When I first bought my 4runner, I had trailgear 5 in springs (6in of lift) in the back and the shackle angle was about 45* with the bottom of the shackle pointing toward the back of the truck. One of the springs had a negative arch, so I decided to replace them.

I bought Marlincrawler 5 in rear springs (6in of lift) and installed them. They have not settled yet, but now my pass side shackle angle is 90* (straight up and down) and the drivers side shackle bottom is about 5* pointing toward the front of the truck \.

Once the springs settle in will this issue be resolved? I just don't want to fold the springs forward and ruin them. Is there anyway to solve this problem or do I need to stick with TG springs.

The marlin's have one short (i.e. 5 miles of easy terrain) trailrun on them.

 

You could measure the length (eye to eye along the arc of the springs) between the old and new springs. If they measure the same, then they should end up with similar shackle angles once they break in.

 

Riddle me this Batman, i installed a rough country kit last august. the springs have settled. the angle of the shackles is a little more than 45 degrees when i flexed out a few days ago my shackles got pinned against my frame so i had to pry them up with a crow bar. Why is that?I just bought new shackle mounts im going to move my mount back half an inch or so and hopefully that will fix it.

 

Simple, the shackles are too short for the springs:
- http://www.4crawler.com/4x4/ForSale/Shackles.shtml#FAQ1

That is called shackle inversion and if you add up the center-center distance between the front spring hanger and the rear shackle hanger plus the length of the shackle and if that is less than or equal to the center-center arc length of the springs (i.e. measured along the arc of the spring). If you recall your high school trig, if you have a triangle with sides A, B, and C and if A+B = C, you have a straight line (or degenerate triangle).

 

So i basically just bought shackle hangers for nothing. I wanted to just go with a 6" shackle. I have seen shackles on the front and rear of the spring for the rear spring. Is there an advantage to this mine has the stock hangers and everything.

 

Well, if you move/relocate the shackle hanger, then your hanger-hanger distance will increase by the amount of the hanger move and that will change your shackle angle. By how much? Easy, plug in the numbers and see:
- http://www.4crawler.com/4x4/CheapTri...l#Applications

 

Alright well i guess i need to do a little measuring and testing with my leafs then. I still dont see how im supposed to calculate how far back im supposed to move my hangers. Sorry im not goin to college this quarter so my brain is on relax mode ha.

 

Get the measurements and use the calculator on the web page posted earlier. You can see my process I used to calculate a shackle length to get a certain shackle angle. In your case, the spring length and shackle length are fixed (whatever you measure), then just plug in different numbers into the calculator until you get a shackle angle that you want. It is trial and error, but it should only take a few guesses to get close. Then the amount you mover the hanger is the difference in length of the original hanger-hanger length and the new one you determined to get a better shackle angle.

 

Well I figured I will have to move my shackle mount back 1/2", is that going to affect if I want to get a 6" shackle down the road?

 

Well, you can see how much affect it will have (on the shackle angle) by plugging the numbers into the triangle calculator on the web page above.