extended <span class="highlight">shackles</span>

Illegal.

From the Qld modification guide:-
"Suspension coil springs must not be shortened by cutting
or heating. Leaf spring suspensions must not be raised
by the use of extended shackles, adjustable metal plates
or by placing the leaf springs to the opposite side of the
axle. If lowering blocks are used, they must be either
steel or aluminium."

Edwin,

Brushmarx is correct in that the shackles will only raise the vehicle above the suspension. It will do nothing to improve the strength or load capacity of the springs and may adversely affect them by increasing stresses/loads to specific areas of the spring rather than evenly across the springs. . It will also only raise the rear of the vehicle that full amount, the front of the springs will pivot only a percentage of that distance as it’s still attached to the original mount. I believe that they are in fact illegal in all states and this means that it may also affect your insurance if matters unfortunately came to that.

There are two types, one, a solid shackle that will give you an extra 50 mm or a two piece shackle that articulates in the centre (don’t know too much about these as I was advised to avoid them).

If you choose to go down this road, remember it is only a partial lift and is no substitute for a properly engineered (and legal) suspension lift using new springs. Having said that, if you decide to “roll the dice” then avoid the jointed shackles and go for a heavy duty one piece unit. Don’t look to gain any more than 50 mm as this will make the shackles very long and will affect angles and seating of rear axle etc. If properly fitted I'v not heard of them chopping out the bushes.

Cheers Mick

Legalities aside. I think a quality aftermarketsuspension lift will give a much better setup and in most cases improve the ride and handling characteristics of the vehicle over it's original suspension

While a cheap way to lift the car Edwin they do not increase wheel travel as this is restricted by the length of the shocks. There can be some addtional sideways flex & castor issues meaning handling will deteriorate & I'd expect this would lead to premature wear of bush's although I don't know anyone who left them on more than a year. I've even seen the front prop shaft fall out on one car which was lifted too far with extended shackels.
When lifting leaf spring vehicles it's better to reset them & add a leaf (if carrying additional weight) or better still replace the spring pack completely & match with appropiate shocks.
Cheers Craig...............

G'day Edwin.

Extended shackles are illegal for road use across Australia.

Having said that, i drive a 40 Series Toyota and at least half of the '40's i see out there run extended shackles. Voiding insurance without a doubt, but so would the 35" + tires these same people run (hence the extended shackles)...

I have just spent the last month reading up on extended shackles as my bushings are due for replacement, and the shackles are the original 34year old units so i thought time to replace the lot... (will keep the originals tho, nothing really wrong with them but id like 'greaseable pins')

Having to fit castor wedges, the legalities (lets face it, they will / do stand out like dogs balls) and the fact that even in the USA; most 40 Series guys dont even bother with extended shackles (with the exception that some people use rear extended shackles to 'level out' their vehicles if the leafs dont sit quite right front to back) pretty much convinced me they were not the way to go.

Anyways, this week i decided to stick with factory length shackles and purchased front and rear Old Man Emu greaseable front and rears + bushings.

Travis.