annoying flex

[bazuka]

hey guys bought my first zuk sierra

she goes good off road but as usual i want more flex out of the old girl
and i know there is sutch thing as too mutch flex and flex is not allways the answer but i am not looking at winning ramp travel days i just want that little bit more

currently i am running 2 inch lifted springs whitch i have played with to make them sit nice and flat all new rubber bushes snake shackles at the front climax shackles at the back 2 inch bodyl lift 2 inch wheel spacers longer shocks and i am no more flexy than a standard zuk.

the story is that i bought a hard top shorty zuk it had heavy duty 2" springs allready in it then i bought anouther trashed zuk witch had the spacers climax shackles ect ect but most of the stuff is new and i am wondering if it is just not flexing becaus the springs need to be worn in same as the bushes becaus i carnt eaven get enough flex for the climaxes to open.

in the long run i plan to change the diffs to bundy coils but that is a way down the track as the wallet doesent permit at the moment so i need a solution untill then any advice would be appriciated. joe

[joeblow]

longer shackles, if in the factory mounting position, and depending on spring length will take away flex.

[sheps]

what about your shock length.

[Guy]

longer shackles, if in the factory mounting position, and depending on spring length will take away flex.

How so Joe .. by not letting it get all the way to the bumpstop .... (I think most stock zuks will have no issue getting compression to the bumpstop)

Or is it something on extension I am missing ?

You will easily max out the factory shockers ... front and rear.

[alien]

definitely shocks... unbolt the shocks and ramp it up, chances are theres a ton of unused flex just 4 shock absorbers away!

[GRPABT1]

You say you've played with the "heavy duty" spring packs to achieve a flat ride. Can you post a pic of what your spring packs look like front and rear now? I tend to avoid anything "heavy duty" when dealing with zook parts.

[lay80n]

Take your shocks off and ramp the zook, see whats limiting it. My bet is shocks. Then take the drop shackels off and throw them off a large cliff.
Any spring that is claimed to be heavy duty on a zook will most likely give you the ride quality and flex of a household brick. Stripping the pack down will help though.

Layto.....

[Ridge]

why do most people on this forum hate drop shackles?

[lay80n]

Search on it.
Basically they can produce unloading issues, roll stiffness issues (if used at one end only) and the extra droop you get often doesnt equate to traction as there is little weight on the wheel.


Layto....

[greg]

... snake shackles at the front ...

Are these the shackles you have?

http://72.34.32.141/~snakerac/product_i ... 565078731d

if yes, you could replace them with two separate shackles.

Running an 'H' shackle forces the two sides to stay parallel to each other, which means that all the twisting needs to be done by the springs.

If you are running '||' instead, the shackle can twist a bit.

This will chew out your rubber bushes a bit though, and your steering will be affected too - as the shackle will twist under steering load too.

[meads02]

Have you replaced your brake lines with extended lines?

[christover1]

Running an 'H' shackle forces the two sides to stay parallel to each other, which means that all the twisting needs to be done by the springs.

If you are running '||' instead, the shackle can twist a bit.

This will chew out your rubber bushes a bit though, and your steering will be affected too - as the shackle will twist under steering load too.

On this subject, I twisted, ramped and generally gave my stock suspension a hard time, while noting what it did, long before any mods were decided upon.

In stock form my shackle plates moved quite along way off parrallel in stock form, and quite a lot more with the ome suspension.

So I decided not to usr H shackles.
I got a bit of extra strength, without extra thickness, by using U channel.
Too thick can bind up, if not using longer bolts.

christover

[get it up there]

why do most people on this forum hate drop shackles?

I Dont

[Turbo Tonka]

x2 on the brake lines.

my brake lines pull tight and you can play a tune on em thats just with a basic ome lift and 50mm shackles,i really should get extended ones

and if shocks werent put on with the new leafs definately a problem,stockos barely fit at full droop

[86slowsierra]

why do most people on this forum hate drop shackles?

