Extended Shackles Vs Body Lift

[dank]

Car is an 88 WT SWB Sierra. 2inch susp, 30 inch MTs. 9000lb Winch on ARB bar.

Have beaten guards out, gone sik with the angle grinder on bumper mounts and around the guard trying to make room for tiny 30 inch MTs which are still getting chewed on the front. I don't want to mod bumpstops!

So i'm thinking i've gotta get some more room under there... What are your opinions on 2inch shackles vs 2inch bodylift.

84Zooksta mentioned that my COG will stay lower with a BL, so considering the amount of time the zook spends on 3 and sometimes 2 wheels this is an issue.

But then again I will probably gain more articulation with some extended shackles.

I wheel in Vic usually slippery deep rutted steep tracks and mud when its around.

I need guidance from the gods!

cheers
Dan

[jtraf]

why don't you come out on a trip with the Suzuki club or come to a couple of meetings and see what others have done.

With a 2in suspension lift and 2in body lift and some creative 4in grinder work I will be running a 34in tyre in a SPUA sierra........

Quite a few guys running 31's or larger.....

[HotAe92]

i snapped a chassis mount due to the body lift i have in mine. I would recommend those who are considering a body lift to steer clear unless other avenues of lift have already been used.

Cheers
Jayden

[christover1]

I moved my front axle forward 20mm that fixed a lot of rubbings.
I also have 50mm body lift and extended shackles.
I've never had any issues that I could put down to BL.
BL at first made me feel insecure on angles, cos of sitting up higher, but I got used to it. Most of the weight is still low down.
Extended shackles does affect handling, but you adjust ya driving..
You need to match your shocks to the extension to gain most benefit.
But you can get away with same shox if you don't extend too much.

I run 32" Mongrels, which measure 31" exactly.
With all this, I have still extended front bump stops 15mm.
But the loss of up travel is offset by the gain in down travel.
I have replaced some metal on inner guards with rubber, so tyres don't get chewed if they do contact.

christover

[jo_shnz]

you could go ruf with chassis extension so u dont need extended shackles that will give u alot of room

[Gwagensteve]

Dan,

Extended shackles are a very ineffective way of fitting a tyre. A 2" longer than stock shackle will lift the car 1".

However, the tyre will still contact the bumpstop when you flex, so they will still rub, just not as often. You will not gain any real wheel travel as the shocks are the limiting factor. If you buiold shackles with centre bars, you will lose articuation as they are too stiff. If you build them without, you will tend to have wobbly handling. Either way, you will knock caster out of the frontend which will make the car scarier on the road.

A body lift is a good way to go, but is not neccesary to run a 30. I have built a number for club members, and despite some being on daily driven cars for over 7 years, have never had any problem with a BL.

If you want to go beyond 31, a BL will become necessary for a SPUA car.

Don't be a hater regarding lowering the bumpstops. It is a very effective way of fitting a tyre and running a longer shock. In fact it is only way of running a longer shock (for more overall wheel travel) in the stock mounts.

I now use new bumpstop brackets refabbed 2" lower on pretty much anything I would build now. IMHO they are invaluable in running the big tyres we are setting up on cars in the club (34"+) and getting the right balance of shock mount height, overall car height and can help to force more articulation if set up right.

you didn't say where they are touching. are they rubbing on the back edge of the front bumper bracket? if you have done what you are saying, this should be the only place they will touch. This HAS to be removed to run a 30. Careful though, this will seriously weaken the mounts for the ARB bar and it will not be safe to recover or winch from once this is done.

As per J Traf - come along to the suzuki Club meeting. Countless people have dealt with the same issues you have now.

Steve.

[dank]

My major issue is the arb bar. I won't cut off the outrigger bars that the bar is mounted because then my bar is rendered almost useless and if i lift the body the bar is going to sit too low so i'll have to fab up some sorta mount to lift the bar as well.

Extended shackles seems like the easier way but on road handling won't be great.

I found that the tires were rubbing early on on the bumper outriggers which i chopped right back with the grinder to the bar pretty much so that the only thing on the inside of the guard is the bar coming out and the top mounting hole for the bumper. I drilled another hole for the ARB bar so its still got two bolts attached on the outside.

Later on I found that the tires were rubbing on the back of the guard at the bottom of the body when the wheel was up in the arch and turned so i chopped and bashed some more to make room. It seems a lot better now but i was considering going longer shocks to make full use of the 2inch susp as the ones supplied seem too short although i haven't confirmed it yet.


cheers
DAn

[OVERKILL ENG]

I personally would go with the extended shackles over the bodylift.The shackles will let the suspension work better.
The amount of chassis and body mounts we have had to repair cause of bodylifts is the reason we build all our trucks without them.
This topic will stsrt some arguments for sure about different oppinions.

SAM

[Gwagensteve]

Neither is going to help in this case.

Dan, cross your car up with the steering at lock. you will find that your tyre is in contact with a lot of that bumper bracket, not just a corner, or 1" of it.

I think that the tyre will be touching hard on that bracket about 1/2 way up the tube. that means that almost no amount of shackle lift will help unless the shackles are so long (I'm thinking about 4"-6" over stock) that the axle can't reach the bumpstop. This is not safe or feasible.

You will have to space your bumpstops to prevent this problem. Try a 2" over stock length shackle and add 1" to the bumpstop. This might allow you to get away with it.

I am not aware of any cars in the club that still have the bumper bracket in place.

Steve.

PS, yes longer shackles do make the suspension work better. but they are a really dumb way to gain clearance or lift the car.

I have never had to repair any cars because of one of my BL's, and I have done about 15 cars all up now. I have seen dodgy body lifts cause all sorts of damage though, but even stock sierras (if they have been flogged hard enough) will split the chassis around the body mounts.

If you are trying to run a decent sized tyre with a SPUA car then a BL becomes necessary. There is no place for a BL on a SPOA car- yet I keep seeing them they make sierras scary as hell.

[lay80n]

2ND the no bodylift in a SPOA car, after i went SPOA i had some personal drama in my life, and my car was SPOA with 2 inch BL for a while. Now that the BL is out, it is much nicer to drive, on and off road 9also picked up avg of .5l better economy . I also noticed that the body mounts had started to stress from the body life too. I have the ARB bumper, with brackets intact (but support is long gone, dont use it for hard revocery etc) but i have modified bump stops to take advantage of SPOA and longer shocks. If you want to keep you car low and stable you will righte have to limit travel, or possibly look at a custom tube bar that allows better clearence.
Layto....

[HotAe92]

The amount of chassis and body mounts we have had to repair cause of bodylifts is the reason we build all our trucks without them.

Amen. Body lifts are poo. Body Lifts + Suzuki thin chassis = snap, snap, snap

[Nev]

i dont think a body lift or shackles will stop the tyres rubbing on the bumper mount...still rubbed on mine when i used to run 31's with 2" spring, 2" body and 1" shackles. Personally i would find a way to mount the arb bar to the chassis and chop the bumper mounts off....i have seen several arbs done this way and then i doubt ud have a problem. maybe then get extendeds for a bit more flex and maybe room to fit the 30's. just my opinion though...im sure as sam said there will be a big variety of opinions so we may as well give you all and let u chose!

[lay80n]

Talking about chopping the chassis outrigger mounts off, and just leaving the mounting tabs for the ARB there??
Layto....

[Bentzook]

Bodi-lifts are good if you lift the body mounts !

And it allowed the fitting of larger sized motor/gearbox/transfercases, without having to make ugly cutting of the body/tunnel.