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What's wrong with my shackle angle

lagunaMS

lagunaMS

4 by drive
Joined
Nov 25, 2020
Member Number
3077
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434
Loc
Dixie
83 Toyota pickup with Pro Comp 33311 rear leaves, Marlin 5" shackle. Rough ****ry 3" leaves up front but getting replaced with pro comps when I get some free time.

The springs are still pretty new. They've had the weight of the rear of the truck sitting on them for about 3 months, with less than 300 miles on them.

The ride is really rough but part of that is due to the trampoline-like stock seats.

My shackle angle is near-vertical and the shackles are 1.5" longer than stock. Is it supposed to be laying down more than this? Is the vertical angle causing the shitty ride quality?

What to do? Run it and quit being a bitch? Put the Honda seats back in? Bolts too tight? Shackles too long?

Keep in mind this isn't a crawler. Just a beater 4wd that sees mud and woods trails but no extreme flexing

I'm planning on loading the truck with firewood and driving it for a couple weeks loaded to accelerate the break-in of the springs

toyota shackle driver.jpg


toyota shackle passenger.jpg
 
Any way to slide those brackets forwards a bit? Someone smarter than I would have to comment on if angled shackles would help.
 
No magical angle. It's a relation with the arch of the leaf.

How do they look when you are flexed?

Length of spring (along the leaf) - shackle length + 1/2" will give you the ideal distance between the spring hanger and shackle hanger.

Also, who said brocomp leafs were good? :laughing:
 
+1 on no magic angle....
+1 on wait to move em!
load it down for a while and also flex it in service FIRST...
But
The tech is massive once you research it.
Question for 82' where did you find this formula?
Edit the formula came from wilson...
I am curious:beer:
 
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woods said:
Any way to slide those brackets forwards a bit? Someone smarter than I would have to comment on if angled shackles would help.
Click to expand...
Hoping for a non-weldy option
total newb said:
Dont move shit now.
Click to expand...
That's easy enough even for me
YotaAtieToo said:
No magical angle. It's a relation with the arch of the leaf.

How do they look when you are flexed?

Length of spring (along the leaf) - shackle length + 1/2" will give you the ideal distance between the spring hanger and shackle hanger.

Also, who said brocomp leafs were good? :laughing:
Click to expand...
Will take flexy pics after work and report back. And they were cheap enough to be accepting of the lower quality
Clb said:
+1 on no magic angle....
+1 on wait to move em!
load ot down for a while and also flex it in service FIRST...
But
The tech is massive once you research it.
Question for 82' where did you find this formula?
I am curious:beer:
Click to expand...
Thanks, will get it flexed and loaded down pronto
 
i suspect those springs will not settle any more.

for springs to have any flex aka movement, you need to have lots of leaves, free arch and low rate. low leaf count means higher rate, less free arch and overall a poor performing spring. moving the hanger will help, but may cause the spring to bind up when the going flat.
 
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Reactions: Clb
+whatever on don't move a damn thing, and accelerate the spring break-in with a few hundred pounds of extra weight. Find some good G-outs to rally as well to really cycle the suspension.

And also +whatever on there being no perfect angle. If your shackle doesn't invert on full droop, it's not too vertical.
 
I did mine different,

I tore the spring pack apart and used the main leaf to set my shackle just under fully extended when the spring pack would be flat.
when loaded my rear shackle was at about a 35* angle, now that it's settled, it's about 40*. ride is nice for a leaf spring truck. I'l try and dig up a picture
20211005_103855.jpg
20211005_103901.jpg
 
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Stingray said:
I did mine different,

I tore the spring pack apart and used the main leaf to set my shackle just under fully extended when the spring pack would be flat.
when loaded my rear shackle was at about a 35* angle, now that it's settled, it's about 40*. ride is nice for a leaf spring truck. I'l try and dig up a picture
Click to expand...

Thats basically the same as using the formula I posted. There is a little bit of personal preference with how much to add at the end. Some say 1/4" but that doesn't leave much room for bushing deflection. Also if your springs are flat at ride height, you may want to add closer to 1".

Ive used the method you mention for testing full bump also, it's a good idea when doing any custom spring set up.
 
I had those pro crap springs back in the day. The fronts are nothing to brag about but the rears are absolute trash. They where stiff, rode like shit and the shackle would invert and lock against the frame on the trail. They where what finally convinced me to buy a welder.
My advice would be to throw them in the trash. If you need something cheap that works, just go Chevy or Ford springs in the rear, you can get by with the pro comps on the front.
 
Shitty leaves that are shorter than stock. Not sure why anyone would run those garbage springs.
 
mobil1syn said:
i suspect those springs will not settle any more.

for springs to have any flex aka movement, you need to have lots of leaves, free arch and low rate. low leaf count means higher rate, less free arch and overall a poor performing spring. moving the hanger will help, but may cause the spring to bind up when the going flat.
Click to expand...
Hopefully they do because my back won't be able to take the shitty ride for too long. I'm hoping a load of firewood for a few weeks will force them to settle a little bit
CDA 455 II said:
How I (nOOB) dealt with same issue:
Added permanent in the bed.

