Upgrade shackle hangers or not? Alcan Springs/FWC

Howdy, I have a ‘22 DCSB MT with a Four Wheel Camper and I should be receiving my custom springs from Alcan this week. I’m very excited to get rid of airbags and regain some ride quality. The goal for the truck is drivability and I’m staying stock tire size with 0” lift / retain factory rake. Springs are going to be rated at ~1200lbs constant load for FWC and bikes/rack/gear. Also planning to switch to the Terraflex Falcon tow/haul shocks from stock.

Will I put too much strain on the factory hangers? I don’t love the idea of changing these out, but if they’re going to bend or wobble under load I’m open to it. I’m just trying to make it drive tight and safe. Drives great with airbags currently until I’m on a forest road or hit a big dip at speed…thoughts?

 

I have a very similar setup, and yes, I went with Archive Garage Hammer Hangers, with shackles, and cross brace, for my heavily loaded Tacoma.

It was 100% worth it. Much, much better.

I doubt you will overstress the OEM hangers, but overstressing them wasn't my guiding principle for their replacement. If you are solely concerned with overstressing them then I wouldn't be as worried about swapping them out. But, if you do want better offroad (and onroad) drivability, then they are worth replacing. Having a nice, tight rear end is truly wonderful, all jokes aside.

 

That's a heavy load- I'd look into reinforcing the frame as well. Especially if the airbag is putting most of that load on the frame in between the spring hangers.

 

\/ that is the way

 

I like the idea of the cross brace if I didn’t have to relocate the spare. My mantra is to leave as much alone as possible. Yes, mainly looking for on-road stability and safety.

Can you describe the difference you feel as driver?

 

I’d box the frame.

At minimum hangars, leafs, and a cross tube.

 

I had a FWC on a double cab long bed- that felt like it needed the frame boxed. Now having a short bed it doesn’t feel at all necessary. It feels like the camper has much less leverage on the shorter frame. I suppose it wouldn’t hurt anything but my bank account…

 

Relocating the spare is a challenge for sure. I personally feel like adding something like a FWC or an Alu-Cab to a midsized truck, with a light payload to boot, removes the realistic idea of leaving as much alone as possible. I have since done more upgrades, outside of just the AGHH's, to further improve drivability, as I need as much long-term reliability and usefulness out of the truck, even with the extra weight I added to it. This may not be a requirement others have, but I feel it valuable, even necessary.

The difference mainly revolves around the truck behaving as it did when it was empty. It's that feeling that I notice, having spent time driving the truck for a while prior to the HH install, and then again after the install. Even offroad, I can almost entirely forget that I am driving a truck that has so much on/in its bed. Hard for an outsider to believe, I am sure, but when I was tackling the descent of Fix-It-Pass, or the Devils Racetrack, or any other similar technical trail, I am not thinking about the camper on the back, just what is ahead.

HSWOR - iPhone Photos by Michael Rickerd, on Flickr

 

Oh darn it, I think you got me with that picture. Alright I’ll do it already!

Did you try with and without cross-tube? Difference?

 

Unpopular opinion inbound...

My truck is very heavy. DCLB, front bumper, skids, Drifter camper with build out, dual swing out HC bumper, etc. I recently swapped my hangers and shackles for BAMF ones, kind of for the same reason you're contemplating. I was in there anyway swapping leaf packs, why not do it all at the same time? I've run them with and without a cross brace. I honestly don't think they're worth the hassle. Perception is everything, and lots of people swear by changing the hangers, but I noticed no difference with them. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if the OEM stamped and riveted hangers are actually stiffer than the aftermarket bolt-ons. The biggest difference for ride quality you can make, IMO, is a good leaf pack, good shocks, good bump stops, and good tires.

I also completely disagree with boxing these frames unless you are repairing rust or collision damage. Frame failures are extremely uncommon in 2nd and 3rd gens (outside of rust), even with the prevalence of over-loaded trucks (like mine). Don't fix what ain't broke! And what you'll definitely lose with stiffening up the frame, aside from maybe creating stress concentrations in your factory frame, is articulation.

 

I like hearing the other side, thank you for that. I’m probably more aligned with you philosophically. And I agree, boxing the frame with being completely engineered is very risky!

 

I did not try it without the cross tube at any point. Installed it all at once. The cross brace is a vital piece of the puzzle in my opinion.

 

Do the hangars first and see if you feel like you beed more!

 

Like @tacomarin I have a Drifter, but not a heavy build. Truck is way more on the stock side of things. +90lbs for supercharger, 3rd gen aluminum TRD Pro skid plate, 3rd gen TRD Pro Fox suspension, Dobinsons 112R leaf springs, 21lb wheels, 43lb Load Range 32" tires. I keep holding off on "upgrading" the hangers because I don't really notice any issues and am in no rush and will probably never upgrade the hangers.

However, with your constant weight being way more than mine, @tacomarin 's experience applies more to your situation.

If anything, I'd skip the hangers for now and get a custom set of rear shocks set up for all that weight.

 

The hangars are a huge, huge upgrade. Night and day difference.

 

Yup. Custom leaf packs and good shocks would be the first stop for me. I ended up with a custom pack (long story) and it made a massive difference. Maybe if I did that and then did the hangers I could have detected a difference, but the big lever for me was definitely the leaf packs. If it still feels lacking after that then maybe start farting around with things like the hangers. Installing hangers is like 5% messing around with the leaf springs, 90% removing the rivets, and 5% bolting the new hangers on. So you really don't save much by doing them at the same time as the leaf springs.

 

FYI this will get the rivets out in less than 3 min per side.

Grind the head off. Flap disk it flat. Center punch the rivet. This will drill through the rivet so fast.

30 min per side max to bolt it all together.

$22 DEWALT Step Drill Bit, Impact Ready, 1/8"-1/2" (DWA1783IR)

https://www.amazon.com/DEWALT-DWA17...t=&hvlocphy=9194049&hvtargid=pla-569792843003

 

Don’t forget about the vertical rivets going through the x-member. I went with the air chisel route. Drilling proved to be less efficient. The rivets going through the x-member suck because they start peeling the x-member up. Some people recommend using a ball joint puller for those. I dunno. It was a couple hours of work altogether, noisy, messy, and negligible improvement in my book. Ever heard of anyone having a hanger break or even be bent on one of these trucks? No, me neither. YMMV though.

 

I bent my 3rd gen hangars so there’s one! Lol. I didn’t do the cross tube though, only the hangars. It made enough of a difference that I was happy with it. On my Tundra though I fully boxed the frame. That was worth every hour of effort. I’m just a believer in trucks with campers getting a reinforced frame or starting off fully boxed from the get go.

 

This makes sense, I’m really only looking for on-road manners and for rougher logging roads. I am going with the Terraflex Falcon tow/haul shocks, which can be turned up to some pretty heavy valving. Maybe I just run the stock hangers. And see how they go.

@socalexpeditions - did you bend yours by impact on something or was it the impact from the leaf through the hanger?