Shackle flip again > 54” springs to 56”

[DirtyLarry]

So I am in need of more load carrying capabilities as a friend and I are headed on a 9 day off-roading trip around the Grand Canyon, all over Southern Utah and Northern Arizona. That said, the truck will be loaded heavy with supplies as well as pulling a supply trailer and we will on dirt the entire time once we get into St. George, UT.

The other day I snagged a nice set of 56” springs at the local boneyard from a 1978 ¾ long bed then swapped my existing ORD rear shackle flip brackets from side to side and bolted it all together. All is well except for the angle the shackle is currently sitting at seems rather drastic to me.

Aside from moving the flip brackets backwards towards the back of the truck, what have you all done to squeeze 56” springs in a short bed? Moving the bracket is not possible on this truck as the rear winch bumper brackets wrap around the frame pretty far.

I have a set of ORD 6” HD shackles on order, which the longer shackles should decrease the angle of the shackle as well as provide a tad bit more lift according to ORD so we’ll see what happens when they show up.

I will tell you this though…the rear suspension is very flexy. I can lift the truck up with the bumper jack until the topper hits the garage ceiling while the tires barely come off the ground.

How you are you all bolting in 56” rear springs in a short bed?

From this with the shorter springs…..


To this with the 56" springs...

[Prerunner1982]

I have no answers.... but take alot of pics!

[msgross]

Is there an option to keep your current springs and add overload air bags?

[DirtyLarry]

Originally Posted by msgross

Is there an option to keep your current springs and add overload air bags?

No, certainly not bags for the type of wheeling this truck sees but I am not opposed to opening the ¾ ton spring pack to rob a few springs out of it to add to my ½ ton pack but if I can get more flex, better ride (long spring) and more load carrying capabilities by just using the 3/4 ton 56” springs I want to do that. Watson at ORD has never steered me wrong before so I am sure the longer shackles will work fine, I was just curious which route others have gone to use 56” springs in a short bed.

[Oilbrnr]

Originally Posted by DirtyLarry

No, certainly not bags for the type of wheeling this truck sees but I am not opposed to opening the ¾ ton spring pack to rob a few springs out of it to add to my ½ ton pack but if I can get more flex, better ride (long spring) and more load carrying capabilities by just using the 3/4 ton 56” springs I want to do that. Watson at ORD has never steered me wrong before so I am sure the longer shackles will work fine, I was just curious which route others have gone to use 56” springs in a short bed.

Not to get too far off topic, but did you/are you going to have to install a double cardan CV on that rear shaft? I know that the K5s are shorter than the short beds, but I was a net 9* off from the 4" shackle flip. $430 later I resolved the problemo!

In looking at your pics, it will be interesting to see how much that 6" ORD shackle will make. Is it the shackle or the bracket that you ordered?

[DirtyLarry]

Originally Posted by Oilbrnr

Not to get too far off topic, but did you/are you going to have to install a double cardan CV on that rear shaft? I know that the K5s are shorter than the short beds, but I was a net 9* off from the 4" shackle flip. $430 later I resolved the problemo!

In looking at your pics, it will be interesting to see how much that 6" ORD shackle will make. Is it the shackle or the bracket that you ordered?

Nah, the driveline angles are very clean…no need for a double cardan CV in the rear. In fact, the rear is almost too straight and needs more of a working angle put into it to prevent U-joints from burning.

I already have the 4” shackle flip kit (brackets) but have 6” HD shackles on order. The 6” shackle should put the angle over the 50 degree mark vs. the 40ish it is now.

The one on order is the one on the right. The one on the left is basically what I have now except for a heavy duty version.

[Oilbrnr]

Those SBs must be a fair bit longer from the NP205 out then. I ended up with +12* at the pinon and -3* at the 205 yoke (which is about right IIRC). Too much to shim, and I didn't want to spend the $$$/time/hassle to re-perch.

[special-K]

I`m doing (planning) what you are on my`71 shortbed.I was thinking I`d have to move the mounts back.I want to see what the 2"+ shackle will do for you.

[70rs/ss]

When you get over my way drop me a PM?? I am heading that way the end of June towards Yellowstone, but I'll be here till then?? North rim is better than the South rim, but both are way cool so if you don't mind an extra 3-4 hours hit both! As for the spring thing, you need to move the bracket, I don't think the extra shackle length is going to do much in the way of helping you? I want to run the 56" ers as well, but I figure on doing the DIY brackets and I'll put them where they need to go to work, maybe combine the shackle bracket and the winch bracket so you can move it backwards about 3 inches??

[DirtyLarry]

Got the HD 6” shackles from ORD today. Wow, what a difference. The ride is smoother and almost all of the Detroit locker torque steer is gone which I wasn’t expecting. Even the slight wonder it had on the highway is hardly noticable. I can’t wait to see how it works on the trail and how well it will hold up to being loaded heavy.

