extendable shackles

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hi all,,some 1 is going to make me some extendable shackles for my four track but need some measurements of the standard 1,s but as my truck is away having a new motor fitted i cant do this so was wondering if any can help,,hes asked for this info,,, the width of the in side of the std shackles the diameter of the bolts centres of the bolts , and do the side plates taper in from one end to the other . a couple of photos would be good,,or even if some 1 has a standard shackle i could send him,,below is a picky of what hes going to make if any 1 is interested

Scissor Shackles

Hi, I have a company specialising in Daihatsu parts, Blood Red Offroad Ltd, and am always interested in suspension modifications, you can see pics of my car in the gallery and on my website showing the articulation I have achieved up to now and I have a new project underway to build a dedicated trials/challenge vehicle from an F95 Fourtrak I bought recently.
I have looked into making these scissor type shackles for the Fourtrak/Sportrak but decided against it because to allow them to work on a Fourtrak or Sportrak you will need to make a number of other mods aswell. The main problem is the standard shocks on the Daihatsu vehicles only have around 7" of travel, no point having an extending shackle if your axle will only move 3-4" before the shocks are holding it, also if the shackles give any lift the axle will already have used up some of the extension travel in the shocks before you unload it. You can address this by fitting longer shocks, although without repositioning the mounts 2" longer in the shock body is around the practical limit, this will give 3-4" of extra droop but then this will affect other critical components as they were not designed to accomadate a long travel setup, the brake hoses will be starting to reach full extension before the axle with the potential to tear out and leave you with no brakes at the most inconveniant time. Also the handbrake cables will need extended mounts on the body and axle to stop them limiting the travel of the rear axle at full droop and the bumpstops and axle breathers will need extending. There are potential problems with the propshaft spline overlap if fitting these shackles to the front axle of the fourtrak but I wouldn't recomend fitting all four springs with these anyway as there are stability issues with doing that in the same way as fitting dislocation cones to all four corners of a coil sprung vehicle. I would stick to a pair on the rear only.
I don't mean to sound negative about these, as I said I've looked into them myself, but I wanted you to be aware of what is involved if you want to get the best out of fitting them, otherwise you will end up spending money for little or no extra travel.
Best regards
Dave.
Bloood Red Offroad Ltd
www.bloodredoffroad.com

d-flex

thax for the input guys ,,,maybe ill give them a miss then Smile

they look good

That is the first time i have actually seen some scissor/ d flex shackles that would fit the fourtrak, but as dogsboss said cos of the fuel tank you cant mount the dampers at angles like you would on a suzuki, i did manage to find on a american site which showed some revolver shackles which open the same but also turn which doesnt put quite the same amount of pressure on the bushes and leaf springs but also over there they do it for rock crawling and the suspension opens up so slowly cos thay creep along at low speeds which allow trick suspension to work well without busting it, i would be very carefull about fitting this type of shackle, must admit i did like the idea of them myself at one point but an awful lot of people do remove them after having them fitted for a time cos of the 'unloading' effect they have on side slopes. The measurements you want - including the chassis bushes fitted are 85mm gap at top and 60mm gap on the leaf, i have got lots of shackle parts but not on me, if i remember will try to put on photos etc for you,id be very intrigued as to how you get on with these cos noone else has got em on a fourtrak, ive seen the pic of your vehicle and you obviuosly do serious challenges and would love to know what you have done to the suspension set up - some underneath pics would be good, just out of interest who is making them??? its not someone like rhino ray suzuki specialist or one of those company's is it??

Full of ideas but no time to do them!!

www.bloodredoffroad.com
www.milneroffroad.com
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