Outer Limits 4x4 Board

wanna do a shackle reversal in the front of my sierra when i go SPOA
but i haven't herd much feedback from any body who's done the conversion, well i just wanted to know if it's worth wile, what will it improve in ability and handling on & off road

the s/r debate is almost as split as the spoa/spua debate.

it WILL make your car drive nicer on road and off road. it'll swallow up bumps better but will dive more under brakes.

however, people will still disagree on whether having the front diff move back on compression is good or bad for driving obstacles.

i say bad. coz you need even longer travel splines in your tailshafts

383FJ45 wrote:i say bad. coz you need even longer travel splines in your tailshafts

i got a friend (Santa) who would say that as well, But at least he said it truthfully....

No flex 45, but i got lockers !!!!

From what i've seen...anything with SPOA rocks..
The trade offs are minimal and the pros outweigh the cons.

Legality however is another thing..

spoa = good
shackle reversal = i wouldnt bother
coils = even better

I think it's worthwhile doing, with the points from NAM, also you clean up the approach angle by not having shackles there. As for slip spline on the front shaft, its easy to make up a new shaft with a longer spline piece with basic tools, as you'd be making new shafts anyway with the SPOA.

Area54 wrote: as you'd be making new shafts anyway with the SPOA.

normally with a zuk u just put in a little spacer

yeah so i'ed just leave the little spacer out of the front when i do it

Depends on what you do aswell when you do a shackle reversal. It is prolly a real good time to move that front diff forward as much as you can. 2 reasons for this are better approach & because your shackles are at the back now your tyres will be coming back (towards your guard) on compression. If you don't have enough room for them then it will obviously cause headaches.
You could leave your diff in the same position and cut your guards though. totally up to you I guess.

While your approach angle will increase slightly if you leave your diff in the same position, unless you rotate your diff (more dramas!) you will only gain a very very small amount this way cause you will have to drop the front hangers to keep your castor in line. I think from memory it is only something like and 50mm more than what it would be if you have a shackle at the front. What it does do though is give you a much better way of 'sliding' up rocks etc. Your shackles are not going to invert by coming up against an immovable object etc. etc. IMO it looks heaps better not having a shackle hanging out the front too. (functionally I mean, not bling bling!)

Driving is improved on & offroad as mentioned but it will dive heaps more under brakes. (If you felt you needed to you could set up a torque rod)
It may not be too noticeable in a light zuk...? you get used to it quickly
Better shut up now cause no body likes long posts!

Forgot to mention WHY you need a longer shaft but I am sure your missus or someone else here will tell ya without much doubt you will need one with soa and sr

PS. cause you are going soa it will be easier to rotate your diff and get your castor that way. I would definitely go sr with a spring over. The other thing is that you will get a little extra height with sr. This could be good or bad depending
No I am really going now.

I have SR on my SPOA and I would NEVER go back

Better approach (marginally), rides better on and off road, rides over rocks and bumps better. Just a personal opinion, but I think it steers and tracks better.

As stated in earlier posts, you will need a long spline shaft if you go SPOA and SR. Particularly if you have mucho flexo

Do it all at once and do it properly (ie: rotate the diffs for correct pinion angle and cut and rotate your knuckles for correct castor ). Also do your wheelbase extension (if required) at the same time so you only have to get your driveshaft done once (I learnt that one the hard way - 3 times )

Dan

Edit - I have not noticed the 'extra dive' under brakes that people speak of

Another reason for doing this conversion is to reduce the chance of broken springs leaves ( specificcaly the top leaf). They are more prone to breakage after a SOA, especially the top leaf, the reason being that once greater ground clearence is achived then we tend to drive bigger obsticles, this in turn means we are forcing the front wheel into larger things and therefore placing the springpaks under greater loads. Usually its the rear eye of the pak that brakes off, an SR will "assist" with preventing this from happening.

Thanks your ideas have been really helpful so far, I herd Calmini do a bolt on shackle reversal kit so i'm gonna search the net to see what that's all about....

Also does anybody know if your legalilly alloud to do shackle rev ??


just a thought.... seeya