How legal are drop shackles??

[Whitey]

I'm assuming the drop shackles for leaf springs like the Missing link set up on the rocky road website would be illegal for use on daily driven cars?? However, has anyone got this kind of suspension set up, and how much does it affect the car if used as a daily driver??

[Beastmavster]

Drop shackles are illegal in QLD even in pinned up mode. Dunno the specs in other states, but generally speaking they're definatel illegal without them being pinned up, and probably still illegal anyway with.

[-Mick-]

I'm assuming the drop shackles for leaf springs like the Missing link set up on the rocky road website would be illegal for use on daily driven cars?? However, has anyone got this kind of suspension set up, and how much does it affect the car if used as a daily driver??

Illegal in Qld yes I have them on my zook (were on there when I got it)

Pinned up they don't make any difference at all

I reckon they suck as an offroad setup but won't do that spiel here cause you only ask about on road

[Whitey]

please feel free to discuss their capabilities(or lack of) off road as well, as I really don't know too much about their pro's and cons..

[-Mick-]

In my experience they are pretty dodgy. They CAN be an ok solution BUT not for the price of a pair of shackles alone Let me explain...

They "flop" Plain and simple they are designed to drop allowing the wheel to stay on terrafirma. Sounds good however there is no downward pressure on the tyre like a spring provides so the tyre breaks traction really easily I found many times I would have wheels hopping about, going bite - spin - bite - spin where rigs w/out flop shackles would crawl. Hope this makes sense It's like pretend travel almost

Also found mine are unpredictable at times which is a bit hairy When you would expect one to open it wouldn't allowing next to no articulation This is probably the joint binding which some designs overcome (like superior engineering ones). This is not great where you need control and predictability.

Finally pinnable ones are good but having to pin them every time you want to drive a steep slope sucks Also don't reckon they're crash hot on really off camber stuff

Mine are climax shackles btw Have also had ummm 'special' old suzisport non pinnable ones Damo has seen em

Some drop shackle packages like the complete superior packages overcome many of these problems to some extent and I reckon if people have to get them superior are the go. But the price of a complete package will buy you a full coil conversion at Overkill or other fine shops And the shackle packages still have their drawbacks like slopes, legality, and the 'flop' effect

Don't expect to buy a 500 pair of shackles and stick em on and be done with it is all I spose Unless you're the uber ramp queen I guess the ramp queen bit is a big selling tool for em anyway

There are WAY better options around for the money

End spiel Mick

[grimbo]

do a bit of a search about them on here to get the full low down on what people think of them. But in a nutshell most don't like them as Mick said. i have seen them destroy a set of springs over a weekend.

You'd be wiser to spend the money on quality springs and shocks IMHO