First off, let me say wow! It's actually pretty amazing how much 2" looks and feels like on one of these rigs.
So I just put my new shackles for Southwest 4x4 on tonight. What a bitch, for something that looked so easy. Well, just the rears. The front only took 20 minutes, combined! I started off in back, and discovering I would have to drop the spare tire. Not a big deal, but had never done it on this rig and couldn't figure out how the damn mount released, and had to shamefully get out the manual. Once I found it in the book, what a cool set up! It's like a mini chain hoist! Not to mention there is an entire little tool kit in the pouch, complete with the norm jack handle and tire iron, but also an adjustable wrench, a small assortment of combo wrenches, a pair of pliers, and a phillips screwdriver. See what you discover sometimes!
Taking into consideration a slight learning curve on the first spring, the passenger side rear, it went pretty smoothly. Took probably 40 minutes. But like I side, slight learning curve figuring out the tips and tricks. Then I moved to the drivers side, and thats where the fun starts. First problem, the exhaust pipe is right in the way, and you can't get the shackle pins out. So I unbolted the rear hanger to allow the exhaust pipe to move, which almost got me enough room, but the pipe would hit the bottom of the quarterpanel before the shackle would clear. DAMN! So I'm pokin around tryin to decide what to do next. I really don't want to pull the entire exhaust at the cats. And I didn't want to cut my pipe. As I'm crawlin around go through the choices, I end up discovering that the last 7 or 8 inches of my tail pipe is rotted out on top anyway. Perfect, get the saw-zall! That should be plenty of room! Except now I have the shackle about 3/4's of the way out, and the bushing INSISTS on coming out with the pin, no matter what I try to do, so I can't get any angle on the shackle pin to pull it the rest of the way
. Long of short, against my will, I ended up cutting the shackle pin. I wanted to save them, but shackles are cheap if I ever want them again. Once I finally got thru all that, got it all together, I moved to the front. And as I previously said, the front was a breeze. Did em both in about 20 minutes.
TIP: If you decide to install extended shackles, place a small bottle jack between the frame and the leaf spring, near the shackle. You will need to use something to wedge it to keep the jack level. Jack up the bottle jack, and it very easily pushes the spring down into place to line it up with your new longer shackle!
So I just put my new shackles for Southwest 4x4 on tonight. What a bitch, for something that looked so easy. Well, just the rears. The front only took 20 minutes, combined! I started off in back, and discovering I would have to drop the spare tire. Not a big deal, but had never done it on this rig and couldn't figure out how the damn mount released, and had to shamefully get out the manual. Once I found it in the book, what a cool set up! It's like a mini chain hoist! Not to mention there is an entire little tool kit in the pouch, complete with the norm jack handle and tire iron, but also an adjustable wrench, a small assortment of combo wrenches, a pair of pliers, and a phillips screwdriver. See what you discover sometimes!
Taking into consideration a slight learning curve on the first spring, the passenger side rear, it went pretty smoothly. Took probably 40 minutes. But like I side, slight learning curve figuring out the tips and tricks. Then I moved to the drivers side, and thats where the fun starts. First problem, the exhaust pipe is right in the way, and you can't get the shackle pins out. So I unbolted the rear hanger to allow the exhaust pipe to move, which almost got me enough room, but the pipe would hit the bottom of the quarterpanel before the shackle would clear. DAMN! So I'm pokin around tryin to decide what to do next. I really don't want to pull the entire exhaust at the cats. And I didn't want to cut my pipe. As I'm crawlin around go through the choices, I end up discovering that the last 7 or 8 inches of my tail pipe is rotted out on top anyway. Perfect, get the saw-zall! That should be plenty of room! Except now I have the shackle about 3/4's of the way out, and the bushing INSISTS on coming out with the pin, no matter what I try to do, so I can't get any angle on the shackle pin to pull it the rest of the way
. Long of short, against my will, I ended up cutting the shackle pin. I wanted to save them, but shackles are cheap if I ever want them again. Once I finally got thru all that, got it all together, I moved to the front. And as I previously said, the front was a breeze. Did em both in about 20 minutes. TIP: If you decide to install extended shackles, place a small bottle jack between the frame and the leaf spring, near the shackle. You will need to use something to wedge it to keep the jack level. Jack up the bottle jack, and it very easily pushes the spring down into place to line it up with your new longer shackle!
