Shackle lift?

[Catfisher']

A buddy of mine said you can use shackles to lift your truck.

What kinda shackle? how does it work? How do I doit? will it work?
I have a chevy '77 swb stepside.

[GCncsuHD]

A longer shackle will actually lower your truck in the rear... That only works on compression shackle suspensions. A lot of smaller trucks (s10, toyota, nissan etc) use that type of shackle and can be lifted using a longer shackle. Your 77 is a tension shackle. You can flip your shackle (flip the shackle hanger 180*, putting your shackle on the bottom, and moving it forward a bit to keep a good angle, making it a comp shackle). Offroad Design and DIY4x4 both make kits to do this, or it is not difficult to make your own. They yield anywhere from 2-4" of lift, depending on location of hanger and shackle length.

I have ORD's shackle flip on my 01's rear for 4" of lift. I'm happy with it, very well built.

You can use a longer shackle to lift the front, it is a compression shackle design, BUT it will drastically change your caster angle. Remember as you lengthen the shackle it moves the leaf springs in an arc, so adding say 2" of shackle will only lift about 1", but will wind up shifting the axle forward in the fender opening about .5" and change the Caster angle a couple degrees.

[Catfisher']

ok, Thanks a whole lot. when your talkin about moving the caster angle, and shifting the axle forward, is it a bad thing?

[GCncsuHD]

Originally Posted by Catfisher'

ok, Thanks a whole lot. when your talkin about moving the caster angle, and shifting the axle forward, is it a bad thing?

Shifting the axle forward will affect looks, tire clearance, and possibly steering linkage. Increasing the caster angle will make it more difficult to steer, and will give a bad pinion angle.

[Catfisher']

Thanks alot GCncsuHD.so i probably shouldnt do that, right?