[Mike]

is there a simple way of working out how long shackles need to be to get a specific ride height?

cheers

[_noddy]

every 2 inch you get a inch so its half

[Mike]

ok i'll explain what i'm doing
i've got springs in the back of my zook that are around 3inches higher then standard and what i'm trying to workout is how long i need to get front shackles made up for my reset rears so that the car sits level

[Zook_Fan]

almost the ratio is like 2.125:1 in inch so every 2.125 inch extra long you get 1 inch lift

[_noddy]

your going to have one big shackles

[CairnsZook]

Mike, I don't think there is any "formula" for what you are after.

You will just have to experiment with different lengths to get what you want.

3" longer than standard sounds pretty scary to me for the rear end. I can't even imagine what it would do to your steering geometry in the front end

[Mike]

CairnsZook wrote:

Mike, I don't think there is any "formula" for what you are after.

You will just have to experiment with different lengths to get what you want.

3" longer than standard sounds pretty scary to me for the rear end. I can't even imagine what it would do to your steering geometry in the front end

i mean 3" lifted springs i got the standard shackles on the back
the steering geometry is already pretty off because everything is bent

[BlueSuzy]

My shackles are double the size... I have seen worse!

[Mike]

BlueSuzy wrote:

My shackles are double the size... I have seen worse!

what thickness steel did you use for them?

[BlueSuzy]

50 x 10 flatbar. Thick, but strong. Alot of people use thinner. But dont go too thin!

[Mike]

i got 50x5mm would that be thick enough?

[CairnsZook]

Yeah, OK, I've had a few so maybe I didn't read that quite right...
So you've had your springs reset and now they don't sit level? Did you reset the fronts too?

My 2" lifted leaves did not sit level either. The rear was a little higher than the front, which really gave me the shits.

3" lifted leaves. How does the car ride? Must be hell on your kidneys...
Mine were stiff as all hell. They were only comfortable after I took some leaves out. Then it leveled out too.

I would only use shackle length to "trim" your ride height. Changing the length too much will have other effects that really don't want to have to deal with.

[Mike]

i've got efs springs in the back which are about 65mm higher than the original springs
i'm using reset standard rears in the front and want to use longer shackles instead of doing a chassis extention
i don't think the ride will be any worse than it was with the stuffed shocks it had before

[Rockhopper]

extra long shackles in the front are in my opinion a big no no. It will throw your steering geometry out heaps. If I were you, get yourself an over the counter size of extended shackle to mount up your front springs and remove leaf's from the back springs to lower it a little. The added benefits of that is you'll get better flex in the back and a much more comfortable ride.

[royce]

pretty sure somebody already said put an extra leaf in teh front to level it up, rears are too soft standard for the front

[Brett]

get every thing mounted up then jack up the car till is about a 1nch higher than you want at the front. that will be about right for the shackels.

[Mike]

royce wrote:

pretty sure somebody already said put an extra leaf in teh front to level it up, rears are too soft standard for the front

don't worry royce i listened to you and put the extra leaf from the new rears into the old rears

[Mike]

Brett wrote:

get every thing mounted up then jack up the car till is about a 1nch higher than you want at the front. that will be about right for the shackels.

so just sit the diff at the height will sit at with tyres then jack the body an inch higher than it needs to be?

[Mike]

Brett wrote:

get every thing mounted up then jack up the car till is about a 1nch higher than you want at the front. that will be about right for the shackels.

so just sit the diff at the height will sit at with tyres then jack the body an inch higher than it needs to be?

[royce]

how much too low is it?

I think you would be better to try and get teh springs reset

[Mike]

its a ruf so the springs are too long anyway
i think on here somewhere it says you get about 2inches of lift from a ruf and i'm trying to get about 2.5

[royce]

there is no garauntee on lift as you never know how flogged the springs are to begin with

I would bolt it together with 2" longer shackles and see how far off it is

[Mike]

they are reset there not flat like most of the rears i've seen

[royce]

did you get them reset?

I have never seen a flat rear, my RUF had stock rear plus 1 long leaf and if you sat the spring on the ground on the eyes and measured up to where the diff would bolt to it was someting like 220mm of arch to get it to match 2" lifted rears

[Mike]

they were reset when i got them but the zook did sit higher than before they were reset

[Brett]

i did my shackles 14cm bolt to bolt and they are a great match to the 2" ome i put in the rear. try that size and if you want more make some other shackles. you wont know till you load up your springs.

[Mike]

ok well if OMEs are 40mm lift and my springs are 65mm lift and in a perfect world my springs will sag the same as yours under load i would roughly need to make my shackles 50mm longer than yours to get the same height right?

[Brett]

rihgt but i use good std springs in the front. your might be stuffed or lifted and it will change every thing. just go have a go its the onlt way you will find out

[Mike]

i get what you mean i'm just gonna have to make some and try it out
i wish i had just got lifted front springs now

[Brett]

no you dont they will flex heaps better, move the diff forward, be a smoother ride and you'll be able to tell people you bulit it not just went out and payed some one to do it.

just do one shackle at a time. get it sorted then do the same size for the other side. dont worry about bracing them till you have the angle right. then just think its only 4 holes to drill to set up your shackles.