhyno shackles , and they are made from pretty solid 10mm thick metal, and they are raised 2 inch, and look pretty tough

You are correct greyzook...

What i will be doing with my springs is removing as many leaves as possible without the car sitting hard on the bump stops. This will keep the car as low as possible, and also allow the most droop. Whether or not you do this is up to you, but please be aware that the more leaves you remove, the more likely you are to reduce the life of the spring (i.e. you may have to replace them sooner rather than later)...

What i meant about the shackles is:
When you look at them from front on, do they look like this || or like this H. If it is the latter, and they have a solid connection in between the two verticle members, it would be fair to assume that they will be limiting twist and thus reducing the amount of travel you could be getting out of you springs. It may be worth while replacing them with a || setup instead.

You can make your own shackles, they are pretty cheap to do so. I'll have a hunt around here for some pics of mine.

Cheers.

[greg]

Cruise here, there's a few shots of my shackles.

http://www.outerlimits4x4.com/PHP_Modul ... c&start=20

[greyzook]

what a spew, they are the H kind, i just brought them as well for 300 bux, what a bummer.

[redzook]

i run the H kind and get desent flex

yeh i prolly would get more flex with the l l kind but i drive mine daily an the H kind look stronger an would probly stop side to side movment of the diff better then the l l

[Hard_top]

are the | | type ok to use if the car is to be used on teh highway at about 100kph? I need new shackles and was going to grab the H type until I saw this thread. cheers.

[N*A*M]

just make your own out of 6-10mm plate

don't make them too long though (bad handling). 1" longer is okay. no more than 2" longer (eye to eye).

make sure the bolt you use is not threaded where the rubber bushing is or it'll chew them out

[N*A*M]

go to www.steelsolutions.com.au
click on products then click on the second tab
order the 50x8 flat black
if you want to make 4 shackles, get 8 lengths of say 120mm (just example) or order a whole metre and cut them up yourself (cheaper!)

drill the holes, paint, bolt up and call it good. a few hours work max!

also use a double nut or a nylock nut so that your don't end up over tightening the shackles

[greyzook]

what happens if you over tighten the shackles, i think mine may be a little too tight

[N*A*M]

if it's too tight, it'll just squeeze too hard on the bushings and make your shackle bind. do like i said with two nuts tightened against eachother or a nylock nut.

also, do you have poly or rubber bushings? the stock suzuki rubber ones flex better than aftermarket poly ones.

[greyzook]

i think mine are urathane bushes, should the shackle actually move around or just stay in the same place when going over rough terrain?

[greg]

are the | | type ok to use if the car is to be used on the highway at about 100kph? I need new shackles and was going to grab the H type until I saw this thread. cheers.

So long as your || shackles are not too long, they will be fine - after all, stock sierra shackles are ||, not H.

NAM is right about the length, typically you should not be making the distance between the two bolts any more than 1" longer than stock. If you make it much longer you run the risk of changing the castor (or is it camber) of the car and this will affect your handling / steering.

[greg]

i think mine are urathane bushings, should the shackle actually move around or just stay in the same place when goingover rough terrain

You shackles perform two duties,

1. to allow the spring to lengthen and shorten as the axel travels up and down.

2. if you are using a || type shackle setup, they will also be able to "twist" indenpendently of each other so that from front on they will look more like // or \\, this will allow more droop in the spring as it takes some of the "twisting" responsibility away from the spring (which does not want to twist).

I'll have a look for a pic and put one up to show you want i mean.

[greg]

Okay, not the best pic, but note that the shackles are not parallel to each other. This is where the H style shackle would be limiting travel.

[greyzook]

so greg is it normal for the shackles to move backwards and forewards?? Caus im pretty sure mine stay in th samee place