Leaning truck after shackle change

[woodguy00]

Has anyone ended up with differing height gain on each side after replacing the shackles? It appears that the driver side springs are flatter resulting a lean to the left when looking at the truck from the rear. Wheelwell to ground is about 3/4 different between the sides.

Any thoughts on this?

 

[Bent Bolt]

Loosen off the shackle bolts and then have a look. If looks good, tighten them up.

 

[brendank]

It's a lot more likely that the lean was there to begin with, but you've just noticed it now because you are paying close attention to ride height after the shackle replacement. Rangers are notorious for sitting lower on the drivers side.

 

[Sunk]

Also, the lean is probably more pronounced since longer shackles put more leverage on the leafs.

 

[woodguy00]

I'll try the loosen and check idea tomorrow night. If I am sagging on driver's side, is there any easy way to fix it?

 

[brendank]

I'll try the loosen and check idea tomorrow night. If I am sagging on driver's side, is there any easy way to fix it?

I've seen trucks that have spacers under the coil on the driver's side only.

 

[metalmacguyver]

it is normal because that is the side that you the driver, the front driveline, gas tank, and battery are all on.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

it is normal because that is the side that you the driver, the front driveline, gas tank, and battery are all on.

The battery is on the other side, but the gas tank and driver is alot of weight on one side to deal with.

Mine leans stock, sometime I am going to take the passenger side leaf off of my parts truck and see if it helps any.

 

[metalmacguyver]

The battery is on the other side, but the gas tank and driver is alot of weight on one side to deal with.

Mine leans stock, sometime I am going to take the passenger side leaf off of my parts truck and see if it helps any.

on my 96 and 97 rangers, the battery is on the drivers side. didnt know that they were different on some trucks. any one know what models/years had them on the other side?

Woodsguy00, what year/model is your truck?

 

[Sunk]

The batteries on the passenger side in Gen I (83-88), that I know of. Maybe Gen II also.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

on my 96 and 97 rangers, the battery is on the drivers side. didnt know that they were different on some trucks. any one know what models/years had them on the other side?

Woodsguy00, what year/model is your truck?

I am pretty sure it is on the passenger side on my parents '94 Explorer, and I know it is on my '85 Ranger. I figured that was the standard placement, we have quite a variety of Ford trucks, and they are all on the passenger side. At any rate I doubt they would have a whole lot of effect, compared to the gas tank and driver they don't weigh that much whichever side they are on.

 

[rickcdewitt]

i noticed that on my truck and when i got to looking i saw the driver's side frame rail was bent up where the cab and bed meet like this ^,it made the rear of the bed sit lower. its a good thing i work at a bodyshop and it only took a twelve pack and an hour or so to fix.my lift kit(duff) also came with a spacer in case i needed to shim a front spring.one word of warning though before you jump to conclusions measure your truck on a near flat surface like a good concrete floor.the frames on these rigs are very flexible and so measure the compressed height of all the springs not just from the frame to the ground.

 

[Combs Customs]

The driver side beam is also longer than the passenger side. Allowing for more leverage to compress the spring since both are the same spring rate. This would be more of a factor, further aggravated by gas tank and driver weight.

 

[Dishtowel]

Everybody has made good points: gas tank, driver weight, Drivers beam vs passenger beam.

How long has it been since you swapped shackles?
After I did all my suspension work my rig sat cock-eyed for the first little until I took it out wheeling once or twice and put the suspension to work. Once everything got comfortable it sat true again.
Go hit some jumps, that awt' to fix it. (JJ)

 

[woodguy00]

I did the swap last weekend and the difference is holding at 3/4". I tried loosening both sides and then driving around the block but no changes No jumps yet; hell I've never done any jumps! I am just making a bit of room for bigger tires so my son can look cool driving my truck. I was mostly concerned that the difference was due to stretching out the leafs too long due to the angle of the shackles and that I could end up damaging them. Also concerned that the leafs were sagging due to age - it is a 98 XLT with 115,000 mostly street miles.

As long as nothing is going drastically wrong, I'll be leaving it alone. That is after I install the 1" body lift pucks that arrived yesterday.