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Shackle or no shackle?


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Ok so After getting my leaf springs from hellscreek and putting them in I have to much lift. I got the 4.5" lift springs on and when we tried to bolt up the shocks they were to short. So when I called up Tom at hellscreek he said with the new leaf springs and the 2" shackles that came with my kit I'm getting around 6"-6.5" of lift. Well since I got the 4.5" lift kit from Rough country my shocks are only meant for a 4.5" lift. So as of right now I'm riding around with no rear shocks (not fun) because they can't bolt up. Tom said I need to put on my old shackles to bring it down to the right hight of 4.5". Well thanks to rust theres no safe way to re use my old shackles. He also said I can get shackles off of a 1980's Chevy blazer to bring me down to the right hight. How ever I LOVE the way it looks at 6" of lift. So should I get "new" shackles to bring it down to the 4.5" and use the RC shocks that came with my kit or should be or keep it the way it is get new shocks again and get 2" spacers for the front coil springs? Thanks for your opinion

 

Brandon

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Do you plan on running 33s? Personally I would return the shocks and get pucks for the front and get the next size up in shocks because it sounds like they gave you the wrong shocks... Take a pic of how your shocks mount to your axle tubes because you have an 8.8 right? Pictures are worth a thousand words Brandon!

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All I know is that they are the shocks that should work with the lift I have. I understand what you mean tho about only having an in of travel. But is that how thet are suposed to work? I just don't know. I may lose a bit more hight when the spings settle but :dunno:

 

Vrandon

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All I know is that they are the shocks that should work with the lift I have. I understand what you mean tho about only having an in of travel. But is that how thet are suposed to work? I just don't know. I may lose a bit more hight when the spings settle but :dunno:

 

Vrandon

 

RC is assuming that you have stock locations on your axle for shock length though... So having an 8.8 tosses a wrench in anything they have for a reference. You will most likely have to measure yourself, and tell them what you need.

 

Rob L.

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Do you plan on running 33s? Personally I would return the shocks and get pucks for the front and get the next size up in shocks because it sounds like they gave you the wrong shocks... Take a pic of how your shocks mount to your axle tubes because you have an 8.8 right? Pictures are worth a thousand words Brandon!

 

Yeah I do plan on running 33's one day but for now I'm gonna stick with my newer 31's. Ill upload a bunch of pics tomarrow at lunch just right now I'm doing this on an Ipod so I can't up load any thing. But I can tell you how they mount. The shocks mount to the inside of the spring plate that bolts up to the leaf springs. And yes I have a Ford 8.8

 

All I know is that they are the shocks that should work with the lift I have. I understand what you mean tho about only having an in of travel. But is that how thet are suposed to work? I just don't know. I may lose a bit more hight when the spings settle but :dunno:

 

Vrandon

 

RC is assuming that you have stock locations on your axle for shock length though... So having an 8.8 tosses a wrench in anything they have for a reference. You will most likely have to measure yourself, and tell them what you need.

 

Rob L.

 

That is true about RC thinking I still have a dana 35 back there however tom at hellscreek knows I have the ford axle and he said the same thing, that I have the right shocks that came with the kit and that I gotta get rid of the RC shackles to get the 4.5" shocks to mount up and work right. The next shock up is the 6" lift shock and I am unsure if that would be to much or not.

 

Brandon

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well i typed in this whole thing and then it didnt post. oh well here's basicly what i said

 

with that kit you shouldnt of even run the shackle because its meant to give even more lift. i used it only because i took out the overload leaf in my leaf pack and only went with the one inch mark to get it back to 4.5. if anything just put it in the first hole on that shackle since you have no others to use. that might give you the extra inch to at least get the shocks on but id try to find a standard shackle to put back on. also why are your shocks mounted upside down? i did the same thing but switched them around and man you can really tell the ride difference.

 

as for the pucks. i wouldnt "puck up" with the fixed LCAs you have that came with that kit. they are in no way long enough to account for six plus inches let alone the four and half you have now. get adjustable ones and id say go for it but for right now, just lower the rear back down to 4.5. its enough to have some fun with

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I would not play the X"s of lift number game. Find somewhere to completely flex out the back of your truck, maybe out some weight in the back to force the new, stiff, springs to flex. Measure the distance between the shock mounts when compressed and flexed. This will allow you to find the perfect shock for your application, no matter what set up you run.

 

From the sounds of it you never got the right sized shock for a 4.5" lift.

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as for the pucks. i wouldnt "puck up" with the fixed LCAs you have that came with that kit. they are in no way long enough to account for six plus inches let alone the four and half you have now. get adjustable ones and id say go for it but for right now, just lower the rear back down to 4.5. its enough to have some fun with

The difference in length on the LCA's from a 4.5" (16.5") to a 6.5" (17.0") lift is only 0.5" in length in regards to control arms. You can make up a good portion of that 0.5" of length with the factory adjusters/shims on the control arm mounts.

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as for the pucks. i wouldnt "puck up" with the fixed LCAs you have that came with that kit. they are in no way long enough to account for six plus inches let alone the four and half you have now. get adjustable ones and id say go for it but for right now, just lower the rear back down to 4.5. its enough to have some fun with

The difference in length on the LCA's from a 4.5" (16.5") to a 6.5" (17.0") lift is only 0.5" in length in regards to control arms. You can make up a good portion of that 0.5" of length with the factory adjusters/shims on the control arm mounts.

 

did not know :fool:

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are the shocks really mounted upside down :fool: Ill post up pic's after I eat dinner but after keeping a 4 wheeler in the bed and what not today the shocks are about an inch or so past where they get mounted. So I guess the springs have settled :dunno: So I'm going to try and mount the shocks up tomarrow. Thanks ya'll

 

Brandon

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looks like you gotta relocate you shocks to actually on the axle tube :thumbsup:

 

That is exactly what i did & it worked quite well:

 

 

 

 

I set it up so that with the springs at full travel i have about a half inch before the shock fully bottoms out.

 

~Dave

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are the shocks really mounted upside down :fool: Ill post up pic's after I eat dinner but after keeping a 4 wheeler in the bed and what not today the shocks are about an inch or so past where they get mounted. So I guess the springs have settled :dunno: So I'm going to try and mount the shocks up tomarrow. Thanks ya'll

 

Brandon

 

The shocks should not limit travel,if you only have an inch your gonna over extend the shocks when you hit bumps or try to flex.

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Ok you used shock tabs and mounted them about what an inch above where the spring plate shock mount would be? What spring plates did you use? And I can tell what axle is that? here are some pic's of what it looks like as of a few min ago:

 

Brandon

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