My buddy and I are planning on a trip to the mountains around here for a shakedown run for both of our rigs and the supply trailer before we head off to Utah and Arizona in July. We’ll see how well these 56” springs and longer shackles work in the real world soon.

Before:


After:




Sits level too..



Pretty flexy… The high lift jack on the roof rack is almost touching the garage door while the tires are still on the floor.


Some beauty shots while I was on the test drive….



That is Pikes Peak in the back ground

[70rs/ss]

WOW!! I am glad I was wrong about the shackles not working!! They aren't perfect, but way better than before, and should work OK. I love the Pikes Peak area, we ran to the top last summer, very interesting drive!!

[DirtyLarry]

Originally Posted by 70rs/ss

WOW!! I am glad I was wrong about the shackles not working!! They aren't perfect, but way better than before, and should work OK. I love the Pikes Peak area, we ran to the top last summer, very interesting drive!!

Yeah, I think it will be alright. A little more of an angle than I would like but it should work fine. 60 degrees is the angle of the shackle sitting static with the load of the truck and all of the fishing, camping and recovery crap in the topper that stays in there year around.

Next time you make it to the area give me a holler.

[Chris in Idaho]

Was there any ride height difference when you swapped to the 56" springs?

[DirtyLarry]

Yes, between the 56” springs and the 6” ORD shackles it probably grew by 1 to 2 inches in the back. Can't remember exactly now…that almost a year ago

[willett]

hey when you do a rear shackle flip, how to you compinsate with the front end height?

[DirtyLarry]

In this case, I had already lifted the front 6" . All of this trickery to the rear was to make it set level as well as increase the payload capacity. It gets loaded pretty heavy when we go on our excursions.

[special-K]

Where are you off to this year?Got a plan in the works?The truck looks like it want`s a work out.You did something since that trip,was it with the injection mapping or a whole new controller/harness.Sorry,if my time tables are off.I think I like your teuck as much as you.

[DirtyLarry]

Yeah, in fact we just made our plans last weekend. The plan is to head off to spend a few days along Utah’s “Hole In the Rock” trail (north of Lake Powell…the trail we didn’t have time to finish last year) then spending 3 or 4 days in the Canyonlands/Glen Canyon area. We are leaving around June 5th and returning around the 13th. Should be a great trip!

Exactly! Last trip proved more work needed to be done with the engine management system on the 8.1L. Over this past Christmas I reworked the from marine to production vehicle with a custom tune and a few other goodies. It really has balls now with much better drivablity manors. With the new found torque and HP it already broke engine mounts and a rear u-joint, which have both been fixed. Also found the LH lower ball joint is loose as a goose so I will be replacing all the ball joints before the next trip.

Also planning on running different tires on this year’s desert trip. The UPS man just brought me 4 new 16x8 Black rock crawler wheels yesterday that I plan to buy some cheap 315/75R16 Kumho tires and mount on them. The Q78 swampers burn up quickly on the highway back and forth from CO to UT so I am saving those for the snow and mountain trips. Black wheels should look sweet on this truck.

Here is the picture link from last years trip....
http://www.flickr.com/photos/1188958...7620771534282/

And SPOT GPS tracker adventure page. The page works slow so allow it time to load. You can zoom in and look at pictures, follow our tracks, etc. Pretty cool
http://www.spotadventures.com/trip/view?trip_id=172579

These are pretty much the new wheels except mine are 8 lug.

[onlyifihadachevy]

Hope you take pics again they were cool to see.

[jason65]

How do you find such adventurs?

[DirtyLarry]

Originally Posted by jason65

How do you find such adventurs?

Well, in the good old days when 4-Wheel and Off-Road and FOUR WHEELER actually had articles on trails and adventures instead of how to hack up a perfectly good trucks into a truggies, one could learn about these places. My buddy and I learned about the Tuweep trail to the Grand Canyon we did last year from an old “Getting There” article from a 90’s 4-Wheel and Off-road rag. Now days, you can find and research these spots on websites like the www.expeditionportal.com , www.traildamage.com , www.wanderthewest.com, etc. There are also tons of books at Barnes & Noble with southwestern US trails. I love getting out there on these desert trails away from civilization where you may not see anybody for days! That is off-roading!

[jason65]

Sounds awsome. If I could get the 64 trustworthy and tuff enuff for that I would go in a heart beat.

[chas350]

Nice pics Larry! What a great vacation, wish it was closer to me.

[JPCY72]

Larry take come flex pics I was goin to do this to my 72! I am curious how much better it is...

[DirtyLarry]

Originally Posted by JPCY72

Larry take come flex pics I was goin to do this to my 72! I am curious how much better it is...

I haven't had an opportunity to get it all flexed up since the 56" spring conversion but it flexed pretty well with 54"'s and the ORD flip.

The LH rear tire is so buried in the bottomless pit you can't even see it.