Shackle Question

[88yota96taco]

I know that shackles are pretty staight forward and all but I'm in the market for some new one's. While surfing Downey's site it shows that they sell two styles of shackles. One with a gusset called the "HD" and one without the gusset that they call the "Rubicon". My question is, what shackles setups do you guys run and does it really matter which one i go for? And does anyone know where I can get a good set of shackles for a better price than Downey's? Thanks guys, Pete

[bbagwell]

I have Marlin Crawler shackles in the front, and homemade shackles in the rear. The Marlin Shackles were $75 bucks. I put a gusset in the rear ones, but the fronts don't have one. From reading the Downey site it sounds like the ones without the gusset is the way to go. That seems to be what most of the aftermarket companies are selling now.

[Oatmeal]

I have home made shackles front and rear (made from 3/8" X 2" flat bar) and instead of a welded in place center gusset, I use a sleeved bolt that can be loosened up to allow a little extra flex on the trail and tightened back up for highway stability. If you decide to build your own, you'll find that the price of metric hardware is crazy expensive compared to SAE however, I was able to buy all the needed bolts and nuts (12 of each) from Downey for about $25!:grin:------Hans

[bbagwell]

My rear shackle is the same way I put a piece of tubing and a bolt holding it in place so I can loosen if needed.

[fourwd1]

For trail riding and basic stuff you could probably get away without a gusset if the overall length isn't too much.
If you're into rockcrawling definetly a gusset.
I've twisted up a beefy set of gussetd shackles in the rocks.
The new ones have even more gusseting.