interested how it is performing or if it's not worth a damm

 

[updated:LAST EDITED ON 30-Dec-02 AT 00:10 AM (EST)]I dont have one, but I can tell ya there's a better way to spend you money. Go to www.offroadunlimited and check out their shackle reversal kit.

On a truck like yours and mine, the shackles are in the front. This means that when we hit a bump, the front axle actually travelse forward INTO the obstruction. That's what makes these trucks ride so rough. ORU created a basicly bolt on kit that flips the shackles to the rear and at the same time gives ya a 2.5-3" lift. The kit is $400, but you also need new shocks (figure $200 for some decent shocks) a droped pitman arm (figure $60) and some sort of lift for the rear to level it out again (add-a-leafs $100, 6" block to replace the stock 4" block $40-50) So out the door you lookin at about $700-800 to lift the truck and improve the ride. The good thing about this is that if you ever want to go higher you can just add a regular lift kit under it.

I dont have the ORU kit yet, but I've riden in trucks with them and the ride is awesome. Much like the ride of a newer super duty. Soon as the $ is available I'll be getting me one.

 

I was thinking about that shackle in the front on my one ton and what you said makes sense that the ride would be harsher than a spring with a shackle in the back. Then I thought back to every leaf-sprung front axle 4x4 I've owned or am familiar with and I cant think of any of them that had shackles in the rear of the spring, they were all in the front, to the best of my recollection. Considering that, it doesnt seem so strange that Ford put them where they did, there must be some reason why so many engineers thought the same way...

Possibly it was driveshaft length they were thinking of, as the suspension compresses, the drive shaft gets shorter, so a shackle in the front, on a front axle, would make sense in order to keep the driveshaft within its compression limits. By the same token, I've never seen a rear axle with a leaf spring shackle in the front, they are always in the back, to the best of my recollection. Possibly for the same reason??

Another thing is frame crossmember interference with the differential. If the axle drifts back as it goes up, maybe the diff would hit the crossmember? Without the truck here in front of me, I cant really remember quite where the diff is in relation to the front crossmember on that truck, so my theory could be way off.

Another reason I thought of, though it doesnt apply to F350's but it would apply to F250's, is that if you have leaf springs on an axle with rear-mounted radius arms (which is kind of a Ford oddity), the shackle would have to be in the front and allow the axle to drift forward because of the way the radius arm arcs up and forward as the axle goes up (and forward).

Anyways, those are just some of my rambling thoughts on that shackle subject.

 

Bryan, when I was checkin out your pics of the cool front bumper you built on your truck, I saw your lift pics as well. Did you lift the just the front or the whole truck? Hard to tell in the pics. How much lift did u put in the front to clear the 35's? Did the 35's hit the lower rear corner of the fender before the lift? By the way, thats a sharp truck you have there, looks cool with the bumper, headache rack and 'dually-style' running lights. -Glen.

 

Thanks for the kind words Glen. The 35's fit fine without a lift and with the stock bumper on, however the stock bumper was trimed a little on the rearword bottom corners. The tires have never contacted the fender. Once the new bumper was on clearance was not an issue at all. I only lifted the front end to level it with the rear (2").

The headach rack is getting a little work done to it. I filled in the top of it with some diamond plate and now just need to cut some holes to fit one red and one clear light (the oval ones) diaganaly on both sides.


Back to the spring thing, your right, all my past 4x4s have been set up the same way. However the newer SuperDutys have their shackle in the rear of the spring pack. That's why they ride nicer. Also because their front springs are about 5" longer than ours.

When the springs compress (with the ORU reversal kit) the tires wont hit the bottom fender corner because of the extra lift the kit provides. Again, with the extra lift hight the axle movment isnt a problem as far as hitting any crossmembers or anything, at least not on the 94-97 trucks, I dont know if theres something differant between your truck and the 94-97 trucks. Actualy, here must be because ORU advertizes them as for 94-97 F-350 4x4 trucks. I wonder what's differant?

It's not available to the F-250 crowd I believe because of the radius arm like you said. I know of a couple guys who are working on building some sort of bracket to make it possible, but I havent talked to them in a while and I'm not sure how their progress is.

 

Something else I just thought about. The ORU shackles are unified by a cross bar. When installed it better stabalizes the front suspension as far as side to side movment is consorned. This gives the truck better handling and a more solid feel in turns.


