After reading about them here I contacted Mick down under and ordered 3 sets. It took a while to get them as they had to be made to order but shipping was 6 days air freight.
Bascially these are like revolver shackles on crack. They are much better made than revolvers and allow an additional axis of movement. They expand down from the closed position, rotate left and right on the spring end then rotate up and down on the spring eye end. This allows far a pant load of flex!
There is a locking pin that you insert for on road use to prevent them from opening.
The shackle closed is about 5 3/8th inches eye to eye. Open it is about 11"!
I have only had these for about 12 hours so far but here is what I have found:
You get major flex. Even with my too short shocks I was flexing up to 50% better.
It rides better when on the road in the lock position. I can only guess the up/down movement on the spring eye connection allows smaller bumps to be absorbed.
You will 100% need extended brake lines, dbl normal extended lenght, longer shocks and sway bars. I am not sure how the sway bars will work out as of yet. I might trash them.
When the shackles open in back at full droop the diff moves 2"s forward. You will need to shorten your rear shaft or maybe make it long spline. I will work on that tomorrow. It moves 2" to the rear when at reat.
Looks like ft diff will be the exact oppisit. I think a longer shaft will be needed; not sure yet.
You will need higher ft shock towers and to fiddle with the rear shock mounts. I have not addressed the issue yet but it will need to be done.
There is an optional strap system. This is to keep the rear diff from moving too far forward when unloaded and the shackles drop. I think I will install this just cuz I ordered it and it looks cool but the proper drive shaft lenght should avoid this issue.
One thing I did not really plan on; the added flex puts my front tires way up into the wheel well. Eventually it goes so far up that the low side cannot open all the way. I have a 2" body lift on the way that I think will fix most of this. My current thinking is 33" tires, 1" body lift. 2.5" lift springs and you would be set. With 35" I am not convinced the body lift will fix the severe rubbing issues. I may go with Alcans on a 4" lift.
People that are SOA: this is a no brainer. You can run a stronger spring to avoid spring wrap without loosing any flex. You will gain a lot of flex with this set up and it will make your springs last a lot longer.
Overall I am very impressed. I am the US dealer for them but will not be selling any retail until after the Roundup as I want to see how they work on my truck, Bobs truck and Garys truck. Once we have the system figured out I will set a price and take orders. Oh yeah, they are crazy expensive!
Bascially these are like revolver shackles on crack. They are much better made than revolvers and allow an additional axis of movement. They expand down from the closed position, rotate left and right on the spring end then rotate up and down on the spring eye end. This allows far a pant load of flex!
There is a locking pin that you insert for on road use to prevent them from opening.
The shackle closed is about 5 3/8th inches eye to eye. Open it is about 11"!
I have only had these for about 12 hours so far but here is what I have found:
You get major flex. Even with my too short shocks I was flexing up to 50% better.
It rides better when on the road in the lock position. I can only guess the up/down movement on the spring eye connection allows smaller bumps to be absorbed.
You will 100% need extended brake lines, dbl normal extended lenght, longer shocks and sway bars. I am not sure how the sway bars will work out as of yet. I might trash them.
When the shackles open in back at full droop the diff moves 2"s forward. You will need to shorten your rear shaft or maybe make it long spline. I will work on that tomorrow. It moves 2" to the rear when at reat.
Looks like ft diff will be the exact oppisit. I think a longer shaft will be needed; not sure yet.
You will need higher ft shock towers and to fiddle with the rear shock mounts. I have not addressed the issue yet but it will need to be done.
There is an optional strap system. This is to keep the rear diff from moving too far forward when unloaded and the shackles drop. I think I will install this just cuz I ordered it and it looks cool but the proper drive shaft lenght should avoid this issue.
One thing I did not really plan on; the added flex puts my front tires way up into the wheel well. Eventually it goes so far up that the low side cannot open all the way. I have a 2" body lift on the way that I think will fix most of this. My current thinking is 33" tires, 1" body lift. 2.5" lift springs and you would be set. With 35" I am not convinced the body lift will fix the severe rubbing issues. I may go with Alcans on a 4" lift.
People that are SOA: this is a no brainer. You can run a stronger spring to avoid spring wrap without loosing any flex. You will gain a lot of flex with this set up and it will make your springs last a lot longer.
Overall I am very impressed. I am the US dealer for them but will not be selling any retail until after the Roundup as I want to see how they work on my truck, Bobs truck and Garys truck. Once we have the system figured out I will set a price and take orders. Oh yeah, they are crazy expensive!
I'm too used to events where there are as many vendors as wheelers. Look forward to seeing the shackles in action.
