Shackle Reversal?

[khaugland]

I am thinking about a shackle reversal on my 79 FJ40.
Is there anyone out there who has gone thru this and what is the best way of going about this.
Is there a kit? Do you just fab up your own parts? What types of things need to be considered?
Any help would be greatly appreciated. You Guys have already saved me alot of time on other projects.

 

[Clutchee]

Search....you may want to search in the HARDCORE section specifically.

 

[brian]

it's been talked about plenty in here as well.

yes there are kits availible
lots have done it.
it's pretty straight forward, once you dive into it.

 

[cardinal fang]

Look through these articles first. Lots of information.

 

[dgangle]

I did the MAF kit 5 years ago. It gave the truck about 1.5" lift in the front. It came with degree shims to rotate the front axle to get the 1 degree positive caster. I ended up doing a cut and turn later to aim the third member at the T-case as the u-joint at the third member bound because of the extreme angle it was subjected to at axle droop.

If I were to do this again I would either fab it up myself like in this article by Jack Rice http://medusa.ih8mud.com/cruiser/Shackle.html or buy a series 2 kit like BTB sells http://store.btbprod.com/cgi-bin/btbprod.storefront. I think this is a better thought-out option than the original as it locates the rear spring hanger pivot in the fame. I have read that you need to have the engine out to be able to align both rear hangers. Be aware there are some people that don't care for a spring reversal on a 40. I would try to see a couple trucks done various ways and talk to the people about the good and the not so good and then make my own decison.

 

[Pin_Head]

It depends on what you want to accomplish. If you want to get the best possible approach angle for rock crawling it is a good idea, but then you don't want to use a "rock finder" type kit. If you think that you will improve ride and handling, you may be disappointed. Replacing out worn out components and setting the proper caster angle is a lot cheaper.

 

[65swb45]

It depends on what you want to accomplish. .... If you think that you will improve ride and handling, you may be disappointed. Replacing out worn out components and setting the proper caster angle is a lot cheaper.

x2.