Fabricated leaf Spring Hanger

XTate
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Fabricated leaf Spring Hanger

Post by XTate »

Does anybody make a fabricated rear spring hanger that IS NOT A DROP DOWN ! I have a set of Solo drop downs with their shackles and Q80's but I hate the rear ride height, the ass end is just to high. To fix it I want to use the longer shackles and move the pivot point back up to close to the stock location and trim under the bed for clearance. I long ago shit canned the the stock hangers so if I buy some new ones I would like them to be trick. Tate
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Re: Fabricated leaf Spring Hanger

Post by VintageIronFab »

How much room do you have between the bed and top of the shackle with that setup?
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Re: Fabricated leaf Spring Hanger

Post by VintageIronFab »

How much room do you have between the bed and top of the shackle with that setup?
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Re: Fabricated leaf Spring Hanger

Post by ChaseTruck754 »

I thought the Solo hangers were stock height & they used a plate to drop the hanger. I guess they must have a fabricated product.

Pretty much all fabricated hangers I've ever seen are drop hangers. They do this so as to allow for longer shackles, giving you a bit more droop. The trick here is to find someone with the least amount of drop. Based on the designs I've seen out there it would be a QUICK cad file modification (we're talking less than 5 minutes) to lessen the amount of drop in hangers most people offer. Then it's just having the new design cut. It may be worth talking to a shop or 2 and seeing how much of an upcharge they want for this "custom" work on a product they don't typically carry. I would hope it wouldn't be much more than a regular set of hangers, but I know a lot of places will charge through the nose for something they don't regularly have on the shelf too...

For a different approach to the solution I'll kind of second what Matt asked & ask: what length shackle do you have? If you do not have a shackle yet you can go to a bit longer than what most run (which I THINK is 2" over stock length on the broncos). My thought is go to more of an F-150 shackle (typically 4-4.5" longer than stock), which I think are a bit longer than the bronco ones due to the trucks having more room under the bed. This would drop the rear. You'd need to figure out the eye to eye measuerment on the shackles though & run a mock up one to see how much room you have before hitting the body cross brace/bed (this is what Matt is getting at). There are tons of lengths of shackles available for the 2.5" wide springs, but with your Q80's being 3" like the stock bronco ones you may be slightly more limited.
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XTate
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Re: Fabricated leaf Spring Hanger

Post by XTate »

I have more or less 4 inches to work with. This is to the bottom of the bed, not the re n forced cross piece that I will notch out for shackle clearance. The solo shackles that I already own are + or - 8 inch. So I could drop the rear 4 inch by going to a 12 inch shackle. My limit strap are already set to not not top out my shocks, so I will not droop out any lower with the stupid long shackles, but I worry about the geometry of having a longer arch and what that will do. Fab n the longer shackle will not be a problem for me. I know form follows function. I need it to work but also do not want it to look like ethnic fab, even if I live on the border and eat tacos every day.
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Fabricated leaf Spring Hanger

Post by Tchajagos »

Try the desolate fabricated shackle mounts. They are about 2" higher up than the solo ones. You will have to notch the cross member though.
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Re: Fabricated leaf Spring Hanger

Post by AussieRod »

ChaseTruck754 wrote:Your Q80's being 3" like the stock bronco ones you may be slightly more limited.
Q80's are F53's with extra load capacity and are 2.5" wide, Steve. ;)
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Re: Fabricated leaf Spring Hanger

Post by VintageIronFab »

My suggestion is simply buy the 2.5" dorman replacement pieces and experiment.

Is it possible you are having an ass high condition that's not normal? Or is it designed to be that way and only really sit level with a bunch of gear in the back? That's the question I'd ask solo. If the truck has to be loaded down to sit right that kinda sucks IMO.
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Re: Fabricated leaf Spring Hanger

Post by VintageIronFab »

Btw how did the parts fit the factory holes? Just curious????
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Re: Fabricated leaf Spring Hanger

Post by ChaseTruck754 »

AussieRod wrote:
ChaseTruck754 wrote:Your Q80's being 3" like the stock bronco ones you may be slightly more limited.
Q80's are F53's with extra load capacity and are 2.5" wide, Steve. ;)
Thanks Rod. I'm definitely out of date on my deaver spring codes. Knew the Q80's were a newer bronco spring, but thought they were 3" wide like the J40's.

