'68 d100 shackle flip

[buster]

I saw a post a little while back about someone doing a shackle reversal on the rear of their d100. That sounds like a neat way to lower the rear. Just wondering if there is still clearence in between the bed and the springs? Looks like on my truck it would be really close.

I have to do something different with my rear springs, the previous owner lowered it by removing all but 2 leafs. This would probably be ok, but not with a 22gal fuel cell sitting behind the rear axel. The truck's stance changes based on how much gas I have! very stupid.

[StinkFinger]

On my d200 I did a spring under axle it lowers it a lot but maintains the complete spring pack. I believe you can move the front spring hangers up on the frame a bit and run a longer shackle to lower it as well

On the d200 the shackle goes up from the frame so flipping it would give the truck a substantial lift

[buster]

Thanks for the advice. I have been considering and axel flip aswell. Did you have to notch your frame at all? How much clearence do you have left between the frame and axel? It is hard for me to visualize exactly how much room I will have left because I only have 2 leafs on it now. If I did the axel swap with only 2 leafs it would ride the frame.

[WD]

Coil over shocks or self leveling air bags... Use your remaining springs simply as axle position locators.

[buster]

That is a good idea, but Im thinkning about going lower than I already am aswell. I was curious about using coil overs in conjunction with leaf springs, is that common? Can you put coil overs up front aswell and keep the leafs? Or is that kind of redundant and pointless?

[WD]

You can still buy stock shock sized coil overs for the rear of our trucks, but they aren't adjustable. Monroe among other brands. Regular adjustable coil overs are available big enough for the rear, but they are some kind of pricey.

No idea on the fronts, never looked for any. My front springs are plenty stiff in conjunction with the stock type shocks and anti-roll bar.

If I was going to a 2 leaf per corner set up on my 69, I'd be running air bags and shocks on all 4 corners. With a ride leveling controller that you can preset. My 49 will be low enough with the 2 bottom springs per corner pulled and slider/liner material between the remaining leaves. And stock type shocks.

[buster]

Thanks for the good advice. Can you explain the benefit of the "slider/liner material between the remaining leaves"? This is new to me.

[StinkFinger]

I had 2-3" between the diff tubes and frame in the front I made adjustments to my leaf pack (pulled some flipped some) and added Monroe air shocks with no air in them it would slap the fame pretty hard when aired up it would lift the truck 3/4 to 1" and rode relitively nice

[buster]

I had 2-3" between the diff tubes and frame in the front I made adjustments to my leaf pack (pulled some flipped some) and added Monroe air shocks with no air in them it would slap the fame pretty hard when aired up it would lift the truck 3/4 to 1" and rode relitively nice

So no notching done, but the frame took a beating for it? Am I understanding correctly?

[StinkFinger]

The rear was fine even hauled a few loads that way I cut my bump stops down to about 3/4" tall

The front was where it took a beating it was just too soft with out the air shocks in

I have since gone to a full link air bag set up in the back

Also mine is a 3/4 tonne camper special not sure if that makes a difference in the stock springs and if you do flip the axle genuine myopar spring perches are less than 20bucks

[WD]

Thanks for the good advice. Can you explain the benefit of the "slider/liner material between the remaining leaves"? This is new to me.

No problem. Spring liners are a polymer you add between each spring leaf. Allows the leaves to move freely against each other instead of binding on corrosion or worn patches of the upper leaves. Less friction = smoother ride. As far as I remember 69-71 front packs have slider buttons built in, same principle, with normal (buttonless) rear springs.

To get the best ride possible on a Sweptline, add spring liners to all 4 packs, 72-93 polyurethane spring bushings, and adapt polyurethane sway bar bushings and end link bushings on trucks so equipped, not sure what year they added the front sway bar. But I think it too is 69 or so and up. All poly bushings need to have the metal linings greased at install, and you should actually add a thin swipe of grease on the shock mounts as well. Shock bushings can/should also be changed out for polyurethane versions, check the generic ones at O'Reilly, Autozone, etc, they'll have the right size.

The truck will handle a bit "stiffer", but the ride quality is 1000x times that of a rubber bushing. Replacing engine and trans mounts with urethane will also be a vast improvement, noisier, but worth it.

Check here for liner materials: http://www.speedwaymotors.com/SMISearch ... ring+liner