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 Post subject: A/C Rear Leaf Shackles review
PostPosted: Mon May 12, 2008 5:52 pm 
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Review of the Automotive Customizers Shackles for the Xterra

As I go about making my ?04 Xterra more trail worthy, I decided to try a PML before committing to a full lift. I had done business with A/C on several occasions and was very pleased with the products they offer and their service. From reading the forums, Calmini shackles appear to be the dominant ones used, but the A/C shackles seemed more ?beefy? to me. When removed, the stock shackles seem fairly fragile as compared to aftermarket shackles. I am not going to bash Nissan?s engineers as the OEM shackles are apparently adequate to their task and I know of no recalls or complaints about them breaking, etc. Others may know more about them than me.

Image

Now take a look at the Calmini shackles?

Image

and the A/C shackles...

Image

There is quite a difference in how they are designed and made. The shackles arrived securely packaged and each one was wrapped in heavy cellophane to prevent damage to the paint. They came with the proper bolts, nuts and washers. I?m a little mystified that the bottom bolt uses a standard nut and lock washer where the top bolt uses a lock nut. Not sure why A/C or the supplier went that way. I?ve had them on for one week now and have not noticed any problems with this set up so I guess it?s six of one, half dozen of the other. The installation is pretty straightforward. The only real difficulty in installing these is that they do not come as two halves. You can see in the picture there is a cross piece in the middle holding it together. Unlike the Calmini?s, you can not line up one half, slip the bolt into it and then line up the other half. Both sides have to be lined up at the same time. Also, the tolerances are very close. There is barely enough room to slide the unit over the rubber bushings to then put the bolt through. I had painted these prior to install with a rubberized undercoating that reduced the ?wiggle? room even more. If it weren?t for BRAINIAX, it probably would have taken longer to slip the top part over the rubber bushings. He seems to have a natural ability to ?wiggle? things into place. After installation, there is a noticeable difference in the ride height of the rear end and the wheel well definitely clears more room around the tire. Everyone I know immediately asked what I did to the X without any prompting from me. I can?t tell you exactly how much lift they provide, as I did not measure the height of the rear before and after the install. I was concentrating on that for the T-bar crank. I would advise not installing these or any other shackles unless you are prepared to raise the front. Personal opinion but I think it would have looked terrible to leave it that way and probably have had a bad effect on the handling.
As I mentioned before, I?ve had them on for about week. I have not detected any problems with the handling of the X but the suspension does seem a little more responsive in the rear. This may be due to the shackles or the fact that I removed my rear sway bay while we had the back end apart. As with any bolt-on parts, I checked all the nuts for tightness and inspected the assembly for any signs of cracks, etc.
Overall, I?m very pleased with the end result and have had no difficulties so far. The installation was relatively easy and really makes a difference in the appearance of the X. I would plan on 1 ? to 2 hours to do this (including the T-bar crank) if you are an inexperienced mechanic like me. This would also include set up.

Lessons learned:

- Jack stands are essential. It is a big help to have both wheels off the ground and be able to use the floor jack to raise the rear axle up a little and take the weight off of the rear leaf springs to get the OEM shackles off.
- If you still have the OEM shocks on, they will not have enough travel (droop) to let the leaf springs line up with the bottom of the shackles. To over come this without someone, who shall remain nameless, blowing a disk in their back out, MTDEWMIKE had a great suggestion. We took the stock scissor jack and placed it between the leaf pack and the frame. We then opened the scissor jack to move the leaf pack in line with the bottom of the shackle. CAUTION should be used during this procedure! The scissor jack WILL NOT sit flat on the leaf pack. As it is opened up more, the pressure on it is increased and the more it will want to slip out. Make sure it is directed in such a manner that it will not hit anyone. Keep aware of where your arms, legs and head are at all times.
- If you have extended travel shocks already installed, you probably will not have to use the scissor jack. We had installed BRAINIAX?s self-designed shackles just before we did mine and had no problem lining up the leaf pack and shackle. He is using RS9000X shocks.
- As I mentioned above, tolerances are tight. If you paint them at all, those tolerances become even tighter. Expect to spend a little more time ?wiggling? the top of the shackle over the rubber bushings on the frame mount. The bottom of the shackles slip right on to the leaf pack with no worries.
- As always, think safety. Wear the proper clothes, eye protection, gloves, etc. I didn?t put on my gloves this time and my hand has some new scares on it. banging
- Brian has a DeWalt Cordless Impact Wrench. This is the greatest thing since sliced bread. Talk about a tool that does a days work. Brian has saved allot of people time with that. Awesome Brian!

I hope, as always, that my experience can be of some help to someone new to this like me. If I can be of any help, please don?t hesitate to ask. A big thanks to Brian, Gene, Mike and Nick for their help on this project. It would have taken twice as long without their guidance and expertise!

Barry :usa:

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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Mon May 12, 2008 7:28 pm 
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Did you have a week off? Again, nice write up. :thumbup:

I agree, I have had very good experiences from AC and ordered a lot of parts.

The AC shackles are beefier than the Calmini ones. One slight advantage IMHO of the Calmini are the ability to twist and flex a little more, relieving slight torque off the spring pack.


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Tue May 13, 2008 9:01 am 
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Good job Barry.. :thumbup:

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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Tue May 13, 2008 5:26 pm 
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Great write up..
My SLR's are a similar design and I like them for the same reasons that you like the AC version

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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Wed May 14, 2008 7:27 pm 
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daggerdoggie wrote:
Did you have a week off? Again, nice write up. :thumbup:

I think Barry is bringing some of the threads he created on the old board over here.


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Thu May 15, 2008 8:56 am 
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mtdewmike wrote:
daggerdoggie wrote:
Did you have a week off? Again, nice write up. :thumbup:

I think Barry is bringing some of the threads he created on the old board over here.


Correct. Scott was just kidding when he made his post.

Barry :usa:

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PostPosted: Sun Jun 15, 2008 10:09 am 
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Nice write-up barry :thumbup:

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