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Shackle Relocation - IronMan4x4 Brackets

F

FusiliJerry

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Philadelphia
2001 a 3" RC Lift as-bought.

After having gone down the rabbit hole of trying to diagnose a left pull under acceleration (which became easy once the steering got super sloppy and darty over the course of a 250 mile trip; the control arm bushings are shot), I went down the rabbit hole of XJ suspension since I figured it could be shackle bushings.

My shackles are at a 90 degree angle, and while I don't hate the ride, its certainly stiff. Thinking about getting IronMan4x4 shackle relocation brackets but I keep going back and forth between the 1.5" lift and no-lift brackets. I don't want to add lift per-se but the bolt-ins would obviously be so much easier to install. I wouldn't mind a bit of rake but my truck has been very persnickety about driveline angles and I'd rather not keep chasing proper pinion angles again.

Are the no-lifts difficult to prep for with say a multi-tool to cut the old box out? Does the protuberance that the stock shackles bolt into have to be cut away for the no-lift to go in or does the assembly nestle up against it?
 
Its too bad that there is no easy solution for dealing with shackle angle. My initial reaction is that a multi-tool wouldn't be up to the job, but its easy enough to find out. Most people would use an angle grinder.

You might want to consider different springs and shocks before going down the path of altering shackle angle. When I changed my shackles from vertical to ~25 deg off vertical, the ride was only mildly softer.
 
I've had the same crappy shackle angles when I used Rubicon Express leaf springs.

The solution for me was to go with Iron Rock Off Road leaf springs, in conjunction with their boomerang shackles.

Their leaf springs are slightly longer than stock, and with their shackles, the angle is much better.

I looked into relocation brackets, but I wasn't sold on them, and replacing leaf springs was a better option IMO.
 
JonnyCat63 said:
I've had the same crappy shackle angles when I used Rubicon Express leaf springs.

The solution for me was to go with Iron Rock Off Road leaf springs, in conjunction with their boomerang shackles.

Their leaf springs are slightly longer than stock, and with their shackles, the angle is much better.

I looked into relocation brackets, but I wasn't sold on them, and replacing leaf springs was a better option IMO.
Click to expand...

Interesting. I had seen that IRO leafs are longer but figured that even so, one wouldn't have the front-to-back range of motion in the unibody stock shackle box that it could articulate without hitting.

I know its a lot to ask as a favor to a random schlub on the internet, but is there any chance you'd be willing to post a picture of one of your shackles?
 
I know its a lot to ask as a favor to a random schlub on the internet, but is there any chance you'd be willing to post a picture of one of your shackles?[/QUOTE]

Sure. Here is a before with a Rubicon Express shackle and leaf spring.

picture.php


Here is one with the IRO shackles and leaf springs.

picture.php


The only other thing you have to do is trim the lower bumper bolt. If you don't, it will hit the shackle. You can see it in the 2nd picture.
 
The pictures don't seem to appear?

Now I've gone down another rabbit hole where another thread showed IRO leafs doing a wierd W-shaped bend due to the smallest leaf being curved vs. flat, and how the flat leaf is "2-stage" which ride better. So now I'm trying to see who makes a slightly longer leaf like IRO does but in a "2-stage".

None of the big aftermarkets seem to advertise the length of their leafpacks including IRO.

Dodge full-size van leafs may be good?

What a can of worms.
 
I went through the leaf length measurement exercise a few years ago. Here are my numbers:

Stock: 51.6" flat length
RC 3.5" lift springs (8047D, comes with their 4.5" lift): 52.5" flat length
OME CS033RA, CO033RB: 52" flat length
IRO 3.5" lift springs: 53.0" flat length
ProComp 3.5" lift springs: 52.1" flat length

I started with a brand new set of RC 8047D about two years ago on 4.75" eye-to-eye shackles. They were way too stiff for my rig which has a light rear due to no armor at the rear and stock rear bumper and stock spare in stock location. The RC comes with 4 0.33" thick leaves and 1 0.26" thick leaf. I eventually settled on 2 0.33" thick leaves and 2 0.26" thick leaves by taking the 0.26" thick leaf from my old RC leaf spring set. It was still a bit firm. Adjusting the shackle angle to 25 deg off vertical helped some. Its a bit firm when driving by myself, but with my family and some gear in the rear, its very smooth. It was a lot of messing around to get to this point.

If I were doing it again, I'd try IRO springs and shackles. They use a 7 leaf spring with an estimated spring rate that matches my current estimated spring rate.
 
FusiliJerry said:
I see them now. Not perfect but good enough for government work considering its the stock shackle pocket.

You've given me something to think about, thanks!
Click to expand...

It works much better than the RE leafs, not perfect, but much better.

To be fair, that's about the best angle you can hope for using the stock pocket, any more angle, and the shackle will hit the back of the pocket. If you want a really good angle, then relocation brackets are probably the only way to achieve that.

I just didn't want to mess with the relocation brackets, so the IRO set up was perfect for me. I had already welded on frame stiffeners front to rear, and undercoated everything, too. I had finished building the Jeep and was running it. I just didn't feel like cutting and working under it any more! :laugh:

Another option I looked into, and heard good things about, was using Deaver springs. Supposedly they are longer and superior to any other leaf. They are pricey, however. At the time, their website wasn't so good, and they weren't answering their phone, so I couldn't ask questions. Not that I would have spent the money, but they didn't help their cause in my case.
 
Someone was selling a lightly used set of Liquid Iron XJ leaf spring sliders so I went that route.

Now I'm chasing a pull under acceleration that I suspect may be leaf spring bushings but my bushings of choice are out of stock at the moment (Ironman 4x4 America; they're the only ribbed bushings I can find for an XJ and I like the idea of having ridges to feed grease through)
 
They look pretty well thought out but seem to be quite noisy!
 
FusiliJerry said:
Someone was selling a lightly used set of Liquid Iron XJ leaf spring sliders so I went that route.
Click to expand...

Keep in mind that these will increase the effective spring rate and reduce available wheel travel compared to properly set up shackles.

FusiliJerry said:
...

Now I'm chasing a pull under acceleration that I suspect may be leaf spring bushings but my bushings of choice are out of stock at the moment (Ironman 4x4 America; they're the only ribbed bushings I can find for an XJ and I like the idea of having ridges to feed grease through)
Click to expand...

Urethane bushings will increase cabin noise levels.
 
I'm not planning to rock crawl or anything so I'm not worried about the lesser articulation. I'm pretty much limited to camping in rough but not crazy terrain and thus far I haven't even disconnected my sway bars.

As for NVH, we shall see I can always revert back. That's why I had to dive at the chance of the bolt-on kit. I'd have never committed to the universal weld-on kit.
 
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