At 2.5" wide for the springs you have lots of shackle options, but if the shackle you already have is 8" eye to eye that is on the longer end (I think 6.5" eye to eye is about average for a bronco).
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XTate
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Re: Fabricated leaf Spring Hanger

Post by XTate »

Matt, since you ask the question about how the Solo parts fit the factory holes, I assume you already know the answer. They don't fit for shit . You are lucky if three out of four holes line up, most of the time it is more like 2 out of 4. Very sad they do all this fancy fab work frenching bolt holes that do not line up with anything .
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Re: Fabricated leaf Spring Hanger

Post by VintageIronFab »

For a quick experiment- I'd love to know how well the dorman hangers fit on your bronco? I mean one hand Chinese parts stamped out and cheap vs. very overpriced parts that honestly don't fit for shit. If the Dorman parts are pretty damn close it's called a lack of R&D and lack of desire to re tweak parts after they are designed
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Re: Fabricated leaf Spring Hanger

Post by BDKW1 »

XTate wrote:The solo shackles that I already own are + or - 8 inch. So I could drop the rear 4 inch by going to a 12 inch shackle.
A 4" longer shackle will only drop the rear about 2".
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Re: Fabricated leaf Spring Hanger

Post by dtbback »

XTate, are you still running wedge blocks? If you are, ditching the wedve blocks and new spring perches would lower your ride height.
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Re: Fabricated leaf Spring Hanger

Post by VintageIronFab »

I had to do exactly this on my 96- with that said- you really need to get perches where the bottom of the perch touches the door.housing almost
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Re: Fabricated leaf Spring Hanger

Post by XTate »

FYI no wedge blocks and new perches welded right on the axle tube, but my axle tube is 3.5 inch not 3. Matt I think it is small market very high price parts going out the door with no Quality Control! If you or I were selling parts to the general public we would have a striped Bronco frame in the shop to check our R&D prototypes on and to check our production runs on to make sure a bolt on part actually bolts on, What a F ing concept, its not some kind of voodoo rocket science. Tate
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Re: Fabricated leaf Spring Hanger

Post by BDKW1 »

Not all Ford frames are the same. I found this out putting in Autofab motor mounts. One truck they would bolt in. The next one, not so much. So far they are about 50% on bolting in for me. The mounts are all the same, frames not so much. Checking something on a 92 frame doesn't men it will fit every frame made from 80-96.
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Re: Fabricated leaf Spring Hanger

Post by VintageIronFab »

Here's the thing- if you find that 50% of the parts are a direct bolt on then great- just say so. Explain that to the buyer and let them know a sharp 1/2" drill bit, pin bar, carbide die grinder are needed 50%!of the time. Also experiment with a 80, an 88 and a 95. I mean these chassis are damn near free all the time. I dinner think anyone bitches if you get 3 bolts in and the 4th needs a 1/16th taken out to fit. That's still bolt on- but whole holes being off from Giant- yea that's bulkshit. I mean either make it bolt on or make WIY or weld on. If I toil a weekend on a bumper that fits like a glove and costs literally nothing more than $60 or a $1000 on shit that doesn't fit- sorry but the parts need to actually fit for the crazy cost of these parts.
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Re: Fabricated leaf Spring Hanger

Post by hollandermotorsports »

Dang tough crowd. I have installed and removed these said hangers with no alignment issue. My question for everyone bashing have you contacted them? Its possible they got bad material from the laser house. As for the stripped down frame to test fit parts Solo has one and designs off of it trust me I was there 2 weeks ago and saw with my own eyes. Second everyone gripes about price of everything. Well shops pay to get components designed, material, material cut, shop rate for assembly, sales guys income, and shipping. You want to add a quality inspection guy? well your part just got a little more expensive. Trust me when I say this no one is becoming a millionaire building bronco parts but with proper management and skills we are able to make it through another week or month or possibly even another year. If you contacted them and they told you to pound sand then you have a legitimate rant but if you didn't you should try communication it goes a long way.

I will say in my experience Solo's components are great. Same can be said for Desolate. Both are great to work with as well. I have installed a few Bronco lowering kits lol. As Travis mentioned pair the long solo shackle with desolate hanger and you will probably be happier.
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Re: Fabricated leaf Spring Hanger

Post by De$ertBronco »

Can't say anything about Solo's or Desolate's fitment, but if anyone does its Brandon Hollander. I, however, can give my experience with Giant. I had first purchased a set of Giant front hangers to complete my 64 kit and it was total garbage in fitment design and quality. I wound up selling them to Brian (cs_drums) due to him folding his in the crash (he had no other choice due to cage tube layout) and bought some Richer Racing ones instead. Not only were they beefy as hell and beautifully done, but they fit perfectly! Mine is a 95 and Jonny designed them off his 92, I think it is. They did cost a bit more, but I was glad to spend the extra money for a quality product. I'm sure Giant makes some good products as they have been around forever and lots of trucks use their stuff. I just think he got really lazy with those hangers. I also had one of his bolt on engine cages and the welds and tube fitment (gaps) were horrendous. Not trying to bash him exclusively as I've had issues with other companies in this industry, just stating an example as a consumer who paid good money for a sub par product. I understand the costs in this business, but you better damn well make an effort to make it look good and fit well.
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