![]() The last thing you want is a piece of metal fragment in your eye.Clamp The Work Piece DownAnother tip is to clamp your work down while you drill it. DrillingWhen you use a drill, you always want to wear eye protection. I marked the hole locations at 5¾” center to center and hit them with a center punch.Since I was going to drill these holes out with a drill press and I wanted all the holes to be equal distance from each other, I clamped them together using angle iron and C-clamps as pictured below. I had them cut it to length, although an angle grinder with an 1/8 inch cutting wheel for steel with rip right through it if you get a full length that needs cutting.The new shackles were going to be 5¾” (hole center to hole center) with an overall length of 7½ inches. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, if you plan to do any fabrication of anything on your 4×4, find a metal shop that will either sell you cheap pieces of stock steel or allow you to look though their scrap dumpster.The steel I needed was 4 pieces of 2 inch wide by 3/8″ thick slabs at 7½ inches long. So now it was time to fabricate some shackles.The first thing I did was acquire some steel. With 33″ Super Swamper SSR MT tires, I would get a little rubbing at full articulation, minor but still, I’d like to clear all corners.Second reason was to put a shackle on the Jeep that was a little more stout.Īfter putting it together and testing it out, I was quite pleased with it. My suspension is a 3½ inch lift BDS YJ leaf springs. My current shackles were stock stamped steel CJ shackles (pictured below) at 4″ hole center to hole center. Additionally swapping shackles for upgraded shackles is a good time to consider greasable shackle bolts and polyurethane bushings, which will improve flex and improve the ride of the vehicle on and off-road.Shackles are also one of those components that are simple enough in design that someone with a few tools and a little know how might consider making instead of buying.I had a few reasons for considering longer shackles.First reason was height. Secondly, it can help to improve flex by giving the springs more travel between compression and extension of the leaf springs. First and probably most notable is it can lift the vehicle a little, adding extra clearance for tires or increasing your break-over height allowing the vehicle to clear a little more. Project Jeep CJ-7 – SuspensionMaking Shackles Turning a Mistake into New Tools!Shackles are one of those simple leaf sprung suspension components that can easily be upgraded to do a couple of things for a leaf spring suspension. ![]()
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January 2023
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