New XHD Mancini Spring Different Shackle Angles

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JD Erisman

JD Erisman

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I know this topic has been beat to death but I couldn’t find an answer directly related to what problem I have. I bought some Mancini Raving XHD leaf springs for my ‘67 Barracuda, finally installed them this weekend. When at rest on the wheels the passenger side shackle is at about 85 degrees forward, close enough to 90 for me. The driver’s side shackle is about 78 degrees forward, NOT close enough for me. The body on the driver’s side sits almost two inches higher than the passenger side, which is opposite of what it should be according to Mancini and all I have read: passenger side should be slightly higher when using the XHD springs. If I keep jacking the driver side leaf spring pack upwards, raising the entire axle housing, on the drivers side the shackle becomes nearly identical an angle to the passenger side. Before I installed the springs they were an identical length and height while resting on the floor. Any ideas as to the body height and shackle angle difference?
 
Measure your front ride height. It's possible to influence the rear with the front. Do you have a front sway bar?

Also possible your springs are flipped driver/pass?
 
Thanks for the reply. I installed them per the side Mancini indicated they should be located based on the springs part number. I do have a sway bar and I currently have the front of the car on jack stands to gain enough room to work underneath so I’m lowering the rear of the car onto ramps so it is resting on it’s own weight, at least in the rear. I thought as long as the rear is on its own weight that should be enough to settle the springs in the correct position. Maybe not?
 
If the shackles are that far forward at ride high the spring is the wrong rate. The shackle should be positioned to less than 90 degrees to the rear.

It’s easy to figure out. Start putting heavy stuff in the trunk until the shackles are positioned correctly. The more weight it takes to correct it, the greater the amount the spring is off on rate.
 
first i'd get the car completely on the ground and go from there.. 90* (straight up and down) is no good.. will ride rough and could possible wrap things up that the shackle will come forward.. not good.. those shackles should be angled slightly towards the rear bumper.. maybe they are the wrong springs? too short? or not enough weight on them..

shackle%20angle.jpg
 
abodyjoe said:
first i'd get the car completely on the ground and go from there.. 90* (straight up and down) is no good.. will ride rough and could possible wrap things up that the shackle will come forward.. not good.. those shackles should be angled slightly towards the rear bumper.. maybe they are the wrong springs? too short? or not enough weight on them..

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Agree w/ the above post . Have u checked to see if the rear end is square in the car ?
A little off can make more diff than u think , Mine was off 1/8'' and it made a diff in the shackle angle !
 
I’m not sure if the axle angle is off or not, I thought of that but couldn’t figure out an accurate way to measure for it. When I measure from the same location at the bottom of the rear quarter panel to the rear tire the drivers side, the side that’s higher and has the over angled shackle, the tire is about 3/4” farther forward than the passenger side. I’ll put some weight in the trunk to see how it sits but even after bouncing the rear up and down repeatedly it does not settle. I can use a lever on the driver’s side shackle and move them rearward, which lowers the entire rear of the car, but I have no idea if that means anything.
 
JD, if you bought the XHD then the spring are different left to right. I bought a set and did not like so never installed and went different route. If you want to run matched leaf springs left to right PM me and for the cost of shipping I will send you one of the XHD leaf springs I have cause I will never use it.
 
Where are you getting your info? The XHD springs are the same as the factory 340 springs. They do NOT sit unlevel. Only the Super Stock springs sit unlevel. Although the XHD springs may have different part numbers left and right, they are not biased....at least they never have been that I know of.
 
The info came from Mancini. They state the passenger side spring pack will cause that side to sit higher. The two spring packs are not the same; the driver side leafs all sit higher, so closer, to the rear spring eye than the passenger side, if that makes sense. According to Mancini that makes it more likely the passenger side will hook up better with less wheel spin. I have no clue, but I just bought the Mopar handling book so I can gain a little knowledge on this subject.
 
screw mancini.. i'd have bought espo springs and been done.. i've not had any of these silly issues like this with espo or even the eaton on the dart now..
 
I wish I had bought from Espo but they were 3-4 weeks out, I should have just waited and bought their springs.
 
JD Erisman said:
The info came from Mancini. They state the passenger side spring pack will cause that side to sit higher. The two spring packs are not the same; the driver side leafs all sit higher, so closer, to the rear spring eye than the passenger side, if that makes sense. According to Mancini that makes it more likely the passenger side will hook up better with less wheel spin. I have no clue, but I just bought the Mopar handling book so I can gain a little knowledge on this subject.
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I don't believe those are the XHD springs, then. I think you got Mancini's version of the SS springs. That's what it sounds like.
 
abodyjoe said:
screw mancini.. i'd have bought espo springs and been done.. i've not had any of these silly issues like this with espo or even the eaton on the dart now..
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I agree.
 
JD Erisman said:
I wish I had bought from Espo but they were 3-4 weeks out, I should have just waited and bought their springs.
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See if Mancini will swap one spring out for the same one that sits at the height you like.
 
Buzzmaster might be able to help me out with a spring set. Problem with ordering different springs is the shipping cost to Alaska is insane. I wish I had bought Espo to begin with.
 
JD Erisman said:
Buzzmaster might be able to help me out with a spring set. Problem with ordering different springs is the shipping cost to Alaska is insane. I wish I had bought Espo to begin with.
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You should double check with Mancini to see if you received the incorrect springs. Shipping should be on them if you received something different from what you ordered.
 
I'd still get it on the ground to check everything first. Could be the two spring packs have different numbers of leafs and are also arched differently to try and make them 'equal' after install.
Our cars are well known to sit off-kilter when lowered off a lift or jacks. Gotta be rolled back and forth in a straight line a few times to get it to actual ride attitude. Or at least jounced a few times (never had much luck doing it that way though).

If your car otherwise runs, I'd get it down and go around the block and then park it after driving in a straight line 20-50ft. Check from there and see how off-kilter it still is (or isn't). Then check the front suspension to see if you're equal left/right or not. Might just be a matter of some torsion bar adjustment. From there you'll likely need an alignment.
 
Good point. I can always throw it all back together and at least give it a rolling test. Thanks to everyone for your input.
 
How did you tighten it all up? Are you aware you're supposed to tighten all suspension bolts with the weight on the suspension? If you tighten any bolts with the suspension hanging in the air, you may have the suspension in a bind. Also worthy of note is the U bolt torque. It's low. Only 45 LB FT. Much more than that and you pinch the spring packs so hard that the spring pack no longer flexes and will bind.
 
Rusty, I did exactly what you said. I followed the Plymouth factory service manual with all torque specs. I did the U bolt nuts to 45 ft lbs and loosely put the nuts on all of the bolts associated with the springs. I still haven’t tightened the shackle or pivot nuts because they aren’t at the correct angle. Odd how one is about 8 degrees off the other shackle. I can pry the shackle backwards to almost 90 degrees but it won’t stay in position unless I were to reef the nuts into position on the shackles and front pivot bolt but I think that would cause a lot of stress. I don’t know what the heck I did wrong but I’ve had the springs in and out of the car multiple times, reassembled the spring packs multiple times, nothing changes.
 
I know that you are working on the rear,but does this car have a drivetrain in it???
 
It does have a drivetrain, engine and tranny are in. All I did was swap the springs and third member in the 8 3/4.
 
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