'85 4Runner Stock Shackle Length? (1 Viewer)

[zamdrang]

Anyone know what the stock shackle length is? I have old Downey 4.5" shackles on the front and the holes are getting oval. And 4" rear shackles.

Many years ago.. I posted here I think... I went with the OME springs, standard front and rear with the same shackles. I got the stinkbug look like everyone else and the fronts bottomed easily. I ended up with two front drivers HD springs with a spacer on the drivers side. That brought the truck level, but rode horrible.

I got the truck out of storage a few years ago, hated how it rode, so I ended up taking the third leaf out of the fronts (which I believe basically makes them the standard spring). Rides much better, but didn't lower it much. And I still have the s***ty shackle angle on the rear, the rears just suck period.

Either way with 33s the turck is too tall and werd feeling, I had another 85 in the 90s, that I put a Downey 3" lift (great springs) stock shackles and 31s, which handled great. The steering in particular on this truck has never felt right, (wanders, hard to steer, doesn't want to return to center), and I have started to wonder if the front shackles are longer then stock and part of the issue. They look longer... So debating on buying some stock length shackles front and rear as a starting point to lowering it. 32s are also on the cards (have 4.88s so I think 31s would be a bit too far)

Also a decade later I just noticed the note in the OME parts list about removing the third leaf from the rears on 4runners. Why no one at ARB told me that 10 years ago I have to wonder... but I plan to do that also on my way back down.

Cant find any info on what the stock length of the shackle is though..... appreciate anyone chiming in.

 

[pappy]

Either way with 33s the turck is too tall and werd feeling, I had another 85 in the 90s, that I put a Downey 3" lift (great springs) stock shackles and 31s, which handled great. The steering in particular on this truck has never felt right, (wanders, hard to steer, doesn't want to return to center), and I have started to wonder if the front shackles are longer then stock and part of the issue. They look longer... So debating on buying some stock length shackles front and rear as a starting point to lowering it. 32s are also on the cards (have 4.88s so I think 31s would be a bit too far)

Do you still have the push-pull steering? That would explain the steering issues. Solution is cross-over steering. Also, did you remove the torque rod? That would also impact steering and braking.

 

[zamdrang]

Good points thanks. Still have the torque rod and push pull yep, have the drop/S-link steering rod. The other 85 3" lift had the stock steering rod and never had these issues. But I guess overall I have more lift so you're probably onto something.

I lost reference with how much lift it actually has because it was never stock, when I bought it had superlift springs on it. Based on other posts the OME rears are giving 4+" inches of lift and rather than mod them to match the fronts I modded the fronts to level it.

Thought about x over many times over the years but I'd rather not mod it any more. If it didn't have 4.88s i'd take it back to 31s or or 30s and make it more practical and useful. My rock crawling days are over.

 

[willysworker]

The stock shackles on my 85 xtra cab are 3-3/8" center hole to center hole. I am waiting for a front set of stock height Alcan leaf springs. I hope they ride better than the JUNK I got from LCE which had the frame contacting the shackle just sitting. To get some clearance on the improperly tempered and sagging JUNK springs, I installed a pair of Sky's Boomerang shackles Toyota Shackle Kits - https://www.skysoffroaddesign.com/products/toy-bsk-001 They maintain the frame width and clear the typcial stock spring contract point That helped the ride for now but the front is high. Once my new Alcan springs are installed, 'll try the stock shackles again. If the stockers contact the frame, I found another aftermarket shackle .
79-95 Toyota Front Spring Shackles (Pair) - https://allprooffroad.com/suspension/front-suspension/79-95-pickup/79-95-toyota-front-spring-shackles-pair.html
They have the same width idea as Sky's and come in different lengths. I'll probably go with .5 if the stock shackles have an issue.

