So I keep second guessing my plans because they involve an 8" shackle in the front and I keep thinking that is too long. I am using my pup rears in the front, that have a lot of arch, and the spring goes from something like 43"-47" between compression + extension. No one sells 8" shackles from what I've seen so they appear to be uncommon. (I was going to buld mine anyway but sometimes I look at vendors products for ideas) It keeps bugging me that they might be too long, unstable, unsafe etc.

So should I run the 8" shackles? I might be able to get away with 7.5" but that is the minimum to allow (theoretical) suspension travel.

I could run a 6-7" shackle and use bumpstops to prevent the spring from extending past what the shackle will allow. I might be close anyway since my springs are mounted so high in the frame and the steering arms might hit before the springs max out anyway.

OR should I move the front hanger forward and run a shorter shackle to let them max out yet I might sacrifice shackle problems during droop (shackles might rotate past 90* and point back towards axle).

Maybe run 6-7" shackle and assume that I will never get my rig to either extreme but chances are I will find a way to reach its limits....

change mainleaves for a shorter one? help me out this is driving me crazy.

I am starting to feel like one of those guys on Pirate with a hangup when building a 4 link and everyone saying, "C'mon man you used a tape measure to build this truck it's not exactly precision engineering, stop splitting hairs!!!"

The rest of my project "hinges" on this choice <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/lol.gif" alt="" />