I'm thinking about reversing the shackles on my 86 bronco so I can do away with my double stacked blocks and still keep the height. I have heard that reversing shackles can cause the springs to get damaged, but then I talk to people that say they have run them for years and never had a problem. Is it that some people don't do it right and cause problems, or is it just the nature of changing spring angle that poses the problem? The springs are one ton with a sterling 10 1/4 rear if it makes a difference. I do tow with this rig but nothing too heavy. I figure some of you guys have done this on both a bronco and heavy truck, so any advice is appreciated. Thanks.

Brant

 

IRC, My buddy's 96 has a shackle flip kit on it he got on ebay for 70(ish) bucks. He ended up welding the mount to the frame rail for some added strength and he hasn't had any problems. Not sure about benefits, my bronco rides better but he has a different lift kit but he can also go further than I am willing to/can on trail rides. Seems like his articulation in the rear is better now too but I'm no expert.......yet.

 

70 isn't bad. I road in my buddies truck and I thought the ride was much better and that's one of the things I'm after. But his springs seemed to look flattened out. Makes sense the ride would be better.

 

Well a flat spring won't necessarily give you a smooth ride. My leafs are far from flat and have plenty of leafs in them and its still a relatively smooth ride. My bronco with a 6" lift on 35s rides better than my 2000 Cherokee on stock suspension with 235/55/15's and the leafs in that were almost flat.

 

I welded myself up a flip kit almost identical to this years ago for my old 89' F150. I never had any issues with it. the ride was indeed actually smoother for me and I also had more articulation when I was off road as well. I drove that truck hard too, hard launches of the line and such and never had issues with axle wrap or wheel hop

 

Thanks guys. I feel better about it now but definitely want to do it the right way. I'm surprised it rides better than a cherokee. Mine rides like a tank on concrete.

That's a nice job on the bracket. Is there a problem with the spring being able to pivot both forward and back? Seems like it would cause issues without some kind of backstop to prevent to much travel. If that is the case, what kind of stop should I put in place? Do I want some rearward movement? I was going to use two front hangers to do the drop just like my buddy did. Does anyone think that will be a problem? Of coarse it might be easier to find a flip kit rather than use the the front brackets.

 

I was looking into doing a flip on my 78 bronco and had heard from both sides about Jeeps who had that done and had the springs break or wear faster... Thing is, this is no Jeep, its a darned Ford and i doubt there is much harm.

Though this was the route i planned to go. It is a bit pricey but i figure it would be worth it
Ford Rear Shackle Flip Kit - Sky's Off-road Design

If you plan to do a 6 inch though you might have to look elsewhere

 

many guys over at fsb have done the shackle flip with great success. I wouldnt buy a kit of ebay though. find a builder that makes them and you will find the mounts to be far superiour. Ruffstuffspecialties is one company that comes to mind. you will want to invest in a zero rate block so you can center the rear tire in the wheel well. this is on side affect to running a shackle flip as it will move the tire forward. you can also move your front hangers back but that can be a pain. you will get some serious squat when towing and could become a bit froggy going down the road.

Off-Road Fabrication Parts - RuffStuff Specialties

also check out these other guys.
HeftyFabWorks - Custom bumpers, rock sliders and more for your truck or vehicle

 

That Sky manufacturing kit looks nice. I may look into that.

 

That sky kit does look nice.

Moving hangers around won't be a problem for me. I already had to mount the springs on the shortened f350 frame so nothing I'm not used to. I have to break this whole truck down to do the various improvements anyway.

Off the subject, what do you guys think of some fox racing shocks for the bronco? No doubt they would look good and I can get some for about the price of some bilstiens. I don't want to get caught up in a brand name and forget the application aspect of it, so I'm gathering opinions. Thanks.

 

Fox shocks would be cool if you had the set-up to really use them to full potential. Any resevoir shock would look sweet if you ask me.

 

if the valving is correct go for it.

 

Those places look ok but the RuffStuff is freaking expensive I might stick with the Sky offroad place, or poke around on Ebay. Is there certain types of Zero Rate blocks i would need or any general one would work?

 

Yeah, they would look cool. The valving on these ones should be about right but I'll have to see. I don't think I can afford to use them to their full potential but I'll definitely try anyway .

 

No stops are required. The shackle stays fairly vertical at rest. It will naturally move back under compression or load and move forward at droop conditions on its own. The same as it does in its stock position. The reason for the flip in my case was to add lift with out separating my axle from my leaf packs. You need to have two hangers and a shackle for the springs to work properly. If you use two front hangers without a shackle the springs cant move when they are compressed