Re: Scout shackle reversal

[tsm1@domain.elided (Tom Mandera)]

>revolution it cannot be angled down far enough to connect to the axle.  If
>it was hooked up and under power it looks like bad things could happen if

I've noticed my U-joint yokes are "self-clearancing" on my 4" Skyjacker
front end... no problems thus far.. sooner or later, it'll stop rubbing.. ;)

>flipping in extreme situations.  I don't know how far the axle will drop
>after it has been driven for awhile and settled so I could be wrong about
>the front drive shaft issue.  But in any case limiting straps could
>prevent the shackes from reversing.  It's something I'm considering.

I'm not so sure limiting straps would stop the shackle flip.

In my experience, the way it works is I try going over an obstacle "lightly"
and I find the motor lugging too far, so I give it some more go-juice.  The
truck then, rather than gracefully climbing over the rocks, kinda snarls...
I hit the rock... pause for a moment... then muscle my way over.  During the
"stutter" then "go" period, lots of rearward pressure is applied to the
shackles, which causes them to "buckle" rearward.  I couldn't say Yeah or
Nay to the axle actually drooping when this occurs.. I assume it does
somewhat... but it's the extreme pressure rearward that pulls the shackle
back a bit, just far enough to go past "center" and cause it to rebound the
wrong direction.

As others have said, this makes steering hard as you drag your
draglink/pitman arm through the shackle... NAPA carries replacement grease
boots, BTW... 9/16" tie-rod boots work great.  $3 or something... I now
carry a spare in the truck, along with my grease gun...

And, FWIW, my triangular shackle thought came from not having a welder with
which to weld a limiting stop to the shackle... ;)

-Tom Mandera, Helena MT
http://www.tmcom.com/~tsm1/scout
'72 and '77 Scout IIs