JKS Shackles

[jeepcoma]

I picked up some JKS "boomerang" shackles (P/N OGS651) to replace my rusty stock ones. Not looking for lift or anything, just to replace the worn out shackle bushings and replace the rusted metal at the same time with something a bit heavier duty for heavy MT loads.

 

They arrived yesterday and they look very nice, thick metal, good welds, even coating, and grease-able. Hopefully swapping them in today or tomorrow, with pics to follow.

 

If anyone is interested, I ordered from jeep4x4center.com which I found to have the best price (it was about $100 shipped), and I got a coupon with the shackles: $10 off any order of $75+

JEEPCODE-SHIN

[Northup]

Really interested in your pics of this. I have heard mixed things about these shackles. Would like to know what you think of them when you get them on.

[jeepcoma]

I have heard mixed things about these shackles.

 

That's interesting, what have you heard? I read a few good things about there here (from CWlongshot I think) but to be honest didn't do a heck of a lot of research on them (compared to most things I buy) since I just needed a beefier stock replacement with no extra lift. I don't really do much off-roading (and certainly not wheeling) so I wasn't too concerned with that aspect of performance. About the only thing I really heard as a complaint is that they're not "really" a boomerang design because the angle isn't great enough... though I'm not really sure what the advantages of a boomerang design are other than that it's for offroad.

 

Once I get off my butt I'm going out to install these so I should have some pics later.

[mkbruin]

I think he was referring to

boomerang:

 

Versus

 

Boomerang:

 

The former is known to unload abruptly, causing massive instability among other sereve and possibly dangerous offroading characteristics.

 

The latter is perfectly normal, and preferable.

[Northup]

No, I was not refearing to the teraflex shackles.

 

I was talking to someone on the chat here and they told me that they can cause leaf spring issues, that the angles of the shackle is not great for the comanche and that I should go with check drop shackles over those. I havent looked into it very much either and I am in the same boat, I mostly just DD my manche so I still would like to see the photos of them installed to see what angles they are at.

[JeepcoMJ]

teraflex shackles are NOT boomerang shackles. not even close.

 

northup, you were probably talking to me. teraflex shackles can NOT function properly without twisting your leaf springs. they are a terrible idea.

[mkbruin]

The regular boomerangs should never cause any spring issues.

 

Between factory shackles, boomerang shackles, or XJ lift or Chevy Drop (if going for slight lift) there shouldn't be issues.

 

 

Now, only a shackle lift is not the best idea, and sometimes can cause premature sag or driveline angles that are off... but overall should be fine.

 

Since he is retaining stock-height, there is no change on the driveline angles and there should be no issue at all.

[jeepcoma]

Pics as promised. It took a lot longer than it should have (probably should have learned my lesson on saying that by now...) because of frozen bolts, the ones that attached to the frame (luckily I had recently removed the spring-side bolts to swap in my metric tonne springs), then a trip to the hardware store.

 

Here's me successfully extracting the lower bolts. The uppers I had to cut off. I used a cutoff wheel on the driver's side since I couldn't get the bolt to move at all. The wheel fit up the inside of the mounting tabs so I could cut both sides off and leave rest of the bolt in the bushing. The passenger was easier, since I could move the bolt out some of the way, I used a sawzall then pushed the cut-off head side back in to wiggle the top out.

 

Old vs new:

 

 

Also I think I put them in backwards. I just needed to get them in to move the truck out of the driveway, so I compared the bracing on the stock vs old one and put them in that way. But it resulted in quite a bit of lift and all the pictures above show it "pointing" in towards the middle of the leaf. Mine are pointed away, out the back. Guess I'll have to drop the axle and swap them around :fs1:

 

And just look at my rusty springs and ubolts, after just one winter and not even a year old :( (there really needs to be a crying smiley)

 

[JeepcoMJ]

nice. now take them off and flip them 180 degrees so they're on the right way :roll:

 

 

the purpose of boomerang shackles is to put a forward angle on the shackle (the bend goes forward) which aids in forcing the spring to to rearward when compressed while flexing. the way you have it, it won't do that...

 

oh, the ride gets better when it's done the right way, too.

 

-Pat

[87Warrior]

Those look good. Putting them on my list. How much lift, if any, did it really net you?

 

I have had great experiences with all of my JKS parts. I had one swaybar disco bend a little and they sent me a new one with no fuss.

[jeepcoma]

Swapped them around the right way yesterday and got it all fixed up. Took it for a test drive, seems to ride nice. Too bad I couldn't do a back-to-back comparison to see if they made any difference, but pushing up and down on the rear bumper everything moves nice and smooth. And really, I just did it for peace of mind to get rid of the rusted originals (and bad bushings) than for any "upgrade".

 

 

 

I didn't want any lift from them, but I didn't happen to measure before I did the swap. Eyeballing it though it looks minimal, maybe half an inch. Seems to be sitting just a tad higher than it was with the stockers.

 

[Pete M]

:cry: here ya go. :thumbsup: I thought we had a better one, but I don't see it.

[Automan2164]