Another poor shackle angle question (1 Viewer)

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Aug 11, 2007
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New to me '72 fj40. The PO installed these lift springs but I'm not sure who makes them (alcan) but they are pretty new and still have stickers on them saying "made in canada". Anyways, he also installed longer shackles and I believe this whole thing as screwed up my caster angle.

So my question is, are these springs too short, pulling the shackles into an almost 90' angle? Will they soften up and correct everything? Are they alcan springs? Any info would be great, thanks!

James

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The rear ones dont look too bad. If they really are pretty new, maybe they just need to settle. Alcan makes custom springs. I cant confirm that these are Alcan, but did the PO have any more weight planned than you currently have?
 
I bought it with the new tiger top he never installed. I doubt he planned on ever putting a hard top on it. It actually has about 200lbs of crap in it with that pic taken. Who makes springs that's out of canada other than alcan?
 
Alcans are not Canadian and so far as I know they only do custom springs?

McCoy is in Canada IIRC and there are a couple vendors whos "house brand" springs are made in Canada. Maybe by McCoy?

The rear is not *too* bad if the springs are brand new and the rig is lightly loaded. The fronts are not the worst I have seen. :)

Those springs are pretty steeply arched, and like far too many spring builders they probably did not make them any longer to account for the arch and it's impact on overall length.

They *might* settle some with some goor hard use and ease the angles a bit.

You almost certainly need caster shims in the front end.


Mark...
 
McCoy sold their spring making operation a few years ago, but I don't know who picked it up. They make private label springs for a large number of vendors.

Shackle angle doesn't make for a bad ride, but it can be a surrogate for a bad ride because it is correlated with a mismatch between the spring rate and sprung weight. Teh cure is to get a softer spring rather than relocating the shackle.
 
Rough Country?

my Rough Country 4" SUA springs are made in Canada. I remember seeing it on the spring...
OH, are the rusting between leafs because they were cheaply painted? lol

my front shackle is stock and it's like a 45-50 degree angle forward. my rear shackle is a home made 5" and it's like a 95 degree angle, aimed backward
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90 is not the perfect angle.. my experience makes the ride a bit hard/bumpy.. the more ur toward 45 degree the better.. new springs however need sometime to selttle.
 
yep. I installed them in December, 2010. when I properly "tested" them on a dirt road at about 30 miles per hour, they took pot holes pretty badly. not nearly as bad as the old flat, stock leafs with worn out shocks
 
laod up the front springs a bit.. put a sandbag on bumper :) you will feel the difference on bumps :p
 
Alcans are made in Grand Junction, very cool. My back yard!

Anyways, I'll give it a go with the trying to break them in a bit more idea. My eventual goal will be to make it SOA using 55 or similar length flat springs. Some hard wheelin around here this spring should do the trick hopefully!
 
you could always take a leaf out of the pack and put it back in when they start to sag
 
Depending how old they are , they are either McCoy or Standen ( who took over the McCoy products).
They build most of the non Dakar springs including BDS, Safari springs.
When Standen took over, Man-a-fre's received the first shipment assuming they were identical to
McCoy but had to return most of the order after finding they had shortened the design which created
a lot of problems. Standen agreed to lengthen the next batch an inch but were still not what Al was
hoping for. This was the primary reason to start building his own line , the Mohaves, which we are very happy with so far.
Since the same FJ40 springs by Standen went out under many names or as Mark said "house brands",
you'd need a part number to find out the source.
 
You can try putting shorter sides on the front shackles (they look like 4+ ones from man-a-fre). This will allow for better caster and allow the flex of the springs to move the shackle more.
 

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