I was talking to a friend yesterday and he was telling me about a rear suspension setup he saw on some EBs that sounded interesting. The rear leaf spring shackle was not bolted to the frame, but to some sort of arm that pivoted in the center of the frame. On flat ground, it sits in it's normal position. But when the truck twists, the shackle drops away from the frame allowing more flex.

The basic principal is similar to unbolting the top of a coil spring and allowing it to drop when flexing (using a coil bucket of course).

Has anyone ever seen or done this? Any thoughts?

TIA.

Kevin K.

 

sounds like a "buggy leaf" type setup

it produces more flex, but i dont think its useful flex, the usuaully end up causing mroe problems than they are worth

 

unless i am missing somthing, it sounds like a revolver shackle.

 

Does a revolver shackle bottom out on the frame so only the bottom piece flexes under normal suspension travel?

I found a few pix on the web and that's the way is appears to me. If so, that's a much simpler way to achieve the same thing.

Are there any drawbacks to a revolver shackle on a full size truck?

Kevin K.

 

they give you crappy axle wrap, make it very unstable on hills and can bend leaves....they arent worth it because they are useless flex

it sounds like you are talking about a "buggy leaf" type setup same thing except the shackle is normal but attachted tothe end of a leafspring thats attached to the frame, or the shackl eis just attacthed to a bar that rests against the frame and lets the spring move down when the axle droops

 

A revolver shackel can be a verry good shackel in some situations.In other instances they can unload at the wrong time and cause you to tip over.

 

ive never seen a situation where the good outweighs the bad....theres a reason you dont see them on anything in competitions

 

KO, they do sometimes work right. As said though, they want to unload when you're sidehilling which flops you..or actually rolls you down a big enough hill.

I know what you saw, was it a ranger over on Pirate? Like 10' long shackles - not a good setup. You can do better with coilovers or something. Safer.

 

He's talking about what i seen called in a recent petersons mag a zig zag shackle or somehting like that, i'll dig around for the mag tomorrow and post up, but essentiall the rear of the leaf spring isn't solidly attached to the frame.

 

Okay, i'm not really seeing the usefulness of the revolver anyways. If it unbuckles to let the wheel reach the ground, doesnt that mean that the only weight it has on it for traction is from the tire and half the axle? Doesnt quite seem useful to me.

 

exactly....

 

Cool, then count me in

 

Thanks guys.

Now I know why I haven't seen a lot of these. If they were any good, there'd be a lot more around.

Kevin K.

 

there must be some truth to it if it is beiong mass produced!

http://www.rubiconusa.com/store/prod...oductnum=NDMZZ

-cutts-

 

ive never seen anything like that before....looks good except i can see the back doing some serious lifting under power due to axle wrap