what causes a shakle to invert

[richardsc]

ive got a pretty stock 60,had it for over 10 years,just picked it up from mechanics ,had new clutch,he mentioned i had a front end clunk,which i assumed was my normal small clunk,but on driving home noticed said clunk was quite loud,and certain it wasnt there before hand,on getting home i had a look under neath and standing out like dogs balls i noticed passenger side shakle is inverted,stuck up againsst hanger and the chassis,this truck hasnt been off road in years,and when it has its been pretty mellow,never had issues with shakle inversion,what could have caused this,im a bit suss on mechanic mentioning the clunk now,pretty hard to miss inverted shakle on hoist when u change a clutch,and pretty hard to miss the clunk when i drove car to mechanics on friday,1200 bucks later and more issues to sort,fun,lol,

is it hard to fix,or is possable leaf damage the cause,i dont know how the heck its inverted,is it just me,seems odd to me

[oldmate]

On a standard truck the most common way is if you drive the spring into something. I've done it in ditches, brick walls you name it. Good chance the spring is stuffed as it will have a nasty bend in it and won't ride properly or sit level.

Usually jacking the front end right up from the chassis and letting the axle hang will let it fall out and back into position, but if it's bad you might have to get a long bar and lever the shackle outwards.

I agree it sounds suss that it happened after a mechanic trip. You didn't happen to notice any paint on the shackle? Maybe the apprentice drove it into the bonnet of a car or a brick wall. Unless they were desperate for repeat business, it seems odd that they wouldn't sort the problem out knowing it existed.

[dogbreath_48]

I'd say it inverted as the car was dropped down from the hoist.

[lay80n]

Did they do any work on the shocks. If they had the shocks off, it may have allowed the spring to droop down lower than usual, causing the shock to invert when they lowered it to the ground (with no shocks in it).


Layto....

[hotgemini]

There's a thread about this in the toyota section that might help you.

[RAY185]

What colour shackles are they?

[richardsc]

car was in only for a clutch replacement,no shock work ect,like i said found it odd he mentioned the clunk in front end,especially after driving it and feeling it,as it wasnt there before,to tick me off more the clutch pedal now travels 80 percent of the way to the floor before engaging

shackles are silver

[80's_delirious]

shackles are silver

there's your problem.

Blue shackles are the best

[oldmate]

to tick me off more the clutch pedal now travels 80 percent of the way to the floor before engaging

so the clutch engages closer to the floor than before? that's normal and how it should be. a clutch that engages right at the top (if it's in adjustment) is worn out.

[richardsc]

never known a clutch pedal to travel that far before engaging,its got like 4 inches of travel before it starts to engage,and pretty much has to be into the floor to engage,ill get it adjusted anyways,the shakles my main concern

[RAY185]

Can you take some pics of the offending shackle at static height and then at full droop? Posting those pics here might help diagnose a problem.

And for the record, blue shackles are NOT the best, they are inverters (particularly in Colorados) and completely un-tigable. Red is the best for anti inversion, not sure about silver, they are probably neutral like Sweden.

[Suspension Stuff]

Jack it back up, get a big bar and straighten the shackle as you lower the vehicle back down.

Shane

[supazuk]

are the spring and shackle bushes flogged out?
my 75 troopie inverts shackles because of worn out bushes.

[richardsc]

cheers shane,just did that,shakles back where it should be,leaf seems ok,took it for a run over a heap of 20 km per hour speed humps at 60 and feels good,

[lay80n]

Keep your eye on the leaf pack, the extra strain of being inverted may cause it to sag quicker than the remaining packs.


Layto....

[Suspension Stuff]

cheers shane,just did that,shakles back where it should be,leaf seems ok,took it for a run over a heap of 20 km per hour speed humps at 60 and feels good,

I love your testing method.

Shane

[SuperiorEngineering]

If your spring has inverted you should be looking at the reason why it has?
was it hit into something or is it too much set in the spring pack, either way if your pack has inverted it has the potential to do it again.
Anti-Inversion shackles will stop this problem.
If you keep inverting your spring pack you will fatigue the main leaf and it will snap!
This is what an anti -inversion shackle looks like.

http://www.superiorengineering.com.au/p ... ts_id=2297" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Without seeing the vehicle or a photo i am guessing the pack has too much camber.

[Struth]

I reckon they lifted with a hoist that supports the car under the chassis, let the suspension hang too l,ow and inverted it when lowering the car, as stated by a previous poster.

As well they didn't adjust the clutch properly, shonky as.

[Suspension Stuff]

Yes, that's exactly what I was thinking Struth. It hasn't happend while 4wding so it isn't likely to happen again. He has checked leaves and there are no obvious problems with the leaves. The vehicle must be sitting fairly level otherwise he would be complaining. If you really want to check it, take them off the axle and measure the camber. The drivers side should have a little more camber then the passenger.

It is always a good thing to get anti-inversion shackles especially if you plan to launch it offroad. Richardsc seems pretty mellow though but he might not be when he talks to the mechanic who should be thankful they aren't stuffed. Just in case there is something you can't see, do bring it up with the mechanic and get him to put it on your file.

