El Shacko' Flipo Questiones
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Senior User
Joined: Feb 2004
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From: Iowa
El Shacko' Flipo Questiones
Alrighty i'm getting ready (next week) to do myself a shackle flip. What i'm working with is a 1988 f-250. Stock suspension. I got leafspring front and back and have some questions on how to go about this whole project. I've been studying some pictures of other peoples jobs on this and came up with this group of questions.
1) Is the distance from one eye to the other on the back leafsprings the same as the distance between the eyes on the front leafsprings? If so couldn't i put some rear leafsprings on the front of the truck too? would this make it sit funny or what? I don't plan on doing this because of budget but it was bugging me.
2) I plan on making my lift an 8 incher and i have my brackets planned out as far as what style and how i want them to fit my truck. To make it 8 inches do i have to lower the eye holes where you bolt the leafspring to the bracket 8 inches to the height it was stock? I hope that made sense.
3) I've read about different angles with the springs, if i relocate those holes straight down from the factory set up do i need to readjust?
These are all the questions i have for now. Thanks alot if you can help with any of them
1) Is the distance from one eye to the other on the back leafsprings the same as the distance between the eyes on the front leafsprings? If so couldn't i put some rear leafsprings on the front of the truck too? would this make it sit funny or what? I don't plan on doing this because of budget but it was bugging me.
2) I plan on making my lift an 8 incher and i have my brackets planned out as far as what style and how i want them to fit my truck. To make it 8 inches do i have to lower the eye holes where you bolt the leafspring to the bracket 8 inches to the height it was stock? I hope that made sense.
3) I've read about different angles with the springs, if i relocate those holes straight down from the factory set up do i need to readjust?
These are all the questions i have for now. Thanks alot if you can help with any of them
Post Fiend
Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 11,945
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From: Spokane, WA
Rear leafsprings are not interchangable with the front. I don't remember the difference in the length but the centering holes are also positioned completely different.
I'm not making 100% sense of your second question but it sounds like you're asking if you need to make 8" bracket for the front, similar to what I did. If this was what you meant it will not give you 8" of lift. You're only lifting one side of the spring so this means your lift amount will be about half that. You need to either drop the hanger lower or extend the shackles to match.
When you say angles are you talking about pinion angles or spring angles or what? If you mean pinion angles this will largely depend on how you do the lift. If you use the shackle flip and design the hangers properly you won't need to adjust the pinion angle. Ideally you want it pointed at the transfer case. You'll have to just watch the pinion as you work with it and see where it lands. On something like an 8" lift it probably won't be an issue but double check it. If the pinion angle isn't correct you can buy degree shims to correct it. If you need them use JKW, the link is in my website. He builds steel shims, not aluminum.
Hope that helps. I got your e-mail but just haven't had time to respond. Sorry.
I'm not making 100% sense of your second question but it sounds like you're asking if you need to make 8" bracket for the front, similar to what I did. If this was what you meant it will not give you 8" of lift. You're only lifting one side of the spring so this means your lift amount will be about half that. You need to either drop the hanger lower or extend the shackles to match.
When you say angles are you talking about pinion angles or spring angles or what? If you mean pinion angles this will largely depend on how you do the lift. If you use the shackle flip and design the hangers properly you won't need to adjust the pinion angle. Ideally you want it pointed at the transfer case. You'll have to just watch the pinion as you work with it and see where it lands. On something like an 8" lift it probably won't be an issue but double check it. If the pinion angle isn't correct you can buy degree shims to correct it. If you need them use JKW, the link is in my website. He builds steel shims, not aluminum.
Hope that helps. I got your e-mail but just haven't had time to respond. Sorry.
Freshman User
Joined: Sep 2004
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From: Ocala, Fl.
