Slodgetto's Green Dragon 4x4 Conversion Build

Quit driving it


Sell it

 

FTFY

 

Man I can't wait to get mine on! How far forward did you move your rear hangers with the 6" shackles?

 

I was gonna say something like this

 

Now let's see the front

 

Silas isn't a boob man

 

this haha!

 

lol She did fine. I broke'd an axle early on, so we didn't get to do quite as much in 3wd, but she still had fun. She got kinda scared in the rocks and at the dunes but she had fun mobbing down the arroyo..

ok, daddy

Honestly, man, I couldn't tell you. I moved my rear hanger several times even with previous leaf packs.... Lost track of their original position when I welded on the current hangers.

This VVVVV

 

Good son

 

Haha ok. I guess I'll just have to play with it when I make my shackles and order the hangers.

 

wait, hang on.

Did you take your Mom out off-roading? Did she drive or just ride along?

 

When are you going to dovenose the front?

 

I think that mod is saved for tons and bigger tires

 

Yeah, man. It's not too bad to figure out ...

To help with some numbers....just keep in mind that the leaves are 64" flattened and about 63" long under weight, eye to eye (at least, it is on my truck with about 200lbs in the bed). My front hanger and rear hanger are (bolt to bolt) about 58.5" apart. (The 58.5 + 6 = 64.5, an extra half inch over the length of the springs, means my shackles will never completely flatten out and the leaf pack will be able to completely cycle without binding.) Considering my 6" shackles, this makes my shackle angle pretty shallow... (30 degrees) While it's works great for the travel numbers I wanted (lot's of droop) and for keeping the rear end low, the ride isn't the greatest since my effective spring rate is increased.

I don't know what length shackle you're planning on using, but keep in mind that the shallower you go on the angle, the higher the spring rate will become, but the steeper you go, the less droop you'll have. I'm sure you know all this but a happy medium is about 45 degrees. Just go a little higher or a lower to achieve what you want... Like you're saying, it's just a matter of knowing the length of your springs, knowing how it'll behave, and going under the truck with a tape measure.

If I were to do it again, I'd french the front hangers quite a bit, go with about a 40 degree shackle angle at ride height, and probably 7" shackles instead of 6. Just to get a slightly better (softer for my truck) ride while staying low.....

lol, yeah! cuz she had never been before! She drove a ways down the arroyo... and loved it, but I drove the rest and showed her the rocks. haha

How about YOU dovenose yours.

 

beautiful explanation man! I want to save that post haha

 

haha cool. Are considering changing out your leaf springs?

 

not for a while. I mean i probably should, but probably not going to. Just a wonderful explanation and something all of us should know about. But i think all im going to do is get longer shackles and longer shocks and that should hold me over.

 

Gotcha.

 

Dang, a lot of good information there! I was planning on using 6" shackles since they seem to work so well for you and SupraTT. I may just move my stock hangers forward a bit to about 59.5" or so my shackles wont be quite as flat as yours at ride height. I just wonder how much an extra inch between the hangers will affect shackle angle. Like if you're at ~30* at 58.5", how much will that angle change by moving the mount back an inch? I suppose I'll tack the shackle mounts at 59.5", set it on its wheels and see what happens instead of pestering you about it haha

 

I am going to dovetail mine when I pick up my new bed Dovenose is alot of work (it looks like) and probably out of the question as of now lol. I have WAY to many other things to catch up on fixing... Which reminds me. My tg creeper joints aren't working out too hot... What did you exactly buy for your ballistic joints? Links please!!