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

What are the main differences between version 1, 2, and 3??

 

Any more questions, send a private message.
Mainly V2 and V3 got closer to stock height.
Lift was minimal from the beginning

 

Just installed these yesterday. Everyone talks about how hard it is to get the frame rivets out - and they're right. Those things are really in there. I thought we had a good plan in place to grind off the heads and then push them out with a ball joint press but it wasn't that simple. If I were to do it again I would:

1. Grind the heads off the rivets, and then keep grinding down a couple mm into the stock hangers
2. Pry off the stock hangers with a pry bar. You can get good leverage on it from the inboard side
3. Grind off the remaining rivet shank down to the frame
4. Use BJ press, pneumatic hammer, or hammer drill to remove the remaining rivet

The only other note I have on the process is to go ahead and drill out the rivet holes with a 1/2" bit before trying to install since the hardware is too big to fit the rivet hole. Oh and the vertical frame rivets have the washer tack welded on which I wasn't expecting.

Keep all the hardware loose until you've got everything together! The crossbar's tolerance is super tight. We had to leave one bolt out initially until everything else was tightened down, then had to ream out the hole just a little to make the last one fit.

Haven't gotten to do a lot of driving just yet but I did notice that the truck felt more in control at higher highway speeds on the way home.

edit for pics:



Still need to cut down those ubolts...

 

I am glad that you and Drew were finally able to get them done. It's interesting because out of the three that I have done so far, I didn't have to use the tack-weld method. I would have jetted over there to help but I had to take my kids out for Halloween. I was a little worried when he called me at 4pm to ask about the rivets and I was worried you guys weren't going to finish before nightfall. I am glad you got it done though. You are correct about the crossbar tolerances......on the second ones that I installed, we bolted up everything loosely, the hangers and crossbar, then tightened the hangers, then the crossbar. The tight tolerances just goes to show the exact quality that @ARCHIVE makes then to.

 

Ha yeah man me and @tacobell007 were in a full on battle with the rivets for a while there. Wasn't sure we were going to get it done before dark either. Once we ground down the rivets to the frame (we had already popped off the stock hangers) they came right out. Your advice set us on the proper track, so thank you.

As to the crossbar the only one we couldn't get lined up initially was one of the frame connections. The holes just didn't line up perfectly and needed a little extra encouragement.

 

It almost sounds like you didn't get instructions, because they warn installer about the welded washer and drilling the rivet holes to 1/2". You didn't use the stainless shim for cross tube with the Hh in the rearmost position did you? Because that is only for when Hh are moved towards the engine in the foremost position. First time I heard the fit was tight. The cross tube is built in a fixture that limits how wide it can be

 

Oh I got the instructions, but I did not read them . No, we are in the proper holes for the crosstube. The adjustment was very minor maybe 1mm but enough that the hardware wouldn't slide in without it.

 

Thanks for the feedback though

 

No problem Eric thanks for the great product! Also thanks again for the customer service! As my (poor) luck would have it my Archive packages were temporarily 'lost' by USPS in the great NJ floods back in early September. I reached out through TW and Eric was super helpful. We got it all worked out with no more issues.

 

Did my hh’s last weekend and with a lift and all the tools it’s really not bad. I cut and x in all the rivets and used an air hammer to pop the heads off. Pried the stock hangers off ground the rivets down and popped them out with an air hammer and ball joint press like so many others have done. My wife didn't know what I was doing other than working on the truck and on the first drive less than 3 minutes from our house she said "what did you do to fix the rear suspension? It no longer jumps over those bumps in the road". We have tree roots that are growing under the road in two groups about 10 feet apart that have a washboard feel. With the previous suspension the truck would literally get airborne going over them. Upgrading from 5100's to Kings helped, it got even better with some deaver u402’s and now with the HH's the tires stay planted. You feel the bumps but it's not skittish and feels like the tires stay in contact with the ground as you cross the washboard sections. The sections of roots have been my go to test for everything so far and I'm super impressed with the changes.

I don’t do many free product reviews but these things seriously deserve it.

 

anyone recall the torque specs for the shackles? Just swapped leaf’s and can’t recall what it was or if it was different then stock. Assuming so since the bolts bigger.

 

6 UGGs on a Milwaukee 1/2 impact....

 

I just went to stock specs, 89 ft lbs and that’s what Eric’s instructions say too. (The bolts are the same size btw)

 

Haha depends on which Milwaukee

 

Yah that’s what I went with with. Also same as stock. Just assumed it was since the nuts were bigger.

 

The bolts on our trucks are built to JIS which is why anytime you get a metric replacement at the hardware store, it has some unnecessarily large head on it, or some oddball size like 13mm. I wish JIS bolts were more readily available to keep bolt heads consistent on the truck.

 

I like the shackle bolts we supply because both the bolt head and the locking nuts are 22mm/7/8"

 

Yeah I don’t mind that. More so the other little oddball sized bolts around the truck where the head becomes like a 13mm or 15mm or something just weird. I want everything 10/12/14/17/19/21/22 aka normal sizes lol

 

And no 18mm haha, those are hard to find

 

This setup made me realize I have no 22mm wrenches.