Just read this (wow returning to the party kind of a year late).

John, XJ shackles absolutely will not fit a 4wd Frontier. XJs have an "inverse" shackle hanger, meaning that the tube portion is on the shackle, not the hanger. It is a silly design, yes, but fact nonetheless.

Let me show you some pictures...

XJ Revolver:



"Normal" style Revolver for most everything else:



From checking listings it seems that AC has the only remaining stock on Xterra Revolvers. I noticed from the pictures in this thread that the shackle had actually evolved somewhat. EditorX's revolvers look somewhat different than mine to (his have offset bends, mine have straight uppers with a wider bar inbetween.

AC's Articulator Suspension uses the remaining Revolver Shackles.

I'm actually not running with revolvers. I get all the flex and droop that I need with the Deaver springs and a 6 inch shackle.

So in my post in Manuf row, I've explained how the SAS springpacks have pushed the OE shackles backwards (to the rear of the truck). You're saying that the CALMINI shackles (longer than OE) will be the ticket to keeping them from flipping backwards?

Wouldn't the centering of the axle on the pack have more to do with the shackle swing than the length of the shackle itself?

The truck doesn't know what the shackle is attached to, the leaves don't know what the shackle hanger is attached to...etc...it should be just the geometry of it.

IE: when I went from the 3" OE to the 6" calmini shackle...it JUST picked the truck up the 1.5" difference in lift, and the attitude of the shackle remained the same, it was just longer.

I think that if you did the same thing, you would get the same result.

Its more likley that the axle is in a slightly new position relative to front/rear attachment points as a result of the leaf lift changes...and that THAT is what's changed the geometry of your shackle hang.

Can you check that out before swapping shackles?

I think you are talking to me.. NOPE, I'm already done and the shackles are staying put.. Meaning, they're not falling backwards.

Misquote, I ready your response and it flowed out my fingertips onto the keyboard. They were TJ's Revolvers...

Yeah - I was saying that I don't think longer shackles would change the direction the shackles laid at, as the 6" shackles hung the same as the 3" shackles on mine, and the others I've seen.

TJ, for whatever reason, (well, it's physics really :rolleyes: ) the longer shackles although lifting the rear perhaps higher than I'dve prefered, have held and are doing their job . SO, anyone interested in using the SAS springpacks will have to use the Calmini Shackles (or longer), the OE are too short.

I read throught the pages on this and notice no one pointed this out -

#2 - this has been known and talked about since before I even got on this board. I'm not sure what brand of shock you are running (what are they anways?), but driving a 2001 X without the rear swayabr on even at Highway speeds is fine. Lots of us have been doing it for years without a problem.

when it comes to #1, I have to ask this because #3 comes later - but did you come to the conclusion that your springs limit your droop with the rear swaybar on?
If you are running the rear swaybar connected, that limits your droop as point number three clearly shows.

That's the way I'm reading the sequence of events here - since you mention removing the swaybar after mentioning what limits you rear droop.

I'm guessing you came to conclusion #1 after disconnecting your swaybaar, but I jst want to be sure.

I also have to ask these questions, of which I have no idea- Have you disconnected your Shocks and measured the amount of flex your rear suspension gets with them unattached?
I ask, because with my Load Leaf AAL and Shackles, I get a lot more flex in the rear if I take off my shocks. I haven't measured it, but I know because if I lift X up from the slider in front of the rear tire, I can get the rear tire off the ground before my floor jack tops out with the shocks attached, but can not do it with the shocks unattached.

In addition, I don't have a 2" BL on my truck...if I'm not mistaken the Upper shock mounts are attached to the body, meaning you have a 2" farther gap between the lower and upper shock mounts than I do. Now, I could be wrong about that, I haven't been under there in a while (with all this snow and ice and cols up here - and no garage :brrrr:)

The only thing I can think of is that you have longer shocks than I do (Bilstein 5100's for the 3" suspesnion lift), but since I don't know what kind of shock you are running (or how far they will extend) I don't know that for sure.

But if that is true, it means (with the same length shok before and after a BL) that you lose 2" of droop because your shock tops out sooner due to the increased distance between the top and bottom shock mounts.

Finally, you measured the height between the hub and wheel well arch, and compared it to editor X's - but how do the length of your shocks compare? Afterall, if I put stock shocks on my Lifted X, I lose droop because the stock shocks aren't as long.

Just curious about those last things (after the swaybar), since no one else asked...

I installed my Revolver shackles yesterday and took some measurements for comparison. I have no body lift, 12" travel Bilstiens, swaybar removed, stock rear leaf pack, and the Revolver shackles. Lifted one front tire with a forklift to articulate the rear and from top of the arch to the center of the rear wheel measures 32.25". The shocks have 2" of travel left. All the exsisting brake lines breather tubes etc are long enough for now, but will need to be modified if/when I get a SL.

Rock - too long a question, head exploding...

I'm not sure about what you mean by some of the questions...

I'll try a summary, see if it helps..

(Applies to my X)

The shocks length are not the limiting factor...

that's with the sway off...the droop is limited by the springs running out of flex, not the shocks

with the sway on, the sway link hits the p side shock, preventing further droop...but having no effect upon hwy driving/non-drooped action

Disco-ing the shock did not improve droop, the spring was the limiting factor...I could get the disco'd shock to extend past the attachement points by quite a bit

If I add the revolvers, I should be able to add about 2" more droop than I have now...as they are about 4" longer than the 6" long lift shackles I now have on there.

Just taking off the sway bar allowed significantly more droop...initially by not hitting the sway link on the p side shock, but also by not resisting the droop of the axle...but, disco-ing the sway bar did not allow me to fully extend my shocks, which were longer than needed for full droop, as that was ultimately limited by the spring flex.

I have 11" travel Bils...with the revolvers on, eventually, they should be either fully extended at full droop, or have almost no slack left, or be limiting (doh)...

So - I got some Darlington UBSkiderz, which protect the leaf pack/u-bolt areas, as well as the shock bottom mounts, and raise the shock's bottom mount point, allowing the same travel shock to droop further.

And that should allow my revolvers to fully droop my suspension, w/o the shocks being a limiting factor.



I think the rear OEM shocks have about 9" of travel...due to the positioning and angles involved, an inch of shock travel gives a lot more than an inch of wheel travel ...the fronts have an even more dramatic ratio of shock travel to wheel travel.

IE: A small increase in shock travel gives a proportionally large increase in wheel travel.

Methods -

I jumped up and down on the drooped tire to see if it could droop more after taking off the sways and shocks...nope, it's not budging...flex limited droop revealed.

I took off the bottom shock eye from its mount, and let it extend further, after bouncing said tire...and it slid out longer than it had been, but the tire would not go any lower. ....flex limited droop revealed, shock reserve droop travel revealed.

Sways on...drooped until limited by sway link hitting shock....that link loosened, droop continued, other link loosened, droop continued to full...sway limited droop revealed.

I hope some of this helps.