What would cause my buggy spring shackles to flip?

The shackles on my A flipped on one side and I don't know why, I jacked up the side in the middle of the frame and took the weight off of the springs but they did not go back, Why did they flip and how do I get them back

 

Wrong angle to start with?

 

Sounds like the spring is to long.

 

When you said "flipped", I was expecting something worse. The first thing I would do is disconnect the shocks.

 

^^^ ya I thought the same. in my old 53 when you jack the rear off the ground it would flip the shackles out of the pocket.

When you measure the frame to floor are they the same on both sides? Is it leaning to the drivers side?

 

They were about 45 degrees to start with.

Which spring?

Why, then what?

I have several hundred miles on this and it just happened, the front spring is the correct length for the axle and the rear was installed with Posies measurement.

 

Are you questioning why the angle of the shackles is different from one side to the other ? If so, the car will swing on the shackles and the angles may not be exactly the same at all times. Try loosening the nuts on the shackles (two nuts per shackle) slightly to relieve some of the bind and then drive the car to see if it centers itself.

One thing I see in the pictures is that it looks like your lower shock mounts are loose and have swung outboard a little. Maybe optical illusion, but they should be pointing straight ahead. That could be causing some bind.

Don

 

About 1" lower on the drivers side, both body and frame.

 

I'd bet you jacked up the passenger side. Try jacking up the drivers side. It should set everything straight.

Or you could just drive it gently around the block and see if it settles out.....

 

"Which spring?"

The one that's hooked to the shackle that's flipped. I guessing it the front spring?

 

This car has shifted and it was not like that the last time I drove it, you can clearly see the difference in the pictures of the shackles, before they were the same.

 

It might just be the angle of the pictures, but it looks like your rr is much closer to the body than your lr (?)

 

I don't mean to be rude and I greatly appreciate all of the fast feed back but if you look at the pictures and read my posts all should be clear.

 

Look at the last part I added about your lower shock mounts. I added that after I posted the original part.

Don

 

Disconnecting the shocks should help it settle.

Do you ride a lot solo?

 

Thanks Don, the pass side has moved, I will fix that and see if it works.

 

Your shackles did not "flip". If you look closely, all four spring ends are below the spring perches on the axles, indicating the shackles are in "tension" or trying to be stretched. If one of the shackles were flipped, the spring end would be ABOVE the spring perch on the axle. It would then be in compression.

 

First eyeball the CENTER of the spring...I fear it may have loosened up there and the center bolt of the spring has moved out of the hole in crossmember! This would of course allow spring to tilt, de-stabilize everything, AND lead to a cracked crossmember.


Shocks...interesting, are they gas charged? Those can actually lift a light car significantly, especially when the shocks are new.

 

It's really pretty simple, only so many things can cause this to happen. Do the following:

1) Slightly loosen those 4 nuts on the back of your shackles. This will allow the car to swing on the shackles more freely.

2) Make sure the lower shock mounts are aiming dead ahead. Mine come loose every so often and move outboard like I think I see in your pictures. I use a big breaker bar to really crank down on the lower nut and that helps.

3) Take the car out and drive it. It may recenter itself. It could be that the last time you drove it the body and frame shifted as you pulled into your driveway and never recentered itself. These shackles WILL SWING, that is how they work.

Don

 

Donuts. Everything will be solved if you go out and beat on the car!

Seriously though, my roadster will do something similar occasionally depending on how I've parked, where the weight is distributed in the car, etc, but I've never worried too much about it.

Can you rock the car back and forth and push it back to "normal" stance?

 

Fixed! You are the man Don, it took 24 minutes on the HAMB to get the correct answer. The lower perch bolt was loose and I think when it swung back it broke the seal in the shock so I will have to get shocks, thanks again.

 

Thanks for all of the quick responses now back to installing my interior.

 

Cool ! It may not have ruined the shock but the body of the shock may have jammed against your axle and bound up, keeping the frame shoved to one side. Look on the backside of the shock to see if paint is scratched there. Shocks are hard to kill.

Don

 

I can't see the pictures of the spring on my computer, somethings up?? O-well, just tried to help. Glad you got it going!
28

 

I agree with Brett. Drive it for a minute and it will settle out. If i am correct the only way to stop that from happening is to install a panhard bar.

 

I'm with Bruce on this one, check to see if the spring clamps have come loose, allowing the spring to shift in the cross member. If it has moved then the clamps may well now seem tight as the centre bolt would have taken up any slack.
Check to see if the springs are still central.
The shackles haven't flipped , it's just that the shackle angle is wrong/not equal.
The spring moving over in the crossmember is the only likely cause that I can think of if everything was ok before.
Looks like a very tidy build, nice rod.

Paul.

 

Seems you got it fixed in the time it took me to combine posting a reply while finishing my tea ( guess multi tasking is for women, lol)

Glad you got it sorted.

You gotta love this place.

 

The best way to keep that from happening is to install a pan-hard bar front and rear. What's happening is like Dons Hot Rods said, it's shifting off center a bit because ther'es nothing to hold it in the center. The pan-hard bar will keep it there when you're stopped. Here's a pic of my front end with the bar installed.

 

Not really.

 

Panhard bars front and rear wiil keep the axles centered. Cross steering will force the front suspension sideways. You will notice the steering better too.