I have searched but didn't find what I wanted. I want to get a little lift on the rear end of my 54 Chevy 150. It looks to me like I can just flip the rear shackle and accomplish this. My question is, is this the right way to go about this? Or would this be a bad thing to do?
many years ago , a friend of mine with a `54 chevy just used a tire iron to flip it. sometimes when he hit a bad bump it would flip back on it's own. i remember him doing it in the parking lot at work when he came back from lunch
Is there a better way to get some lift? or a way to keep the shackles from flipping them selves back?
Have your local spring shop re-arch your springs, or build you a new set. Air shocks are the hack job of hack jobs.
Are you trying to correct for old sagged springs, or do you want the 70s look? you can arch the springs yourself. draw an arc line on the floor to match the main leaf at rest. pound with a hammer on an anvil until it is arched how you like it. make the other side match.
free/cheap: flip shackles, axle under springs, re-arch old springs, longer shakles... Pretty spendy: Air shocks, new springs (old ones sag 2-3")
thats what your going to have to do when the shock mounts give up. Hack them out. Shock mounts are NOT designed to take the wieght of the car. Some do better than others but for the most part airshocks will damage the shock mounts.
I'm not trying to correct for saggy springs I just want the rear in the air a little. I really want to do it old school, and cheap is always better. I was hoping it could be as easy as flipping shackles and then it would be easy to put it back if I ever decided to.
good thing me and my buddies didn't know about that back in the 70's. we would have ruined our shock mounts
its simple the typical hack job is they put the air shocks in upside down and when filled with air the car got lower instead of higher. it is in the instructions that no one reads. got it now?
Guess I'm still waiting for my shock mounts to fail. I've had air shocks on my Camaro since I bought it in 1973 when it was 2 yrs. old. Just replaced the first set last year, although they were still working great. Just decided it might be time to do it. Monroes are pretty cheap at about $60 a pair with line kit.
Old-school would be getting out the hammer and anvil and re-arching your springs, or flipping your shackles. There is nothing old-school about air shocks.
That's how I feel. I was a little shocked they were even suggested here. Now I don't think they are completely horrible, my wife runs some on her '71 Chevelle, but I don't really want them on my car.
Flip the shackles, it's the cheapest way. Raise the body up with a jack until the wheels are off the ground and use a tire iron to flip them. Much easier when you lift it first.
The upper shock mounts on that Chevy is sheet-metal floor enhanced with a second sheet metal brace spot welded to it----I've seen many air-shocks blown thru that engineering milestone!! It's a good thing the location is in the trunk !
I'd do a spring over conversion. I did that to a 65 Rambler that I wanted a little higher in the air. After I got done the springs were mounted on top of the axle instead of under it. Raised the car up about 5-6 inches.
I flipped the shackles but I cant keep them from flipping themselves back. I don't care enough right now to cut and weld some new spring perches, or hammer my springs so I'm moving on to more important things for now. Thanks everyone for the helpful advice.
Maybe if you try it with a little weight on the tires they will stay. The guy I bought my 53 from had it that way for over 10 years and they neve flipped back. When I went to put them back to stock position they went easy, so maybe a little weight on them to keep them from flipping them so easy would help.
I had the weight of the car on them but one side flipped back while driving down the road, I couldn't get the p***enger side to flip as far as the drivers and it won't stay down
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