[2LONGTOY89]

i am looking to do the 63" chevy spring swap on my 03' and was wondering if i could get some feedback on the positives and any negative aspects anyone has encountered. i have also heard a lot about the "double-shackle" set-up. has anyone used this setup and if so, how do you like it? also some specs on where to mount the new spring hangers would help also. i already know about the right-up on this mod that is posted on pirate-4x4 forum, but am still left unsure about a few things.

 

[SUPERGILDO]

I have done this swap to my ranger and it is pretty damn awesome. With the double shackles, I have a ton of droop, but I still have yet to perfect my shock setup. You can see in my avatar a fration of how much droop I get with the incorrect shocks and stock towers and the double shackles hadnt even dropped that much yet. I dont know about the ride on your tacoma but the ride for my rear end I felt was improved after I took out the overload spring that came on the spring pack.

good luck!

 

[RedOh3]

Isn't the double shackle drop called a Revolver set up? Or is that something different?

 

[SUPERGILDO]

revolvers are teraflex's articulation shackle. revolvers have a pivot in the middle where the double shackles would connect to each other so the the shackles dont get torqued through twisting and makes for a little smoother droop.


pretty much the same thing but revolvers are specially made and dont use two normal shackles. And I think they are greasable



My double shackle setup:

revolvers:

 

[PappaF2]

63" chevys are a great spring for the price. I have run them for a couple years not and still like them. I say stay away from the double shackle setup. It provides extra droop but I don't think its necessary. I have never wanted/needed more flex in the rear than my chevys with a normal shackle have provided.
Are you going to run this on an ifs truck or sas? How much lift are you trying to get?

 

[SUPERGILDO]

I say stay away from the double shackle setup. It provides extra droop but I don't think its necessary. I have never wanted/needed more flex in the rear than my chevys with a normal shackle have provided.

why not though? maybe it might be "more than you need" but why limit easy droop????


if there is no downside, then....

 

[supahonkey]

There are some serious downsides to revolver shackles. They suck! If you want tons of information about the downsides of revolver shackles, search pirate. From what I've heard, they are most dangerous/worthless on hills. They allow your leaf springs to move not only up and down, but left and right. This is bad on a hill because your body will roll towards the downside of the hill, making your center of gravity even worse.

 

[PappaF2]

why not though? maybe it might be "more than you need" but why limit easy droop????


if there is no downside, then....

there are downsides. As said in the other post they have been know to unload on steep hill desents as well as when people hit the brakes hard. They also present an oppertunity for more axle wrap, which no body likes. Another thing is just because it is giving you more droop doesn't mean that it is helping your truck keep traction. At the point of a double shackles full strech there is likely to be very little weight on that wheel even if it does touch the ground it may not help that much.

 

[BudBuilt]

I've run Chevy shackles against the frame and then our 6 and 9" shackles between them and the spring for years on my 85 truck. It was a dd and we did pretty hardcore trails too. I can't speak to the climbing issue because we had a traction bar on there the whole time.
The Taco will be getting chevies and a single 8" long shackle and a traction bar. No double at least for now. I want the rear end a little more controlled on this one...

 

[SUPERGILDO]

Ive never felt out of control with my double shackles, but I also dont have revolvers with the pivoting center peice.

As for axle wrap, unlesss Im at extreme articulation my double shackles pretty much act like a regular shackle on a hanger, scratch that they DO act like normal shackles on a hanger and the only downside that I can think of is if I tried to go hit the dunes with double shackles Ill definately break something.

As far as unloading during hard braking, I cant break hard enough now because of rear drums and 33s to do anything. Not to mention the double shackles are tightened enough where they aren't really swingy, and it takes a decent amount of force to pull them down.

 

[2LONGTOY89]

sadly...i still have ifs and no $$$ for a sas, but i have the 6" TM up front and SAW's coilovers for a total of about 8" of lift. the reason i want to do the chevy spring swap is to not only improve the poor ride in the rear, but get rid of my 4" blocks (ouch), and go with shakles and an AAL (used with the 4" blocks). i need to know how i can achieve around 6"-7" of lift without going over a 2" block. i dont know how much lift the chevy spring will provide. so some opinions on a setup for the rear would help.

 

[ptrautne]

sadly...i still have ifs and no $$$ for a sas, but i have the 6" TM up front and SAW's coilovers for a total of about 8" of lift. the reason i want to do the chevy spring swap is to not only improve the poor ride in the rear, but get rid of my 4" blocks (ouch), and go with shakles and an AAL (used with the 4" blocks). i need to know how i can achieve around 6"-7" of lift without going over a 2" block. i dont know how much lift the chevy spring will provide. so some opinions on a setup for the rear would help.

I did the swap on mine and I am about 1" lower then the front with an 9" eye to eye shackle. We did another truck and used a 6" eye to eye shackle and he came out 1/2" lower but he also has a standard cab. You can use 4WD chevy spring and you should have now problem getting 8" of lift with a 6" eye to eye shackle

 

[2LONGTOY89]

so all i need to acheive the 8" of lift is the chevy springs and the 6" eye-to-eye shackles? no blocks or AAL?

 

[ptrautne]

so all i need to acheive the 8" of lift is the chevy springs and the 6" eye-to-eye shackles? no blocks or AAL?

The 4WD springs come with 4 leafs and the 2WD come with 3. So if you get the ones with 4 leafs, you should have no problem getting 8" of lift

 

[supahonkey]

downside to the 4 leafs is that you will get less flex, and they don't really a significant amount of life compared to the 3 leaf springs. check out toyota FAQ section on pirate4x4.com on the 63" chevys, there's tons of info on pirate about these springs.

 

[tacoma_trd1999]

downside to the 4 leafs is that you will get less flex, and they don't really a significant amount of life compared to the 3 leaf springs. check out toyota FAQ section on pirate4x4.com on the 63" chevys, there's tons of info on pirate about these springs.

What spring eye bushings did you guys use for the 63s. i just picked up some and the bolts look like they arent gonna wanna come out so I am probably gonna torch the bushings out. What did you all do.
Thanks,
Brian

 

[supahonkey]

I kept mine in b/c they weren't that bad, at least not bad enough to go through the huge pain in the ass of removing the old ones. Ah, I can't remember off the top of my head right now, but there is a company that specializes in polyurethane bushings, I'll get back with you if I remember it. Take care.

 

[tacoma_trd1999]

Thanks man, I am gonna try to leave the old ones in, but I think one of the bolts is gonna give me trouble and I will have to destroy the bushins to get it out.
Thanks,
Brian

 

[supahonkey]

When I got my springs, the junk yard simply cut spring hangers/shackles off hte vehicle, so I had to remove the bolts too. I ended up using the oxyacentylene torch to heat up the bolts. In order to get the nut off, I had to use a 1/2" breaker bar with a 5 foot pipe on the end just to get the nut off. The bolts were seized with the sleeve of the bushing, so I had to soak with PB for a while (30 minutes) then use a big 1/4" punch with a big hammer to get the bolts out. If you have access to a torch, you should except to burn a small amount of the bushing because the heat will transfer from the bolt to the bushing, but you shouldn't have to worry about that. Anyway, hope that helps, take care.

 

[oztaco]

What spring eye bushings did you guys use for the 63s. i just picked up some and the bolts look like they arent gonna wanna come out so I am probably gonna torch the bushings out. What did you all do.
Thanks,
Brian

I ordered new Poly-bushing from autozone.

Oz.