Leaf Spring Sliders Vs Shackles

Chris alston chassisworks fab9 housing enables the addition of a stout rear end while keeping the leaf spring suspension.

Leaf spring sliders vs shackles.

The afco leaf spring sliders eliminate the up and down movement of the rear spring eye caused by shackles moving through their arcs during suspension travel. This particular housing is a direct bolt in for 1967 69 camaros and 1968. When the front bushing is allowing the front leaf spring to pivot it transfers all the side loads and lateral forces to rear portion of the leaf spring and shackles or sliders which were not designed to handle the additional stress. Since sliders are usually more rigid than shackles they have less tendency to bind laterally.

I am contemplating moving my leafs directly under the frame rails on my dakota and think that i should have enough clearance for a shackle as long as i stay at the stock height or have the spring re arched but could go a bit lower with sliders. Sliders depending on their installed angle generally reduce the shackle effect and provide more consistent spring rates than shackles. What about street duty. Looks like it acts similar to a slipper spring setup used on equipment trailers.

It s used because shackles tend to break under heavy loads whereas the slipper absorbs the heavy load better during harsh impacts. From what i have read if you want 2 3 shackle reversal is overkill and stock shackle length would work fine and have less drive line issues. School me on leaf spring slider box s. Going to 4 adds drive line issues shims extended brake lines long shocks long bump stops or longer.

In my case with flat springs the add a leaf option was like putting a band aid on a broken knee. Is there any advantage to running leaf spring sliders over a shackle. Is there any real downfall to using a slider. Consequently the rear suspension s loading points displace less during suspension movement.