Hammer Hangers® by Archive Garage 2005-2023 Tacoma Shackle Hangers

I thought about making my own but sometimes I value my time more and prefer the pre made route for simplicity.

 

No. Everything must be built, not bought. I even make the motor oil.

 

I recently installed the Hammer Hangers, Shackles and Cross Bar along with new ICON leafs. What a ENORMOUS difference these things make! Superb Craftsmanship by Archive! I used a pneumatic hammer, angle grinder and ball joint press to remove the rivets, made for very quick work.

 

Thanks Joe for the review, appreciate it

 

Not going to lie, I had my doubts about getting extra travel out of this kit and the Archive relocate. Once I dissected everything and compared it to stock it makes sense.

Here’s my set up- Dakar heavies, (third leaf removed prior and removed second overload while doing this install) Archive HH and relocate, Fox 2.5x12” smoothies with Accutune’s standard adventure tuning, swapped poly bushings in factory shackle

This seemed to be the most consistent way to measure increased wheel travel. Axle was free to droop on its own weight

Before- 6.5”


After- 9.5”


The leafs and shock still had room to go, but the shackle is now the limiting factor. It is articulated to the max. I wish there was a way to get more rotation out of the shackle.


I took it for a test drive and it was the best the rear of the truck has ever felt and that’s with little weight back there. The hardest part about the install is cutting the old mounts out. The Archive parts are really straight forward. I expected to have trouble setting the lower mount up correctly, but it was extremely easy. Money well spent. Thanks Eric!

 

I ended up using some chain links to make this-


It wedged so perfectly in that space between the frame and bed I couldn’t resist haha

 

Where the leafs and shackle bolt together, you want the nut facing outboard, otherwise it can dig into the HH. Something to keep an eye on.

 

Good looking out, it’s rubbed the paint off. Definitely need to swap it around

 

Thanks for the feedback. Because you have Hh V3 with the shorty little Dakars, you can move the Hh forward to the foremost "stock position" to get a little more droop, but this also comes with the leaf pack to fan out, and you get down to the leaf pack basically being the main leaf by itself when you are articulating because of the ludicrous Dakar clip gap, this can cause axle wrap when you are trying to crawl over an obstacle

 

Good to know. I’m impressed I was able to get what I got out of them. To add to the list of Dakar hate- they don’t use a threaded body center pin, so the most you can take out is one leaf at a time. I didn’t remember this from taking them apart before. I ended up using the sway bar washer things from my front king resi mounts to make up the difference. Its outer diameter was the exact same as wheelers bump stops inner diameter and made it fit like a glove. I guess it’s good I never throw anything away haha

The Dakar leafs were flat in the middle, too when I broke the pack down. Maybe that’s normal since they’re always looking like a W. I’ll end up replacing the pack before long. Maybe icon rxt or deaver. Whichever flex better. That being said, these Dakar’s have never ridden as well as they do now.

 

So when I stuff one tire the shock bottoms out (rubber pad on the Fox rod end) before my bump engages. The bump is about a quarter inch from touching, but the rubber pad on the shock is way stiffer. I don’t know of a highly dynamic situation where this would happen and cause any issue, but just want to check. Just slow crawling would stuff one wheel like this for me or else I’m in for a bad day.

When I set the lower mount I based it off of the axle pushed up into the bumps on the weight of the truck plus 0.5” of shaft to account for any extra compression. Did I make a boo boo or is this acceptable?

 

If your shock is bottoming out before your bumps are engaged, that’s no bueno. You’ll want to fix that. You can either cut off the lower mount and redo it or space out the bump stop.

 

"the hammer hanger sits 5/8" lower than the stock hanger, which really isn't a big deal because the stock spare sits lower than that."

that logic is air tight....I'm sure everyone installing these still have the stock spare on...

 

Well poo. Was hoping that wasn’t the case. I’m maxed out by the shackle on the other side, so I might as well bring the bump up or just strap it and save the bump travel when the axle isn’t full tilt

 

That’s likely from version 2 and he forgot to update it. He’s since stated version 3 sits the same height as stock hangers.

 

Yeah get that fixed ASAP so you don’t blow up those brand new shocks. What size shock and bumps are you running again? Should be as easy as re-setting the lower mount.

 

They’re Fox 12x2.5” with wheeler super bumps. I guess I cut it too close when setting them up. I thought I’d have plenty of margin, but with the axle full tilt it brought the bump down more than I realized.

 

I made that same mistake when I did my first round of relocate. Second time I broke my leaf pack down so I could articulate it in my garage and re did my lower mounts.

 

At least that isn't a hard hit on the shocks. Since your shocks are outboard when the axle articulates, your mounts are going to be up higher than straight up and down travel.

 

I broke the pack down, but just stuffed the axle straight up. Thought for sure that plus 0.5” would be enough. I need to see how much shaft is left on the other end before I drop the lower mounts, a new pack being longer than the Dakar’s might offer a little more droop before the shackle hits. Might be splitting hairs, but it may make sense to strap it or move the bump up instead so the other shock isn’t at full extension.