what do you guys think about doing a shackle reversal on a '90 yj? ive seen them while looking around and it sounds like they improve handling and maybe ride quality. has anyone done this and how hard is it to do?

I guess a front-mounted shackle also reduces approach angle slightly.

But... for what it's worth there's actually a method to the madness...

With the front mounted shackle, the tire moves forward while it is compressed... so when climbing obstacles this can potentially increase traction by increasing force on the tire against the rock you're climbing.

So, if your priority is off-road performance I'd leave it. If it's handling you might research this mod a little more.

The other issue is that switching the shackle from front to back would tend to change the caster angle and pinion angle on your axle. If you run the pinion ujoint outside its operating range, or if you disturb the driveshaft geometry it can tend to wear out (or break) ujoints.

If your caster angle goes more positive (negative caster is built in from the factory) you'll lose return-to-center and tracking, so on road handling actually might be hindered or even made unsafe (I don't know for sure how big of an impact there is). For these reasons I think more research is in order.

I've never dug deeper into this mod as I'm interested in leaving the basic engineering design alone.

Michael

That same "add more traction" argument for front shackle works just the opposite in my opinion, as the spring loads up against an obstacle it can toss you back off it.
I like SRS just because when climbing a ledge the tire moves rearward with a more natural motion.

It is all in how the SRS is set up, I build jeeps with SRS all the time, some more for trail, some more for street. There are trade offs for all these set ups.

SD

Superdawg, how do you think shackle reversal might affect flat towing?

I have a Tomken Machine tow bar that fastens to their front shackles on my CJ7 that have an extra set of holes on the front. When I used to flat tow it with my heavy Dodge Cummins truck, I could notice it getting a little squirrely over 60 mph. Now that I'm towing with my Trailblazer, I notice that it gets really squirrely over 45 mph. So now I tow strictly with the car hauler trailer.

Do you think that a shackle reversal setup on the front of my CJ7 would stop the weaving when flat towing? BTW, the Trailblazer tows the loaded trailer beautifully.

If it drives well at speed when not being towed I'd look at the tow bar, or how the towing could be different?

SRS if set up to handle well on road should be the same as non srs. However SRS can be set up to be a trail animal, but handle terrible on road. The more straight up and down the shackle on a SRS the better it will drive on road.

SD