Shackle Relocation - IronMan4x4 Brackets

[JonnyCat63]

https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/y319/dktool/20230203_201839.jpg

That is frickin genius!

 

[dktool]

That is frickin genius!

Just don't f-up drilling the holes straight and to size.
You get one shot and there is some trickery involved.
I don't remember a lot of things anymore but I remember that.

 

[dktool]

Also, the hole went all the way into the unibody "frame rail"
for the bolts to extend into as they do in the original position.

 

[JonnyCat63]

Also, the hole went all the way into the unibody "frame rail"
for the bolts to extend into as they do in the original position.

I like it. It seems way easier than cutting out the old pocket and bolting in a new SRB. Of course you need to weld a little bit, but if you can do that, it wouldn't be too hard.

It's an excellent option IMO.

 

[maxbraketorque]

I like it. It seems way easier than cutting out the old pocket and bolting in a new SRB. Of course you need to weld a little bit, but if you can do that, it wouldn't be too hard.

It's an excellent option IMO.

I did the same thing, and it works pretty well, but I never posted about it because its a bit of a PITA for a few reasons.

• As dktool said, its very important to drill the hole orthogonal to the unibody rail, and this is not a trivial thing to do. Its hard to find a good measurement reference point for drilling the two holes at the correct locations, and then there is the challenge of keeping the drill bit from wandering. I didn't get either side perfect and ended up opening up the outer hole a bit to allow for alignment. Next time I take the rear leaf springs apart, I'll probably weld a Grade 8 fender washer to the outside of shackle mount.

• A right angle drill is needed because there isn't enough room for a conventional axial drill. So plan on investing in that.

• The first hole needs to be made with one of those multi diameter drill bits because a regular bit is too long to fit even when using a right angle drill.

• As dktool said, a threaded block needs to be welded to the unibody rail within the shackle hole, or in my case, I put a nut inside the unibody rail which was a hassle. When using a nut inside the rail, a spacer block is needed to fill the gap between the shackle and the unibody rail. The nice thing about using a welded block is that gives an opportunity to fix any misalignment of the hole. If I were doing it this way, I would grind the inner hole a little oversize to allow for aligning the weld block and bolt. One challenge I see with the welded block is preparing one that's the correct thickness. Need the right thickness chunk of steel, need to drill and tap, then weld. Should be high strength steel to allow torquing the bolt to factory specs. 4140 is not high strength steel, but its probably good enough. If using the OEM bolts, an M14 tap and appropriate drill bit are needed.

• As the shackle goes through its range of motion, it can hit the old captive nut. I had to grind my shackles to clear.

Overall, I'm not sure its easier than ripping out the old shackle mounting brackets and installing new, but if your OEM shackle mounts are not rusted, then it is an option.

 

[dktool]

I did the same thing, and it works pretty well, but I never posted about it because its a bit of a PITA for a few reasons.

• As dktool said, its very important to drill the hole orthogonal to the unibody rail, and this is not a trivial thing to do. Its hard to find a good measurement reference point for drilling the two holes at the correct locations, and then there is the challenge of keeping the drill bit from wandering. I didn't get either side perfect and ended up opening up the outer hole a bit to allow for alignment. Next time I take the rear leaf springs apart, I'll probably weld a Grade 8 fender washer to the outside of shackle mount.

• A right angle drill is needed because there isn't enough room for a conventional axial drill. So plan on investing in that.

• The first hole needs to be made with one of those multi diameter drill bits because a regular bit is too long to fit even when using a right angle drill.

• As dktool said, a threaded block needs to be welded to the unibody rail within the shackle hole, or in my case, I put a nut inside the unibody rail which was a hassle. When using a nut inside the rail, a spacer block is needed to fill the gap between the shackle and the unibody rail. The nice thing about using a welded block is that gives an opportunity to fix any misalignment of the hole. If I were doing it this way, I would grind the inner hole a little oversize to allow for aligning the weld block and bolt. One challenge I see with the welded block is preparing one that's the correct thickness. Need the right thickness chunk of steel, need to drill and tap, then weld. Should be high strength steel to allow torquing the bolt to factory specs. 4140 is not high strength steel, but its probably good enough. If using the OEM bolts, an M14 tap and appropriate drill bit are needed.

• As the shackle goes through its range of motion, it can hit the old captive nut. I had to grind my shackles to clear.

Overall, I'm not sure its easier than ripping out the old shackle mounting brackets and installing new, but if your OEM shackle mounts are not rusted, then it is an option.

Get overall synopsis of the job.

I have access to machine shop tools and most grades of steel and I'm super anal when I do jobs like this where I don't want revisit it to make it 100%

Yes, it's not a job for most guys as you alluded to it is easier for most to cut out the box and install a no lift relocater box in it's place.