 

[gnob]

The stock shackles on my 85 xtra cab are 3-3/8" center hole to center hole. I am waiting for a front set of stock height Alcan leaf springs. I hope they ride better than the JUNK I got from LCE which had the frame contacting the shackle just sitting. To get some clearance on the JUNK springsI installed a pair of Sky's Boomerang shackles. Toyota Shackle Kits - https://www.skysoffroaddesign.com/products/toy-bsk-001 That helped the ride but now the front is high. Once new Alcan springs are installed I found another aftermarket shackle that I'll probably try. 79-95 Toyota Front Spring Shackles (Pair) - https://allprooffroad.com/suspension/front-suspension/79-95-pickup/79-95-toyota-front-spring-shackles-pair.html

sky offers different straight shackles and plates as well

 

[willysworker]

Those "different straight shackles" for Toyota 79-85 straight axles ?

 

[gnob]

Those "different straight shackles" for Toyota 79-85 straight axles ?

yes

 

[zamdrang]

The stock shackles on my 85 xtra cab are 3-3/8" center hole to center hole. I am waiting for a front set of stock height Alcan leaf springs. I hope they ride better than the JUNK I got from LCE which had the frame contacting the shackle just sitting. To get some clearance on the improperly tempered and sagging JUNK springs, I installed a pair of Sky's Boomerang shackles Toyota Shackle Kits - https://www.skysoffroaddesign.com/products/toy-bsk-001 They maintain the frame width and clear the typcial stock spring contract point That helped the ride for now but the front is high. Once my new Alcan springs are installed, 'll try the stock shackles again. If the stockers contact the frame, I found another aftermarket shackle .
79-95 Toyota Front Spring Shackles (Pair) - https://allprooffroad.com/suspension/front-suspension/79-95-pickup/79-95-toyota-front-spring-shackles-pair.html
They have the same width idea as Sky's and come in different lengths. I'll probably go with .5 if the stock shackles have an issue.

Thanks for the info, very helpful. Knowing that I'm going to to try stock length shackles in front snd pull the 3rd leaf out of the rears and see where I end up. I did find somewhere that longer front shackles can mess with steering feel due to changing the caster angle.

I used the stock shackles with my first 85 with the Downey 3" leafs and never had issues, plenty of flex for my needs and rode killer. After all this experimenting, to me that was the perfect setup with the least amount of compromises.

I'd love to hear about and see your new Alcans when you get them. Interesting what you said about LC springs, I noticed on the 2" and 3" they specifically say made by Alcan. Others by Trail Gear. The Alcan interestingly look exactly like the Downey front springs from back in the day, with the full length leaves to the rear of the center pin (like the stock spring). Which ones did you order that sucked?

This is what mine looked like after the OMEs were first installed and why I raised the front with two left springs and a spacer.

 

[Txfireman]

When I bought my 4runner it had a slight lean. After digging into it, I discovered that the previous owner had installed 2 different lenghth shackles... wth? One was about 3.5" pin/pin the other was about 5" pin/pin. I replaced them with 6" greasable shackles.
Fyi: a shackle gives you about half of it's length in lift.
Edit: Up front I'm running the Rough Country springs that were on it when I bought it. The rear springs I replaced with OME CS009R. The truck is level, rides, steers, brakes and handles great. No sway bar either.

 

[zamdrang]

When I bought my 4runner it had a slight lean. After digging into it, I discovered that the previous owner had installed 2 different lenghth shackles... wth? One was about 3.5" pin/pin the other was about 5" pin/pin. I replaced them with 6" greasable shackles.
Fyi: a shackle gives you about half of it's length in lift.
Edit: Up front I'm running the Rough Country springs that were on it when I bought it. The rear springs I replaced with OME CS009R. The truck is level, rides, steers, brakes and handles great. No sway bar either.

View attachment 3635488

View attachment 3635498

View attachment 3635499

View attachment 3635500

Sweet rig. What size tires are you running?

 

[Txfireman]

Sweet rig. What size tires are you running?

@zamdrang I'm currently running a very old set of 32×11.50 r15 BFG's with 4:88's.... at the end of the month I'm switching to 35×10.50's.
I test fit and drove 35's, they fit and the gearing was still good. I may need to tweak bumps & suspension a bit.

