Sulastic rubber shackles to improve harsh ride.

[solraven]

I agree wholeheartedly with one minor addition. Truck suspensions are set to maintain ride height and handling with a certain payload. If you will never load the truck, you could, theoretically use softer springs and make up the ride height with blocks or different shackles. Then softer shocks could also be used and give a softer ride than what is attainable with the load capacity of the OEM springs.

Any opinions on air shocks? Does the increase in air pressure just make the shock harder to compress or does it stiffen up and down movement? I was under the impression it acted like a regular shock with a built in air spring to increase hight under heavy load.

 

[solraven]

At $350 in 2012 to $460 today, they're beating inflation, so how could you not buy them?

If these things' functional difference from revolver shackles is they can't flip, it looks like G-shackles are revolver shackles but with one arm shorter.

Back in Jeep-land, aside from the fact that revolver shackles will flip your YJ ass-over-teakettle when you drive downhill, another fun bit of conventional wisdom is that a spring's primary purpose is to set ride height and load capacity. If you're chasing comfort, for your money, start with the shocks.

True revolver shackles can rotate perpendicular to the pivot as well. I see some 2 piece shackles that use a threaded rod connecting 2 of the pivots that some people are calling revolver shackles but they don't know there is supposed to be a joint that can move perpendicular to the eye allowing it to twist during high articulation. That is supposed to be a brass bearing between the rod and sleeve but because people don't grease them, they often seize.

While you could flip the short arm of a g shackle with the axle hanging, adding articulation is not the intent. It also does not sit on itself the way revolvers do. it kind of turns it into a hanging shackle. With a normal shackle, as the spring compresses, the eye of the spring is pushed back and the vertical distance between the perch and frame closes and opens as the shackle pivots, magnifying the short harsh jolts. The geometry of the g-shackles, using a shape like a G, has a long arm that comes behind and curves under the eye of the spring, then spans the distance from the eye of the spring to the tail of the g with a short arm. This keeps the vertical distance between the perch and eye much more consistent and allows the eye to freely move forward and back as the spring compresses and springs back without transferring that sharp jolt and vibration. This is something that changing shocks will not achieve. I was thinking they would be hard to make for the ranger because the shackle connects on the inside of the perch and the outside of the spring while all the g-shackles I have seen go on the outside or the perch and spring making them straight, as bending them to be narrow on one end and wide on the other while curving around like that could make some complex stress points. If the long one was inside on top and bottom, and the short one was on the outside that would simplify it...