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Revolver shackle fab

3K views 16 replies 6 participants last post by  M3C.CA 
#1 ·
Has anyone ever made there own revolver shackles? I'm thinking I am going to make some, any input and or detailed pictures of your shackles would be greatly appreciated!


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#4 ·
Well the inside is hollow to allow it to be grease able which will be fairly difficult.

The rotating piece is the real hard part. If you have a plan for making that part then by all means you got it. The rest of the shackle is Easy. Cut the desgin out of a plate or two of Steele. Weld them together. Use a drill press to drill out the holes and Bingo you have a shackle. The problem I would see would be getting the Revolving part created that is strong enough to do its job.
 
#7 ·
I have seen other people take two shackles and put them together to get what is basically a folding shackle. Not sure how reliable that is. I personally wouldnt do it. It could give you more articulation, but you would have to come up with some way to keep them from folding in the wrong direction. the revolvers add in the advantage of having the center section that twists as well as folding. This relieves the twisting forces exerted on the leaf springs. It probably isnt impossible to make your own revolver, but like Shiftingskys said the rotating part will be the hard part. I am all for making your own stuff, and god knows I have cut stuff and welded stuff on my truck quite a bit, but the suspension just isnt the kind of thing I would feel safe fabricating my own parts for.
 
#9 ·
I am taking metal fabrication at school so this might be an interesting project for my second semester to make and then tweak and make again but better. I will talk with my instructor ( he is in to jeeps so he knows quite a bit about all this stuff) and see what he thinks.


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#10 ·
Alright let us know. It would be cool if you can make them. Maybe make you some money :D. If you can figure out how to make the revolving mechanism then you got it ez. If you need ANY pictures of the revolver shackes in RL then I can get them for you if needed. Obviously installed on the truck.
 
#11 ·
I think you can do it, however you are going to have to take into consideration a few things. 1. The stress point. 2. The metal strenght of the material (alum vs steel). 3. Thickness or multiple layers vs one manufactured out of one layer. 4. On the greaseable part, we have tapped bolts or pins drilled out and then added a grease fitting. The problem here is that the diameter that you are working with is much smaller than the farm equipment so again it's going to get down to materials used or adding bushings to compensate for smaller diameter.
 
#12 · (Edited)
The double shackle works but has some drawbacks. Ive seen them on the trail and I wont do it bc there downsides are in how I like to wheel.

Basically it allows for more droop and therefore more travel overall. However, in doing so they tend to unload and get tippy on steep drops/climbs and offcamber situations.

I dont know how the revolvers react but I would assume since they never fully collapse like double shackles do they are less likely to unload.

If your on 33s and just want a little extra travel and arent running trails where theres a large chance of rollovers double shackles would be a fairly inexpensive improvement.
 
#14 ·
You could, depending on what style shackles you used. There are several companies out there that use a johnny joint instead of a rubber bushing. diy4x.com is the first that comes to mind but there are alot more out there. It wont help either downside though.

The real question here would be what your end goal is bc revolvers and dual shackles both are 2nd to a proper spring swap.
 
#15 ·
I have seen the bolts tapped for grease before, those would be a possibility. The bottom line is that I have a 2wd, my parents paid for most of it so I can't really complain but I do like to go mudding and off roading with my best friend who has a 4x4 and right now I can keep up most of the time because I hve far greater axle travel so I maintain traction, but he just got disconnects for his sway bar so I have to up the ante lol but since it's 2wd it's a budget build


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#16 · (Edited)
Oh I see. Yeah I bought the revolvers for my 2WD and they helped a good bit. Now I just need some longer shocks. Try finding a deal on them. I bought them off a member on this site.

@ M3C.CA what kind of dubious stuff do they do on the highway?

My revolver work just fine and I notice no different drive ability concerns with them DD or on highway.

X2 on the locker. Lockers are Like Easy Buttons for Wheeling Lol. Expensive though. Your freind will have to do alot to keep up with that upgrade.
 
#17 ·
Revolvers already have a somewhat dubious reputation (odd highway handling from what I've heard) and you better believe that more R&D and testing has gone into those than is realistic for a single person to do. I'd wouldn't even get close to some homebrew Revolvers.

If you want to hang with the 4x4 guys better get a rear locker. You won't regret it.
 
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