Posted by MoparNorm on Monday, October 16, 2006 at 10:17AM :
In Reply to: Re: Breakdown and retrieval!!!!! posted by Brett in AK on Monday, October 16, 2006 at 8:46AM :
That works until you hit a bump....
What Steve is talking about is on a standard Dodge or Jeep suspension the shakle is at the front of the spring, the "hard" mounting point is at the rear of the spring. When you hit a bump or obstacle the movement is transfered into the frame and into the cab... bam! With a shackle reversal, the hard mount is in the front, with the shackle (the pivot point) at the rear. When moving forward, the action of a bumb or obstacle is to move the spring towards the rear, with the shackle mounted at the rear much of the bump is absorbed by the action of the shackle, making for a much smoother ride.
With parts breaking or falling off of the truck at an alarming rate, I'd do a head to toe inspection and maintenance before I started cutting up the suspension. Once the truck is road worthy you can easily reverse the shackles as suggested. A coil suspension takes a fair amount of engineering skill and welding ability to get right. It's not a job for a novice. It can be done, but it takes much more than a pile of scrap springs and some guesswork.
You'll need a basic knowledge of mathematics, control arms, bump stops, steering arm rework, different shocks and some knowledge of spring rates.
MN
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