I Dont

wow is that your brake lines?

[get it up there]

hehe, yup!! i only just did a RUF conversion.. so was testing things out. They needed replacing anyway!!

[GRPABT1]

Mate considering your setup that flex is not impressive at all. Have a look at dee's flex shot before and after drop shackles and you might be tempted to lose them, and I'd bet you'd never look back.

[get it up there]

Mate considering your setup that flex is not impressive at all. Have a look at dee's flex shot before and after drop shackles and you might be tempted to lose them, and I'd bet you'd never look back.

You are definatly one to give bugga all positive comments about ANYONES vehicle mate, unless its your own arent ya. Do you think i came down in the last shower?? I do know what my zook behaves like with and without the drop shackles.. so dont go carrying on about them. Each to their own on every single thing in this world.. there has been many topics about drop shackles, and i have read near everyone i think! And believe me, if i thought.. or knew that they were shit, i would "loose them and never look back"!! Not everyones zook is up to your standard.. and if you think its not, shut ya f*ckin mouth, and keep your smartarse opinions to yourself, especially if you know your going to piss the owner off by saying it!

[alien]

Mate considering your setup that flex is not impressive at all. Have a look at dee's flex shot before and after drop shackles and you might be tempted to lose them, and I'd bet you'd never look back.

You are definatly one to give bugga all positive comments about ANYONES vehicle mate, unless its your own arent ya. Do you think i came down in the last shower?? I do know what my zook behaves like with and without the drop shackles.. so dont go carrying on about them. Each to their own on every single thing in this world.. there has been many topics about drop shackles, and i have read near everyone i think! And believe me, if i thought.. or knew that they were shit, i would "loose them and never look back"!! Not everyones zook is up to your standard.. and if you think its not, shut ya f*ckin mouth, and keep your smartarse opinions to yourself, especially if you know your going to piss the owner off by saying it!

he liked mine, so ner =P haha

[Turbo Tonka]

[11_evl]

Mate considering your setup that flex is not impressive at all. Have a look at dee's flex shot before and after drop shackles and you might be tempted to lose them, and I'd bet you'd never look back.

You are definatly one to give bugga all positive comments about ANYONES vehicle mate, unless its your own arent ya. Do you think i came down in the last shower?? I do know what my zook behaves like with and without the drop shackles.. so dont go carrying on about them. Each to their own on every single thing in this world.. there has been many topics about drop shackles, and i have read near everyone i think! And believe me, if i thought.. or knew that they were shit, i would "loose them and never look back"!! Not everyones zook is up to your standard.. and if you think its not, shut ya f*ckin mouth, and keep your smartarse opinions to yourself, especially if you know your going to piss the owner off by saying it!

your just jealous your car doesnt look like its been kicked up the bum

i liked my drop shackles.
but LOVE my coils

[bazuka]

mate i am running absolutly mininal springs removed 2 leafs from the rear and one from the front any more and they would invert so i know that the whole heavy duty thing is defonatly not the best setup for a zuk but they were on there and i carnt afford to replace them at the moment next point raised was shock lengh but the first thing i did was unbolt the shocks, no differance and i am also running extended braded brake lines allround starting to think that the flex i am getting is just normal i was morso wondering if there was anything else i could do becaus i am pretty shure i have checked over everything i have allread done i am doing a ruf conversion on the weekend whitch should help also going to triangulate my shocks in the next few weeks. let you know how i go but if anyone has come up with any tricks and tips for more flex be shure to let me know

[Adsport]

Mate considering your setup that flex is not impressive at all. Have a look at dee's flex shot before and after drop shackles and you might be tempted to lose them, and I'd bet you'd never look back.

the end of the diff is like hanging from the brake line, the shackle isnt even fully unfolded lol.... that should flex out a hell of a lot more agreed, but obviously the brake line is hanging it up

[zookimal]

if anyone has come up with any tricks and tips for more flex be shure to let me know

Best tip. Don't get carried away with flex. If you don't do it right you'll end up with a poorly balanced pos. There's more to wheeling than the 'flex' that everyone seems to think they need.

