Ford 4wd Rear Shackle Flip - Page 2

Jsweezy · 06-24-2018, 11:24 AM

No problem. Always feels good to show others how they can drain themselves financially on their vans like I do.

I actually get tired of grinding because of all of the fine dust so I just use an air hammer on rivets now. One thing i learned is if you sharpen the tip of the air chisel with a grinder it goes through these rivets fairly easily. So ya just air chisel off the head, beat the hanger bracket with a 5lb sledge until it comes off, air chisel off the stub of the rivet sticking outside of the frame and then just use a punch to pop the backside out of the frame. It didnt take very long.

Honestly I dont even know what direction to point you with yiur advanced conversion because there doesnt seem to be a set system on how they do things. I guess if it were me id take it to a legit alignment shop and see if they recommend some sort of offset shim or plate. And then just hope it doenst create any other hang ups.

Jsweezy · 06-24-2018, 11:31 AM

MSD - Thanks! And ya the top doesnt seem so big when it is lifted with 34" tires. It almost seems proportionate now ha ha.

arctictraveller · 06-24-2018, 03:19 PM

I would love to get rid of the 4in blocks on my rear axle to eliminate some of the axle wrap I now experience, so you may have a good solution for me. I didn't totally understand the whole shackle flip concept, but then I found this:
Pros and Cons of Shackle Reversal Now I get it.

Thanks for the write up....................

boywonder · 06-24-2018, 05:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by arctictraveller

I would love to get rid of the 4in blocks on my rear axle to eliminate some of the axle wrap I now experience, so you may have a good solution for me. I didn't totally understand the whole shackle flip concept......

Artictraveller: Just read your linked article on shackle reversal....that is different than shackle flip.

The article describes shackle and axle behavior with the fixed shackle toward the front of the vehicle (desired) and the fixed shackle towards the rear of the vehicle for each leaf spring.

The shackle "flip" brackets flip the shackle.....if you crawl under your van and look at your rear spring shackles and then look at the flip brackets you'll see the difference. With the OEM setup the springs are connected to the top of the shackle with the van body suspended off of the bottom of the shackle. Flipping the shackle so that the body is connected to the top of the shackle and the spring to the bottom effectively lifts the van by the length of the shackle plus or minus whatever height is corrected with the new brackets....and as Jsweezy mentioned...lowering the rear of the springs tilts the pinion a bit more towards the trans...potentially a good thing.

Jsweezy · 06-24-2018, 05:14 PM

Ya that article is a "shackle reversal" from front to rear BUT it does explain the benefits of the "shackle flip" that I did by talking about the fixed point in the front and the shackle in the rear.

Jsweezy · 08-28-2018, 01:58 PM

Just wanted to update with how the exhaust was handled. I initially cut it just at the end of the down after it goes over the axle. The exhaust guys took it from there.

jblaze5779 · 09-06-2018, 02:18 PM

How long have you been driving without a front drive shaft? I've been driving with 2wd and solid axle for a year now with no issues. I'm about to install my transmission and transfer case. Are there any issues with not having the front shaft installed on the transfer case and driving in 2wd?

Jsweezy · 09-06-2018, 02:29 PM

Well I only have 250 miles on the suspension since the conversion so only for 250 miles but no nothing wrong with it. I just need to notch the crossmember to make room for the front driveshaft and then its going in.

Only issue is spending all that money and not getting to use it ha ha.

Mikerson · 03-04-2019, 10:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jsweezy

I wouldnt say this is and end all to lifting the rear of a van because I dont know how it would handle all situations (towing?) but for a fairly light cruisier with a 5.4 that wont see much other than hauling people as a light camper this seems to be the way to go.

Thanks for your thread here, Jsweezy. Have you towed anything with this setup yet? I will regularly be towing a 20.5 ft fiberglass boat and I'm curious if you have any insights now that you've had the setup for a while.

unreng · 03-05-2019, 11:42 AM

So this suspension trick - flipping the rear leaf spring shackle - has been utilized by the dent side ford crowd for a long time. I installed Sky's kit on my 78 F150 4x4 years ago, but it has drawbacks regarding the shackle cycling.

So i removed the Sky kit for taller leaf springs, and custom tension shackles...think Camburg leaf spring shackles, only longer.

Although Sky may be one of the originators of this design for Fords, members may wish to also check RuffStuffSpecialties - https://www.ruffstuffspecialties.com...og/UNFLIP.html

RuffStuff's design is somewhat different in that it allows more shackle cycling.

Towing is a little different with compression shackles (Sky/RuffStuff) vs tension shackles (OEM), but there should be no worries as long as common sense is followed.

I still have the Sky shackle hanger, and tensions shackles, if any member wants to try them...just apy shipping (they will need to be repainted/repowdercoated).

Chris
Reno, NV