Climax Drop Shackles

[Jonezy01]

Has anyone had any problens with them, how do the perform on/off road.

[lump_a_charcoal]

I know a couple of people who have removed them, as they didn't add much to the of road capabilities of the sierras they were on, they actually made them worse.

[chunks]

Looking at the design, it seems to me the Superior Engineering ones would work better. I have never used either though, so my opinion is pretty useless.

[alien]

its unweighted flex... ie: the wheel touching the ground through the drop shackle is basically on a hinge - until that hinge compresses you have no traction still - but it LOOKS like you do.

[krusty182]

its unweighted flex... ie: the wheel touching the ground through the drop shackle is basically on a hinge - until that hinge compresses you have no traction still - but it LOOKS like you do.

Interesting. I hadn't thought of that, but when you put it that way, it makes sense. WIth no weight on that wheel, it will offer no benefit other than the fact that it is still touching the ground.

Good for ramp queens maybe..?

[stock 4runner]

i made a set similer to climax and they work really well and still get drive on the droped wheel

[Gwagensteve]

This topic has been done to death a staggering number of times.

It (might) be possible to build an effective suspension with drop shackles. Daddylonglegs (Bill Larman) had a suspension design that was "hinged" and it seemed to work very well, but it was a clean sheet design. He had very good data on how well it worked, because he's spent literally years tinkering with it.

However, DD had a 2.25 tonne landrover with 60HP and massive unsprung weight - (portal boxes) So his setup was about as far from a "normal" car as you could imagine.

However, taking a basically stock suspension and adding drop shackles is pointless - you're basically breaking your suspension selectively. It's a bad idea in theory and practice, even though it looks cool on a ramp. It's especially terrible under power. It's also a lot of work in itself - shock mounts and shock valving, brake lines, bumpstop location - drop shackles are never a bolt on solution.

Steve.