Ok Ivan, I been really trying to get a hold of this shackle flip extention thing here.I got the 78 super like you.I dont see any place on the front you can bring down the shackles because theres not enough frame.I only see that i can extent them.Is there someone that sells them to get a 6" lift out of it? Also the front leaves are about 54" long(neg arch)If i go hunting the junk yars for a 350 w/arched springs will i be looking for one to match eye -eye so i wont have to drill more holes in the frame?Have you remembered what year you found for yours yet?Thanks Bruce
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From: Iowa
Well ivan you got my first question clean out of the way.
My second question i was trying to ask if i make a bracket for every end of my leafsprings that lowers them eight inches if that will make 8" of lift.
sorry i wasn't clear with what angles i was talking about. The angle of my leafsprings is what i was talking about. Now that you mention pinion angles if i drop everything 8 inches straight down will this mess up my angle for my pinion to t-case?
Oh and to go and poop on my parade, i knew it was coming. My uncle tells me the truck i have has a bad front axle, apparantly there all chewed up. I don't know what the heck he's talking about until i take it apart and see if it's axles or gears or what. and then i hear the 4 wheel drive is out. Hmmm what a pain so now I get to start looking for that one. I don't know if it's a dana 60 or 50 but i think i'm gonna go look tonight. Isn't the dana 60 and 50 solid axles? i'm kinda confused with this one? i figured that if its too bad i can just swap front ends with one from the junk yard that is hopefully good.
Thanks for the help your making things a heck of alot easier
My second question i was trying to ask if i make a bracket for every end of my leafsprings that lowers them eight inches if that will make 8" of lift.
sorry i wasn't clear with what angles i was talking about. The angle of my leafsprings is what i was talking about. Now that you mention pinion angles if i drop everything 8 inches straight down will this mess up my angle for my pinion to t-case?
Oh and to go and poop on my parade, i knew it was coming. My uncle tells me the truck i have has a bad front axle, apparantly there all chewed up. I don't know what the heck he's talking about until i take it apart and see if it's axles or gears or what. and then i hear the 4 wheel drive is out. Hmmm what a pain so now I get to start looking for that one. I don't know if it's a dana 60 or 50 but i think i'm gonna go look tonight. Isn't the dana 60 and 50 solid axles? i'm kinda confused with this one? i figured that if its too bad i can just swap front ends with one from the junk yard that is hopefully good.
Thanks for the help your making things a heck of alot easier
Post Fiend
Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 11,945
Likes: 3
From: Spokane, WA
Bruce, Most any of the F350 springs with an arch will fit. Mine are 6" Skyjackers for a 99 Superduty but most all of them seem to be the same length. As far as the shackles, I don't know what setup you have on your truck but on the 78/79 the front shackles are just 2 seperate flatbar pieces. If you look in my gallery you can see how I built my own and made them heavier to handle the extra stress. If you drop too far at the shackle though your pinion will point toward the ground.
*****, Yes, if you drop the spring 8" at both sides you'll have an 8" lift. If you do drop it like that but don't use degree shims you'll have problems with the pinion angle. This is not the end of the world but you do want to make sure you correct it with shims or you'll eay U-joints and most likely experience vibrations as well.
Do you have a solid front axle? To my knowlege they didn't make a solid D50 but I could be wrong. Do you know what's wrong with the axle? Hard to say. Could be a spider gear, axle shaft, u-joint, hub . .. who knows.
*****, Yes, if you drop the spring 8" at both sides you'll have an 8" lift. If you do drop it like that but don't use degree shims you'll have problems with the pinion angle. This is not the end of the world but you do want to make sure you correct it with shims or you'll eay U-joints and most likely experience vibrations as well.
Do you have a solid front axle? To my knowlege they didn't make a solid D50 but I could be wrong. Do you know what's wrong with the axle? Hard to say. Could be a spider gear, axle shaft, u-joint, hub . .. who knows.
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Joined: Feb 2004
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From: Iowa
I'll let you know as soon as i take a look at it for myself on thursday. I was looking for some parts for it to see how much they were and i came accross a d50 i don't remember the website but if i find it i will post it.
