Shackle reversal, should I do it?

[Bob Cat Slim]

Yah, I know. Lame title. I'm building my first Jeep, CJ8. I've talked with so many Jeepers, that I am now totally confused by all the input. I have it on stands, all stock running gear gone. Putting in 44s, SOA, and am to the front end which brings us to shackles, to reverse or not. I was getting ready to do it, but found JEEPZ and have read so much on it that I may not do it. This 8 will run 35s, and be a dirt country road grouse hunter, daily driver. Not a rock crawler, not a mud bogger. I appreciate all of your time on this. :???:

 

[HiHood]

I think you should have the articulation you need by adding sway bar quick disconnects, if you feel that's not enough, add em later :-|

 

[Bounty__Hunter]

Welcome to the Z.

For your intended use, go ahead and do it. It will perform better onroad, especially in a CJ which tend to have sloppy steering. Just make sure to cut holes through the frame and sleeve the frame to hang the shackles behind the axle. Mounting the shackles beneath the frame is a hack job, go through the frame.

 

[GaryMB]

What springs are you planning to use? A shackle reversal works best with arched springs, sometimes guys use sagging YJ springs when they go SOA and the springs actually go into a negative arch when compressed. With a shackle reversal, the change in suspension geometry will push the wheels backwards on compression requiring that you trim the front fenders for clearance if you ever do really flex the suspension, but it sounds like you won't. Also, because the axle will move forwards during suspension droop, you would be better off with a driveshaft with a long enough travel to not fall apart under full droop. Since you are going SOA I'm guessing you are having new driveshafts made anyway so that won't be much of a problem to deal with, but again if you are not flexing the suspension much then you might not need to worry about this. Another consideration is that a shackle reversal will give you more nose dive under heavy braking, but otherwise handling will be improved dramatically.

 

[Rubiconrich]

Do it! You will get a better ride and if you add sway bar disconnets you will
get 30% more wheel travel.

 

[Bob Cat Slim]

I have 2.5" wide YJ springs with 1.5" of lift. I have the rubicon shackle set for putting in the wider springs, but then heard about doing the reversal. Gut feeling on what I read says to do it, and now is the time. Jeep is on blocks and all running gear out.

 

[GaryMB]

I would do it, I reversed the shackles on my CJ7 and never looked back. It will ride and handle MUCH nicer, especially on bumpy dirt roads.