Barracuda rear shackle question

RedFish said
If I had to guess why factory would install a hanger made like that... road quality. All the high mileage well worn spring bushings I have seen were worn laterally/sideways meaning the left to right stress made more wear than straight rotational/up down stress. if the roads are extremely rough the sideways stresses would really take a toll on the 2 bolts where the clip bolts to the car. The wider hanger would absorb a lot more lateral stress.

That's a good point, it did occur to me that the longer shackle bolt and increased bushing surface area would reduce stress on the bushings.

Still, it seems weird to me. They obviously started with the same shackle hanger as over here in the US, and then added the extension. Maybe some kind of government standard over there? Otherwise I don't really see that amount of work being done for the relatively small benefit of increased bushing surface area. The bushings last for a hundred thousand miles over here, even with really crappy roads they'd far outlast any kind of factory warranty. Which kind of negates the factory going in and making expensive custom modifications to mass-produced parts.

DoctorDiff said
Of course you can move the spring perches inward 3/4". Because the front hangers can only be moved 1/2" before they hit the frame, the springs will be pulled inward an additional 1/4" toward the rear, however. In other words, no matter what you do, the net result is 1/2" additional tire clearance per side.

Exactly! :evil3: