1952-59 Ford Anybody flipped their shackles?

Was reading a build thread on a squarebird and they mentioned flipping the rear shackles. I was just wondering if anyone has done this on our cars? I would be interested to see what it does to the way the rear sits. I'd do it right now to mine but it has no front end, engine or trans!

 

Flipping does raise the rear several inches, and gives the car a racy look. After some driving like that, it seems to ruin the leaves and they will bend down and stay there.

 

Remove the second leaf and it will drop your car about 2 inches or leave them as is and have them de-arcked and it will hunker down pretty good and still give you a good ride.

 

I put 2" blocks in mine. I'll have to wait until I have the front end back together to see if it will be enough.

Ole don - Wouldn't flipping them so they are inside the hanger lower the car?

 

Nope! That Is how they're supposed to be. They easily flip the wrong way if you knock the shock loose and don't pay attention.

 

Huh, I think mine have been flipped the wrong way since I got the car!

 

clustrfck, yours are flipped and raised the car about 3-4 inches. The easiest way to flip them back is to raise the weight off the rear end, stick a jack handle in between the shackle bolts and push the spring forward to lower the car.
I also have lowering blocks and flipped shackles but I had to do it so the calipers would clear the leaf springs and the tires would clear the quarters.

 

Well my plan was to redo the shackles and rebuild the rear end after I finish the front suspensions and brakes. I'll be sure to flip those ****ers back!

 

I wanted to bump this thread to clarify that the picture in message #6 is how the shackles should be sitting. I have the manual but the pictures don't show specifically that the shackles hang below the hanger and not tucked inside. Obviously just by looking at the setup the shackles belong under the hanger but I didn't know if the springs should be visible looking at the car from the outside.
Thanks for the help as always.

 

Picture #6 has them flipped the wrong way and actually raises the car. The shackles should be tucked inside the hanger and not visible from the outside of the car.

 

Thanks Dos Cincos

 

Yep, here's the page from the parts manual.

 

Back in the early 60s everybody was flipping the shackles. My 55 Vickey back then had them flipped, not a nice ride but it sure looked cool, and it was cheap.

 

Yes, that's the picture that confused me. Mine are definitely flipped, makes sense why the rear didn't look quite low enough even after the 3" blocks. The shackles just cancelled them out!