is my computation correct? (extending shackles)

by **JJCarEnthusiast** » Wed May 13, 2009 1:38 pm

my MU has 5" stock shackles. i want to lift it 2" so do i add 4" to the stock? so i will fabricate a 9" shackle? am i right? isn't this too long for an extended shackle? and what is the maximum recommended shackle length? thanks

1

by **geeves** » Wed May 13, 2009 3:26 pm

They need to be made strongly with a cross brace in the middle. Use 10mm thick steel and you should be ok.
We measure our shakles from pin center to pin center and this normaly gives 100mm or 4 inches which we double for the same lift. If you are measureing the whole lenght of the shackle then it is the same.
Check your local rules before doing this. Not every country allows this type of lift

MY YouTube · by **pig75** » Wed May 13, 2009 6:04 pm

Don't forget extending shackles puts more load on the mounts and this will happen eventually

by **mulover** » Wed May 13, 2009 6:07 pm

The only trouble with extending your shackles this long is they can dig into banks when you reverse up them, apart from that its probably the cheapest and easiest way to do a lift.

by **JJCarEnthusiast** » Thu May 14, 2009 4:50 pm

shackle extension is ok in my country rules.

so is it ok to have a 9" shackle? or is it too long?

by **Demonic** » Thu May 14, 2009 6:13 pm

Will you do the torsion bars to level the front out? are you matching the front IFS to the shackles or the shackles to the IFS?

by **geeves** » Fri May 15, 2009 6:27 am

If strong enough its ok

by **mulover** » Fri May 15, 2009 6:09 pm

That would be the longest I'd go, any longer and you should be getting new springs that have lift built into them.

by **JJCarEnthusiast** » Fri May 15, 2009 9:56 pm

1/2 thick steel, should it be ok?

@demonic yes i will do torsion bar cranking up front. but i will also do a ball joint flip and shave the bumpstops to give more additional travel.

another question about the bumpstop. sorry this' a bit offtopic :oops:

bumpstops are the one stopping travel so that the suspension travel won't go beyond the shock's maximum compression right? so what if i shaved my bumpstop? what will happen to my shock? or is it ok if i change the shock?

thanks man

by **mulover** » Sat May 16, 2009 1:02 pm

10 or 12mm will be sweet for your hangers.
You are right about the bump stops limiting the travel, but the shocks have enough travel and in them to handle the extra travel you will gain, even if you cut both top and bottom.
Because of the shocks mounting postion, close to the pivot, they don't need to travel very far, but hence you need a stiffer shock as they have to work harder (hope that makes sense).
A word of worning though, i cut both my bump stops in half and and did the ball joint filp with a 6mm spacer, and gained heaps of travel which is great. But i broke 3 or 4 cv joints in a short space of time. I would recommend lowering your diff by 20mm to save your cv joints. 20mm is the perfect distance, any lower and the inner cv's pop out of their housing when the suspension is fully compressed.

by **JJCarEnthusiast** » Sun May 17, 2009 5:17 pm

darn ifs. and those joints..errr :evil:

anyway i would only do a 2" lift. any further and i might do a sas (well after thet ifs tears down to pieces) using dana 44 and dana 30 from a korando or yet a mitsubishi jeep. they are one of the cheapest danas around.

by **geeves** » Sun May 17, 2009 5:57 pm

That would make an interesting project. The Korando is coil sprung. Not sure on the mitsi jeep. Only ever seen one in the flesh and that was in a car sales yard

by **mulover** » Mon May 18, 2009 12:50 pm

Even if you only do a 2" lift, by cutting the bump stops your gaining heaps of travel which causes the problem with the cv's.

by **JJCarEnthusiast** » Mon May 18, 2009 8:22 pm

@geeves but that ain't happening now

@mulover yes it really depends on the terrain and your driving style...who invented IFS???!! :evil:

by **JJCarEnthusiast** » Mon May 18, 2009 8:29 pm

oh i forgot.

the common korando here in the philippines is with leaf spring. the mitsubishi jeep also uses leaf springs. im not sure how are they related but they both use dana 30 front and dana 44 rear. i opt for a coil spring conversion after because of articulation. but im tempted to buy a mitsu jeep instead

by **geeves** » Mon May 18, 2009 8:35 pm

Nothing wrong with IFS. If you look at some of the trucks that race the Baja they have over a meter of travel and they use it all while doing 120mph or more. Problem is that they cost huge money to build like that

by **JJCarEnthusiast** » Tue May 19, 2009 11:11 am

maybe they have cvs like hinges?

by **mulover** » Tue May 19, 2009 12:46 pm

Its to do with the lenth of the half shafts. Isuzu's have some of the shortest half shafts around for the size of the vechile. The toyota design is maybe 50 - 100mm long and makes a big difference. there are some 6x6 and 8x8 off road trucks that have the diff head right in the middle and the inner cv is right on the side of the diff.

by **JJCarEnthusiast** » Tue May 19, 2009 3:17 pm

can half shafts be extended? or not?

by **geeves** » Tue May 19, 2009 6:17 pm

It will affect other parts of the suspension so not practical. Live axle would be easier

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