I know it is the same part but he will want to order from the 60 Series section. http://www.superiorengineering.com.au/p ... ts_id=2296" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Shane

[V.W.Dave]

A common cause for shackles to invert down here in Sydney is DAD when he had his sierra.

He did this rolling back words down Suzi steps . Funny thing is he drove it back up the steps and the shackle flipped back over and never had another problem with it or the spring.
But then again it has nothing to do with how he drove the titts off the pore thing.

[Suspension Stuff]

Roll cage paid for itself.

[RAY185]

Shonky mechanic for not adjusting the clutch to suit the customers preference? I'd say more 'careless'.

Shonky mechanic for hoisting the vehicle via the chassis until the wheels leave the ground? Sorry I don't think so.

I hoist 4wds by the chassis quite often and have never made it a point to watch the shackles for inversion as I set it down again. And if they did happen to invert I would find it pretty unreasonable if the customer said it was my fault. I would take great pleasure in explaining that his springs are incorrectly setup for the vehicle and possibly sell him a solution.

Yes he probably should have noticed it, especially on his road test but I don't think it's his fault it happened in the first place. Very unlikely they drove it into anything (see any scuff marks on the shackle) and .....ramped another car? What, another customers car? Yeah ok.

Your springs are too short. Get anti inversion shackles or get longer springs or at minimum get red shackles. If you post pics as requested above the assumptions I (and a lot of people above) have made can be confirmed or rejected.

[cruiser60series]

mine used to invert all the time because my springs were bent....are your springs bent?

[Struth]

Shonky mechanic for not adjusting the clutch to suit the customers preference? I'd say more 'careless'.
.

Shonky I reckon, any mechanic who reckons it is ok to hand a customers car back after clutch work with a clutch that is most likely not bled properly and certainly not set correctly is shonky.

It's a little more than careless to road test the car and not then set the clutch up correctly before handing it back to the paying customer.

Pedal freeplay should be approx 1/2 to 1".

Aside from that my obversation that the shackle inverted on the hoist is just guesswork and you are correct, if the suspension is in good nick it shouldn't invert.

[V.W.Dave]

Roll cage paid for itself.

It cost less then $500 so yes it more then payed for it self. All those pics were from one weekend and he had it for 2 years so you can only emagine what it went through.

[RAY185]

Shonky mechanic for not adjusting the clutch to suit the customers preference? I'd say more 'careless'.
.

Shonky I reckon, any mechanic who reckons it is ok to hand a customers car back after clutch work with a clutch that is most likely not bled properly and certainly not set correctly is shonky.

It's a little more than careless to road test the car and not then set the clutch up correctly before handing it back to the paying customer.

Pedal freeplay should be approx 1/2 to 1".

Aside from that my obversation that the shackle inverted on the hoist is just guesswork and you are correct, if the suspension is in good nick it shouldn't invert.

Ok, perhaps my definition of shonky differs greatly to yours. I would call a mechanic shonky if he charged me for changing my clutch but didn't actually change it. Or tried to sell me a job I didn't need. Tried to cheat me in some way. Failing to adjust up a clutch is just careless in my books. Being careless isn't completely excusable, it's just a heck of a lot more excusable than being shonky. Customer should have insisted it was corrected before driving it out of the carpark.

[Guy]

Shonky mechanic for not adjusting the clutch to suit the customers preference? I'd say more 'careless'.
.

Shonky I reckon, any mechanic who reckons it is ok to hand a customers car back after clutch work with a clutch that is most likely not bled properly and certainly not set correctly is shonky.

It's a little more than careless to road test the car and not then set the clutch up correctly before handing it back to the paying customer.

Pedal freeplay should be approx 1/2 to 1".

Aside from that my obversation that the shackle inverted on the hoist is just guesswork and you are correct, if the suspension is in good nick it shouldn't invert.

Ok, perhaps my definition of shonky differs greatly to yours. I would call a mechanic shonky if he charged me for changing my clutch but didn't actually change it. Or tried to sell me a job I didn't need. Tried to cheat me in some way. Failing to adjust up a clutch is just careless in my books. Being careless isn't completely excusable, it's just a heck of a lot more excusable than being shonky. Customer should have insisted it was corrected before driving it out of the carpark.

On stuffed suspension ..Both of which are careless acts in my opinion.

[Struth]

Yep, what you call careless I call shonky, I think that if the mechanic did not do the whole job then he has ripped you off = shonky to me. A mechanic should know that a clutch needs to be adjusted when fitted. Careless would be forgetting to top up the fluid after succesfully bleeding the clutch.

Maybe bodgy is a better word, either way he wouldn't get my work or recommendation going forward.

The shackle would not have been noticed until test driving the clutch, so that could just be careless, how was the mechanic to know the bump wasn't there at first and why should he expect it happened in his workshop.

[RAY185]

We could go on all day. I'll agree I would be hesitant to go back for more work in the future.

If the OP is serious about finding out why the shackle inverted he should post up pics as suggested. Otherwise this thread is going no where.

[richardsc]

ill email u some pics ray,not sure how to put em up here