[zookprojectfnq]

I tigged up my own drop shackles and extended front shackles and they work a treats . Used gabriel shocks. All you clowns that diss drop shackles, I bet you get most of your info from here say. Have half of you even tried them. I heard someone on here say flex means nothing off road. They must have come down in the last shower. If your wheels off the ground you don't have traction do you unless you have lockers that is. No wonder people say that fucken outers site, Full off uni students and pen pushers.
Im with you GET EM UP THERE

[alien]

i've run drop shackles before and since removed them... not because they unloaded on side slopes or anything, but because they didnt provide any traction with that added droop - the wheel might as well have been off the ground cos it didnt get traction again until the shackle closed up.

the reason people say flex isnt everything refers more to balance of the vehicle... past a certain point a 4wd, especially SWB and narrow track like a sierra becomes unstable - adding flex doesnt change the centre of gravity of the vehicle, and in some cases can lead to a false sense of security.

Take a pair of scissors, in the shut position, hold them by the pointy end of press one of the finger holes into the table - you get downward force, right? now - open the scissors up, holding the lower blade and try again... the pivot point absorbs any down force until the scissors are shut.

You just proved drop shackles dont work.

[GRPABT1]

Mate considering your setup that flex is not impressive at all. Have a look at dee's flex shot before and after drop shackles and you might be tempted to lose them, and I'd bet you'd never look back.

You are definatly one to give bugga all positive comments about ANYONES vehicle mate, unless its your own arent ya. Do you think i came down in the last shower?? I do know what my zook behaves like with and without the drop shackles.. so dont go carrying on about them. Each to their own on every single thing in this world.. there has been many topics about drop shackles, and i have read near everyone i think! And believe me, if i thought.. or knew that they were shit, i would "loose them and never look back"!! Not everyones zook is up to your standard.. and if you think its not, shut ya f*ckin mouth, and keep your smartarse opinions to yourself, especially if you know your going to piss the owner off by saying it!

he liked mine, so ner =P haha

Yeah it's pretty much just his I don't like

And I'll be the first to admit my junk is carp.

And I'll keep saying it till you realise, your rig is too high and doesn't flex enough to justify your drop shackles.

As an example I like Liams rig on similar width diffs as yours, similar size tyres and also with drop shackles.

[Tiny]

i've run drop shackles before and since removed them... not because they unloaded on side slopes or anything, but because they didnt provide any traction with that added droop - the wheel might as well have been off the ground cos it didnt get traction again until the shackle closed up.

the reason people say flex isnt everything refers more to balance of the vehicle... past a certain point a 4wd, especially SWB and narrow track like a sierra becomes unstable - adding flex doesnt change the centre of gravity of the vehicle, and in some cases can lead to a false sense of security.

Take a pair of scissors, in the shut position, hold them by the pointy end of press one of the finger holes into the table - you get downward force, right? now - open the scissors up, holding the lower blade and try again... the pivot point absorbs any down force until the scissors are shut.

You just proved drop shackles dont work.

your wrong......drop shackles do work, they give you awsome flex

but yeah, flex is great to look at, but in the case of drop shakles where the last couple of inches of travel has no weight, it means nothing, it does not give you any traction and imo there is far more cons than pros in running drop shackles.

if you want the flex, rip out the factory suspensing and build a linked sytem with coils \ coilovers or learn to drive the rig as it is

[Adsport]

i just get momentum and jump everything , its what sierra was built for its his destiny.

[11_evl]

i thought we are using the bump stops to push the opposite wheel down (lotsa traction/ force) and drop shackles to alow it to drop further.
thats what my set up did, non of this hanging diffs on there own weight. FORCE it down than give it the room to move..