Super Stock leaf springs

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dazedand confused

dazedand confused

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Ok so as you already know I have The correct Mopar A-body shackles , front and rear mounting brackets and Super Stock leaf springs 20" up front and 35 " on back measuring from eye hole to center leaf spring stud. the bottom of the shackles is facing up towards the trunk floor . I know they are not suppost to do that . I was told to use a pry bar and pop them back into place and the will stay in place if the weight of the car is on the springs ? but it was also brought up that if the car drives down the road the shackles will pop back out of place ?? so what about using adjustable shackles so the bottom half of them can face down and back at an angle like I see the rest of the Mopar shackles do ?? As you can see the rear end is in line with the wheel well .

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When you pop em down to the way they belong, are the shackles angled toward the bumper or to the rearend?
If they are angled toward the bumper, with car weight on them they should stay that way. (That's how they are supposed to be)
 
I will find out this week . the back half of the car is currently sitting on 3 concrete blocks on each side and rear end is hanging from from shackles / KYB shocks. I have 2 slotted mag rims with tires I will mount them on the car . the other issue was brought up is if the car is driving down the road and hits a large bump and the body bounces and the shackles return to the wrong position ?
33IMP said:
When you pop em down to the way they belong, are the shackles angled toward the bumper or to the rearend?
If they are angled toward the bumper, with car weight on them they should stay that way. (That's how they are supposed to be)
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Yup. The MP suspension manual (that everybody REFUSES to buy) states witht he weight on the tires the shackles should point straight down OR "a little" towards the rear of the car on the leaf spring end. If the pop back up while driving, something is WRONG. I've never once had them do that, although I have pried them down from being popped up against the trunk floor after having the rear of the car jacked up.
 
dazedand confused said:
I will find out this week . the back half of the car is currently sitting on 3 concrete blocks on each side and rear end is hanging from from shackles / KYB shocks. I have 2 slotted mag rims with tires I will mount them on the car . the other issue was brought up is if the car is driving down the road and hits a large bump and the body bounces and the shackles return to the wrong position ?
Click to expand...
You're worrying about things before they happen. Just get the car done and back on the ground and go from there. I can pull hair out about what "might" happen next month, but how much better off will I be?
 
Are the rear shackle brackets bolted on (OEM) or welded in? It kinda looks like the rear brackets are too far back, as if the OEM boxed area was cut out.

In my OEM application, I installed 3/4" spacers to move the shackle brackets forward so the top pivot was in front of the bottom (leaf spring rear eye) pivot.

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Locomotion said:
Are the rear shackle brackets bolted on (OEM) or welded in? It kinda looks like the rear brackets are too far back, as if the OEM boxed area was cut out.

In my OEM application, I installed 3/4" spacers to move the shackle brackets forward so the top pivot was in front of the bottom (leaf spring rear eye) pivot.

View attachment 1716157602
Click to expand...
This ^^^^^
 
are you loosening the shackle bolts when doing all this? otherwise you could just be wrapping up the rubber bushings and they want to return to that screwed up position...
 
I bought a set of springs for an abody from a guy near me.Didn't get around to installing them until almost a year later. I had the same issue. I wound up going with something else. Still have them in storage. :popcorn:
 
Same junk SS springs my neighbor has in his Barracuda. The ark of the spring is to large. You could use stepped shackles but the height of the car will be to high. Also check your pinion angle his is way off . The only thing you can do is have them de-arched or install the spring packs on your old main leafs.

For handling the more ark in the spring will affect the handling on corners. The greater the ark the more side movement of the rear on cornering. A flatter stiffer spring will prevent the side movement of the rear when cornering on the street.

Todds barracuda with the same springs were so high they have 1 inch blocks on top the springs to lower the car. Still when going into corners there is so much side roll movement the tires seem to be low on air. That is how bad the initial movement is.
 
I wonder if SS springs had a bad run. I had no issues with them on my hardtop. Knowing what I know about them I would have done things different meaning different springs. I did drill 2 sets of mounting holes up front when I inboarded my springs which lowered the car significantly. I love the ride height I have.

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Outside the box......
Is there something cost effective to pull the arc out of the springs during install such as........
1698157221847.png
 
Space the front shackle rearward. You'll need to do that anyhow to get a 28 under it anyhow.
 
I just replaced the springs in my Duster and the shackle on the left was straight back as in the picture in post #1. I was getting ready to investigate it further when i saw this. The car came with a 65/67 b body axel. The perchs are 43" on center, but the pinion angle seems off, high. I was thinking the perch ended up being off when it was welded on. Long story short, I popped it back... not easy, but now it looks correct.
Now I just got to get my motor in and see what happens.
 
I would think after a bit it will settle down more. I know when I've changed springs the car sat a bit higher for a while. Once settled it should increase the span eyebolt to eyebolt a little.
 
Locomotion said:
Are the rear shackle brackets bolted on (OEM) or welded in? It kinda looks like the rear brackets are too far back, as if the OEM boxed area was cut out.

In my OEM application, I installed 3/4" spacers to move the shackle brackets forward so the top pivot was in front of the bottom (leaf spring rear eye) pivot.

View attachment 1716157602
Click to expand...
They are stock brackets bolted to body
 
dazedand confused said:
They are stock brackets bolted to body
Click to expand...
A couple of photos from different angles will provide a clearer answer but it still looks like the OEM "box" that the rear shackle mount is normally bolted has been cut out. It appears the shackle mount is bolted to a body crossmember that is a few inches further back than it was originally. If that's the case, the spring/shackle/pivot/frame orientation won't work.
 
Either too much arch or the springs are too short, or both. Measure to the old springs, a comparison should answer the question. If you loosen the shackles to remove any bushing tension, it may work out.
 
Ideally, the shackle should be 90 degrees to the spring.
 
That spring is never going to work, that shackle is too far from ever being vertical that you are correct, it will try to pop back against the body if it gets a chance. When the car is lifted and suspension is in droop the shackle should do no more than align with the spring. Did you buy those SS springs from Mancini Racing? I practically threw one spring out it was so crappily made. Either way I went to ESPO for springs, no issues.

Also, leaf spring suspension is the easiest to set up and to get it wrong it is a parts issue, not a person issue. I had a trailer that I made that I got the shackle angle wrong on due to setting it up for typical 25.25“ trailer springs and guess what, had 26” springs… so every chance the trailer got the shackle collapsed against the frame. Replaced the springs on it with 25.25” springs to get the shackle vertical and never did the shackle collapse against the frame again. And yes I saw it before it happened and said “It looks weird but it is supposed to look like that, it’s fine.” It was not fine.

Additionally, I always understood that using shocks to limit suspension travel was a big no no because it would cause the shock to beat itself up at the end of travel, and ultimately fail. Shock is designed to dampen the shock loads anywhere in the suspension travel and have more range of travel than the suspension it is dampening.
 
Thats why my similar springs are collecting dust. Maybe someday I'll inboard another car and install two sets of holes in the frame rails. 1 for short spring and one for correct length spring. Yes I'm cheap I would do that.lol
 
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