Took care of shackle angle and smoothed out the ride.
Click to expand...
good idea and sick bronco!!
Yotota said:
+whatever on don't move a damn thing, and accelerate the spring break-in with a few hundred pounds of extra weight. Find some good G-outs to rally as well to really cycle the suspension.

And also +whatever on there being no perfect angle. If your shackle doesn't invert on full droop, it's not too vertical.
Click to expand...
thanks, and will do. Will try and get it loaded down and flexed out this week
Stingray said:
I did mine different,

I tore the spring pack apart and used the main leaf to set my shackle just under fully extended when the spring pack would be flat.
when loaded my rear shackle was at about a 35* angle, now that it's settled, it's about 40*. ride is nice for a leaf spring truck. I'l try and dig up a picture
Click to expand...
Nice 4runner, I was just reading your build thread on it yesterday
ToyodaAddict1980 said:
I had those pro crap springs back in the day. The fronts are nothing to brag about but the rears are absolute trash. They where stiff, rode like shit and the shackle would invert and lock against the frame on the trail. They where what finally convinced me to buy a welder.
My advice would be to throw them in the trash. If you need something cheap that works, just go Chevy or Ford springs in the rear, you can get by with the pro comps on the front.
Click to expand...
Glad to hear the fronts are doable for now, I'll see how long I can make the rears work before buying some expensive ones. I'm a very beginner welder and don't have one, so hoping for an off the shelf solution for now but will likely buy one in the near future since it's becoming an increasingly common need
Aisin said:
Shitty leaves that are shorter than stock. Not sure why anyone would run those garbage springs.
Click to expand...
Let me learn my lesson the hard way about cheap not always being better :laughing:

But the fronts were $55 each and the rear pair were $220. Cheap enough to use for now. I replaced the fucked stock springs and lift block with new lift springs and shackles, got the fronts to match the new rear height and get rid of the rough **** springs up front. Although I realize these may not be any better
 
The pro comp springs are exactly the same garbage as the rough country springs. They will have 4 to 5 thick leafs in each pack and will be shorter than the stock leafs. This has been covered multiple times at the other place.
 
Swap in some 63" Chevy springs. :flipoff2:
 
He asked IF there was a way to move the hanger in post one ?no?
So 63" s are another "fail"...
 
lagunaMS said:
Nice 4runner, I was just reading your build thread on it yesterday
Click to expand...
Thanks, not much of a build thread, i'm shitty at documenting stuff, there's a lot more done that i'm just to lazy to organize..

Hopefully those springs will flatten out, without some angle in that shackle its gonna be a rough ride.
 
Woods
"Flies hand over his head" motion for the joke...:flipoff2:
Must need more coffee
 
All you can really do is go back to the stock shackle at this point.

Also, zooming in, it looks like the bottom most leaf is super thick, like an over load. Maybe try swapping that for a stock over load. You will probably loose a little hieght, but maybe you can add a decent 1" thick block.
 
YotaAtieToo said:
All you can really do is go back to the stock shackle at this point.

Also, zooming in, it looks like the bottom most leaf is super thick, like an over load. Maybe try swapping that for a stock over load. You will probably loose a little hieght, but maybe you can add a decent 1" thick block.
Click to expand...

Oh shit, I didn't zoom in before but that thiccccc arched overload bottom leaf needs to go. Half of OP's problem is that single leaf.
 
I also agree with getting rid of the overload. I'd get rid of it all together but If you don't want to lower the rear, you could try cutting it to the size of a lift block and leave it bolted to the spring.
 
YotaAtieToo said:
All you can really do is go back to the stock shackle at this point.

Also, zooming in, it looks like the bottom most leaf is super thick, like an over load. Maybe try swapping that for a stock over load. You will probably loose a little hieght, but maybe you can add a decent 1" thick block.
Click to expand...

Yotota said:
Oh shit, I didn't zoom in before but that thiccccc arched overload bottom leaf needs to go. Half of OP's problem is that single leaf.
Click to expand...

Glad I kept the stock leaves instead of scrapping them, going to check them out and compare the thiccness. the stock overload will surely be flexier than the new one

ToyodaAddict1980 said:
I also agree with getting rid of the overload. I'd get rid of it all together but If you don't want to lower the rear, you could try cutting it to the size of a lift block and leave it bolted to the spring.
Click to expand...

Good thinking on trimming the overload, I’d like the rear slightly lower but we’ll see how it compares to the front after the new springs go in
 
ToyodaAddict1980 said:
I also agree with getting rid of the overload. I'd get rid of it all together but If you don't want to lower the rear, you could try cutting it to the size of a lift block and leave it bolted to the spring.
Click to expand...
this but dont cut it as short as a lift block, cut it down to about 10-12" long, taper the ends and slightly round them off
 
rockyota83 said:
this but dont cut it as short as a lift block, cut it down to about 10-12" long, taper the ends and slightly round them off
Click to expand...

I don't think this would be good... It has such an arch, and as shortening a leaf increases the rate, he would just W-shape his springs.

Either make it a "zero rate" block or ditch it entirely.
 
Fukkin corporate chimerica...:flipoff::flipoff::flipoff::flipoff::flipoff:
just make a "decent" product that we
Don't Have To toss out!:flipoff:
cuz we will make our own:flipoff:
 
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