 

[zamdrang]

Very cool, going with 32 BFG ATs myself so it's cool see to what they look like. I need to get my graphic stickers redone, they really set the truck off

 

[willysworker]

Thanks for the info, very helpful. Knowing that I'm going to to try stock length shackles in front snd pull the 3rd leaf out of the rears and see where I end up. I did find somewhere that longer front shackles can mess with steering feel due to changing the caster angle.

I used the stock shackles with my first 85 with the Downey 3" leafs and never had issues, plenty of flex for my needs and rode killer. After all this experimenting, to me that was the perfect setup with the least amount of compromises.

I'd love to hear about and see your new Alcans when you get them. Interesting what you said about LC springs, I noticed on the 2" and 3" they specifically say made by Alcan. Others by Trail Gear. The Alcan interestingly look exactly like the Downey front springs from back in the day, with the full length leaves to the rear of the center pin (like the stock spring). Which ones did you order that sucked?

This is what mine looked like after the OMEs were first installed and why I raised the front with two left springs and a spacer.
View attachment 3633705

I finished installing the front "stock spec" replacement springs from Alcan yesterday. I also installed AllPro 1/2" longer shackles with poly bushings and grease-able bolts all around. A short test drive affirmed how JUNK the "stock "replacement springs from LCE were. When the frame rail rests on the shackle, it's a good sign your springs are toast. Now there is about an 1" clearance between shackle and frame and the banging on small road bumps is gone. There is only about 2" of up travel until the bump stops but I'm not running bumps bigger than mall speed bumps, so no worries. I don't know what brand of replacement rear springs are on the truck but it's now pretty level. I will add a couple photos later since you asked.

 

[Txfireman]

New shoes.
35×10.50 r15 Kanati Mud Hogs. Super stoked with them

. Obviously no milage on them yet... but hey as long as they look good.

 

[willysworker]

My rear leaf springs are of unknown aftermarket but ride nice so I replaced the junk front set with factory spec Alcan. Truck sat higher in the rear and wanting to level for looks I tried a couple different aftermarket shackles to raise the front.
first set were 5" Sky's boomerang, too high.

Second try was AllPro +.5" and level was about right.

But there was this clearance issue with the body frame outriggers. shackles are very wide and almost touch the frame.

so I re-drilled the Sky's boomarang shackles to 4" center to center ( about AllPro spec) and used the AllPro shackles in the rear.

It now sets pretty level and with the addition of Dobinson's grese-able front pin bolts all the urethane bushings are nice and slippery and quiet. Very happy with the Rancho 9000XL shocks and ride quality.
Still missing a side profile picture but you get the idea. looks about the same as picture 2.

 

[zamdrang]

My rear leaf springs are of unknown aftermarket but ride nice so I replaced the junk front set with factory spec Alcan. Truck sat higher in the rear and wanting to level for looks I tried a couple different aftermarket shackles to raise the front.
first set were 5" Sky's boomerang, too high.
View attachment 3643388
Second try was AllPro +.5" and level was about right.
View attachment 3643411
But there was this clearance issue with the body frame outriggers. shackles are very wide and almost touch the frame.
View attachment 3643393
so I re-drilled the Sky's boomarang shackles to 4" center to center ( about AllPro spec) and used the AllPro shackles in the rear.
View attachment 3643395
It now sets pretty level and with the addition of Dobinson's grese-able front pin bolts all the urethane bushings are nice and slippery and quiet. Very happy with the Rancho 9000XL shocks and ride quality.
Still missing a side profile picture but you get the idea. looks about the same as picture 2.

Nice! I had one of those trucks once, should've never let it go

 

[zamdrang]

Still waiting on OEM front shackles to arrive. But here's the before and after shackle angle when removing the third leaf from the OME CS009R rears. Went from 81 degrees to 71. This is a 4" shackle. Not much space before hitting the overload leaf. But it sure rides better.

The front is now definitely too high and I don't think the OEM shackle is enough difference in length to even it. We will see.

 

[Beams37]

Interested to hear about those Mud Hogs.