Man, all this talk about them makes me want some more! I know quite a few guys who have them on their trucks and not one of them have a single comlplaint about the kit. That says a lot twards their(ORU) design.

 

Bryan, that crossbar idea sounds great to me, the more crossmembers the better, in my opinion. I havent taken a look at the new SuperDuty F350's, I had no idea they had changed the shackle location on them. I was under my truck today and it doesnt appear that a rear shackle would cause the axle to hit anything, even without the lift.

I dont know what the difference would be between a 92/93 and a 94-97 iether. If I find someone with a 94-97 I'll park next to it and compare them side by side. Well Im not planning on lifting my truck, but it does sound like a cool idea that shackle reversal.

Im changing gears in mine from 3.55's to 4.10's and the gearing might end up being a little low, cause the ratio step is kinda big there between those 2, so Im thinkin a 35" tire might just be a good way to get it right where I want it. Good to know they will fit without a lift!

I did some work on my homemade front bumper today, maybe I will finish it tomorrow. Good luck with the headache rack! Are ya gonna post a pic of it when you're done?

 

The F250 TTB is little more than a PITA... Ther is no radius arm, just a leaf spring, which is clamped solidly to the axle, and, as the axle moves up or down, it twists the spring... Hence, no wheel travel and it rides like a brick. The best thing to do with a TTB F250HD: Swap in a D60 from a F350.

I think the difference between 92/93 and 94/97 may be the chassis itself, the 94+ trucks may have received the front crumple zone the half tons did.
86 F250 HD XLT Lariat Explorer 4x4 ex. Extended Cab: 8800LB GVWR 460/Edelbrock 1411
T19/BW 1345/3.55 geared Full Floater 10.25/Dana 50 TTB
265/75R16's on Whitespokes

I'm just your average 18 year old... LOL

 

Thanks for the explination of the TTB, I've never realy looked at one.

Glen, you can bet I'll put up some pics when I'm done with the headache rack. If you can put some up of your bumper when it's finished.

I have 4.10's in my truck and with the 35's I cruis at about 2,000rpm wich puts me right around 63mph.

 

Guess I was mistaken about the F250 TTB frontend too, confusing it with the F150 TTB which has radius arms and coil springs. Sorry guys.

Bryan, Thanks for the info on the gearing, 63mph oughtta be fast enough for me to cruise at. Do you have overdrive? I have the C6 (no OD).

I'll take some pics of the bumper, hopefully they will be clear enough to see, my digicam is terrible for picture quality. I wanted to post some pics I took of my truck too, but they aren't clear enough to see any detail so I didnt bother posting them.

 

Yea, I got an over drive (E4OD). Today I had my GPS with me while I was driving and noticed that my speedo is off. Acording to the GPS when I was cruising at 2,000 rpm my speed was at 67mph. The GPS at the time said it was accurate down to 3 feet, so that's a pretty darn good reading. Now I just gotta recalibrate my speedo, I never realized it was so far off:-(

Hows the bumper comin, any pics yet?

 

> Then I thought back to every leaf-sprung front axle 4x4 I've owned >or am familiar with and I cant think of any of them that had
>shackles in the rear of the spring, they were all in the
>front, to the best of my recollection.

Well then, you've never owned a '73-87 (thru '91 on the Blazers and Subs) Chevy/GM or any front leaf-sprung Toyota.

> Considering that, it doesnt seem so strange that Ford put them >where they did, there must be some reason why so many engineers >thought the same way...

Yep, cost, ease of manufacturing, engineering and assembling.

>Possibly it was driveshaft length they were thinking of, as
>the suspension compresses, the drive shaft gets shorter, so
>a shackle in the front, on a front axle, would make sense in
>order to keep the driveshaft within its compression limits.

True, sometimes a long-travel d/s is req'd if you move the shackle to the rear of the front springs.

>Another thing is frame crossmember interference with the
>differential. If the axle drifts back as it goes up, maybe
>the diff would hit the crossmember?

No, not in this case at least.

The ORU kit is highway robbery. Good idea, yes. WAY too expensive.

 

[updated:LAST EDITED ON 03-Jan-03 AT 09:56 PM (EST)]Bryan, the bumper is on hold untill this weekend (tomorrow). No pics as of yet sorry