Outer Limits 4x4 Board

hey guys,

wondering if anyone has done this and can advise whats involved... I realise that the the hanger is welded to the plate that is riveted to the chassis.

Once you remove the plate (inc hanger) you'd have to grind off, flip and reweld. would it be easy enough to use the alignment of the hanger in its previous position but just reversed?

Would you need to re-weld the plate back on the chassis or could you bolt it on?



any thoughts and comments appreciated.

Been there, Done that!

Weld it!

I left the plate riveted and just fliped the hanger then bolted the hanger to the plate where it was rieted and some weld on the sides.

diso wrote:I left the plate riveted and just fliped the hanger then bolted the hanger to the plate where it was rieted and some weld on the sides.

Exactly what I did Andy.

is it pretty easy to grind off?

also what are the legal implications if any?

shorty_f0rty wrote:is it pretty easy to grind off?

also what are the legal implications if any?

Pain in the arse. Not hard, just time consuming. Doubt its legal but pretty hard to pick. Just make the welds neat (factory looking) and I doubt you'd have a problem. Paint it all chassis black (or whatever colour your chassis is).

1. your suspension works fine, why bother changing it now?
2. you should have done this when you did your suspension changes before!!!

leave the riveted plate alone. Grind the welds on the hanger, prise it off, clean it up, flip it, clamp in place, measure everything carefully and weld it up. This will not change the legal status of your car one bit. You car is already illegal as it is anyway!!

well.. i want to get rid of the extended shackles..

if i put std 45series shackles on they will fit ok on the front without mods but the rear needs a hanger flip..

if i can ditch the extended shackles the car will be 100% legal..

with the new laws i dont need the hassles of a court appearance if i get done again..

What springs are you using shorty_f0rty? Can I have your shackles if/when you change them?

I'm looking into fitting 60 or 75 series spring to my FJ40 too but I can't decide which ones.

I want maximum articulation so 75 series would be the go cos they're longer yeah?

What springs are you using wicked? Your's looks pretty tuff too....

ChrisV wrote:What springs are you using shorty_f0rty? Can I have your shackles if/when you change them?

I'm looking into fitting 60 or 75 series spring to my FJ40 too but I can't decide which ones.

I want maximum articulation so 75 series would be the go cos they're longer yeah?

What springs are you using wicked? Your's looks pretty tuff too....

i might hang on to my shackles.. never know when i might need them..

my rears are 60series (load leaf removed) + 75 leaf (3rd longest)
my fronts are 75 (3 longest) and 40 (4 remaining short leaves)

does good for flex and ride.. need longer shocks tho.

Thanks.

75 in the front? Are they 75 series front springs? Are they longer or shorter than 60 series rears?

hi chris, sorry not sure if they are fronts or rear 75 springs but i think they are fronts.

any tool of choice for removing these hangers? the grinder is working.. so is a hacksaw! .. slow and easy.. its a pain in the a$$!

I took the whole rear bumper off and re-jigged it entirely, pushing the hangers back, so the shackles were out the back of the car.

use a 1mm disc to actually cut through the welds there really not great welds so they dont take much to get through

then drillout the rivits and use a cold chisel if you missed any weld spots

RAY185 wrote: Pain in the arse. Not hard, just time consuming.

shorty_f0rty wrote: slow and easy.. its a pain in the a$$!

SNAP



I'll give you a call tomorrow Andy, hope you're enjoying yourself.

hah.. enjoying myself.. this is too much like hard work!

well i got one off.. halfway there!

got a chisel which is helping.

yay! both are off.. and cleaned up.. time to mount.

Could you please post some pics of the process you go through when re-mounting them.

Thanks.

ChrisV wrote:Could you please post some pics of the process you go through when re-mounting them.

Thanks.

heres a few pics that i took this arvo..
hangers off and cleaned up.



i got some 30mm m12 high tensile bolts, spring washers and nylock nuts to hold the hangers back on.

the end of the shackle was offset which will make remounting a bit harder.

i marked the appoximate center of the hanger with a center punch, drilled a 12m hole. then clamped it under the cross member. marked where a hole should be and drilled.
i didnt remove the springs so the drill wasnt straight, so it meant the hangers were not as straight as they could be. maybe welding it will fix it up.

put both wheels on. diff is on its own weight and chassis held up by jackstands.


crappy fone pics the shackle angle looks good with no weight.

Lookin good. Thanks heaps for the pics.

I ran a 3.5" longer spring from a FJ55 (I thik 60 series rear too for the big eye) but my 55 springs had a steel thing pushed in too convert to small eye, so removed that and it worked.

If you are going to run the same springs you could get bad inversion problems.

bj on roids wrote:I ran a 3.5" longer spring from a FJ55 (I thik 60 series rear too for the big eye) but my 55 springs had a steel thing pushed in too convert to small eye, so removed that and it worked.

If you are going to run the same springs you could get bad inversion problems.

why do you reckon that bj? I noticed my shackle angle with the hanger in the normal position is pretty flat (40deg maybe).. this should make it a bit more vertical (45-50deg) and making full use of the droop cycle..

with these springs and the hanger in the normal position the shackle rarely got past vertical on full droop.

i dont plan on swapping springs with the 60 springs already in there.

finished the flip today.. had it bolted on with a nylock nut and did some pretty poor welding on one end. I plan to get it welded properly tomorrow.

need to flex it up properly to know the benefit tho. stock shackles on it at the moment and the angle up the back is perfect.

still a few things to do to make it all work tho. longer bumpstops to start with. the stock shackle compresses flat against the chassis.. theres still plenty left on droop and i reckon its the shocks holding it back there.

static shackle angle.


longer bumpstop should help with this..


need to remove shocks and find a bigger ditch.

had a slight lean and it was because the drivers side hanger wasnt far back enough. elongated the hole a few mm and its now sitting even.

gets welded up tomorrow.

I know that you want to keep it legal and use the standard shackles, but if you used longer shackles it would resolve your issue of bottoming the shackles out on the chassis....

ChrisV wrote:I know that you want to keep it legal and use the standard shackles, but if you used longer shackles it would resolve your issue of bottoming the shackles out on the chassis....

yes it would. the length of the shackle would allow the spring to flatten out completely. with the shorter shackle its only allowing the shackle to go horizontal which is limiting how much compression or how flat the leaf springs get. I had a similar issue with the longer shackles and the rear hanger in the stock position.. i could compress the rear enough so the shackle is horizontal out the back.

i could calculate the perfect shackle length but it would be over stock so it doesnt really matter what you try. at least now I can choose to swap in the longer shackles and know my stock shackles fit (this was an issue before as i had changed leaf packs so the stock shackles on the rear wouldn't rear the hangers in their stock position).

got the hangers welded in this morning.. $50 and its sorted.. so all done now (no pix yet)

Awesome stuff Andy. How good are those scroll drill bits?

RAY185 wrote:Awesome stuff Andy. How good are those scroll drill bits?

yep pretty good .. i'll have to remember those for the toolbox!

i ended up drilling about 3 x 4mm holes, then slowing stepping them up until i could use the 12mm bit, then i used the scroll drill to clean it up a but..

still it took a bit on 6mm steel... but it got there in the end.. and there is no more slight lean since fixing it up!

i'll drop those around at lunchtime ray. Thanks again for the loan of some of your tools/welder too! helped out heaps!

Yeah no worries man. I wont be here this arvo. Heading off to a function fairly soon. You know where they go in any case.