Drop Shackles setup

[Barno111]

G'day fellas

Im looking at putting drop shackles in the arse of my 75 to try get some type of flex out of it! Now do i need to run a ladder bar?? As i want to run them with just my current set up. which is fairly soft but still hard enough to take some load! Any advice on this is good advice. And yes i have thought about coiling it but im probly going to sell in a year or too. Just saving the dosh so i can get exactly what i want.

[BadMav]

Mate from experience you will have to dramatically increase the wheel track on your 75 as the chassis is very wide in the rear and the tyres hit when articulating. I never got my drop shackles working before I sold my 75. On a side note, the 45's had a slightly narrower chassis which helped with rear articulation plus the chassis itself flexed too.

And no you don't need a ladder bar, it will only increase roll stiffness anyway. Get some flipped rims or buy some wheel spacers, even without drop shackles you'll be surprised at the flex it will gain.

[Towie]

I would look at 1 inch spacers each side with 2 inch extended shackles that way you get 1 inch lift & 25mm each side wider track & more room before scrubbing tyres..

As BadMav said it will flex better - also could have the upper leafs reset & remove one to flex it some more & still carry some load.

[Barno111]

Yer mate already got bigger off set rims! Al though i do srub but thats not a drama! Im more worried about the set up! The scrubing doesnt worry me!

[jimmy087]

barno its all good and well to put drop shakles in your cruizer if only they open enough to gain any wheel travel over standard, things that limit this is spring rate, the amount of leaves, the length of the leaves and the placment of your shocks so some of these issues may need to be adressed before the shakles go in








cheers jimmy

[Barno111]

Does anyone have any info on this! I've already got longer wraps and mains. Shocks havent been inverted yet! But i am doing that soon. I was hoping with the longer leaves they will open up!

[BadMav]

Barno, This is my old, old rig. Stock springs with retainers removed, 6 inch longer RAW shocks and 8 inch long anti inv shackles, that's it.

[jimmy087]

how much longer are your leaves as from my own expirience with a hilux and superior drop shakles its recomended that leaves be 200 mm longer than standard to get them to operate to there potential, also have found with leaves is try to get them nice and flat and gain your lift with other things ,tyres ,shakles etc as with leaves with a big camber are usually really hard to compress and often wont compress till it is flat giving u minimal up travel wereas its much easier to get the leaves to droop providing they are long enough to allow a decent amount of articulation






cheers jimmy

[Barno111]

the rear leaves are over all 65mm longer. 50mm in the back and 15 in the front! im only running a camber of 2inch over standard standard camber but once in the came back down a inch. The arse flexes ok but nothing brillant! im just tossing around some ideas to try get it to work better!

[mellows40]

I'm running drop shackles in the rear of my 40.. i love em.. just removed the old shackles and bolted the droppers straight in the only problem brake lines... you will have to extend em so you dont rip them out.. but after that they give you excelent travel... all be it never as good as coils..got no pics of rear flex..... I'll have to remedy that...

[Evski]

The advice I got was that 75 series Cruisers work best with a 220mm longer pack with 9 x 7mm leaves and no load bearers. Also you will need wheel spacers for chassis clearance, and the shocks need to be repositioned with a top shock bar (requires a body lift apparantly). This was from the guys at Superior Engineering so have a chat to them about the best results.

[mellows40]

evski,
I'm running superior drop shackles... they work well

[Barno111]

Well im not running any load bearing springs in it! And as for the scrubbing on the the chassis! I already have that problem so i just put up with it! Anyway thanks for the comments fellas! If i put them on i will post up some pictures!

[BadMav]

Tyres scrubbing on the chassis is the reason mine didn't work. Wheel spacers or wider offset rims would have fixed it but it was sold before I did it. The tyre under compression rotating into the chassis is what stops the other end from drooping. You could take the shackle out and it still wouldn't droop any further. I hope you get them working Barno, but I think you'll be looking for some flipped rims or spacers sooner than you think.

Rowen

[Barno111]

if i go to 35s they will be on big off set rims! But i almost hit my tire on my tray as is! But i will see what happens and work from there!

[TheBigBoy]

Been there done that. The front of the 75 flex's great. The rear is crap. If your tyres are almost rubbing the tray now the lengthen your shackle size or use bump stops. The ONLY way to get good flex is cut out and reweld your srping eyelet further back and get a new correct length spring pack made up. You will have to space your drive shaft and wheels will set 20 - 30mm further back.

[Barno111]

Cheers for that! Yer i have thought of all options! And i really dont want to start chopping and welding the chassis! If i cant get the flex i want out of the arse and i make up my mind to keep it! I will end up coiling the arse! That way i can weild a whole new crossmember in place for the arms and take it out when i want to sell it!