2004-2005 Modifications,

The TeraFlex Revolver Shackles

 

In the process of all the mods and trying to achieve even more articulation I went ahead and added the Revolver Shackles, which for some reason have gotten a very bad wrap. This negative nay saying is allegory and simply not true. Read below the install and the results. It is surprising, and nothing what you've heard or read on the net at the various Jeep site forums.

 

Here is the back pair, ready for install. Because of the condition of the upper shackle bolts in the rear of VEX this process took almost 3 hours of cutting and working the bolts loose without destroying the bushings.

 

Here we have installed the rear shackles and one can see how they shoulder down upon themselves and by this design through severe testing by me, they never unload or torque or any other negative. in fact, they tended to make the Jeep run and ride even smoother since these things work with the springs as a double set of cushioning.

 

And here are the pair on the front which took all of 5 minutes to install since the bolts, upper and lower, were so smooth and greased they slipped right out of the bushing eyes.

 

This shocking view is not the Jeep broken, but the addition of still another 8" of wheel travel and not just the front either. The back enjoys another 50% travel than before the Revolvers were installed.

This shot was in the same location as the first test with just the long shock towers, and sway bar disconnects.

Here we can see the extreme travel in the rear also, which required an additional long stainless steel brake line of some 24" in length. Notice the wheel travel also with the compression of the right front wheel.

 

And in this shot, one of the surprising bonuses of the Revolver Shackles is they allow so much more droop and travel that I no longer have to lengthen the shock towers even more, since by the added travel, note how much is left in the shock shaft as seen just above the center of the front wheel and tire. I still have another 4" of travel left but the ditch was too shallow to let the wheels drop completely.

And here VEX looks broken, but that is the way the dynamics occurs as the wheels drop or compress, which ever the case. I am very happy with the outcome of this major, but cost effective modification. It give VEX evn more capability and does it with safety for VEX and I and passenger, as well, it does what a 30k new Jeep Wrangler Rubicon does with another 8-10k worth of mods to get it to perform like VEX.

 

Road Test

So much of what has been reported by rumor and heresy about these articulation devices is utterly false in every way. When tried to find out technically what these things do and how they perform, one can get about 50 postings of allegory and rumor, and one who is actually using tem and says they are very good to excellent. So far my experience has been the latter in every way, beyond what I had hoped.

So, to test their road worthiness which seems to be an issue in the rumor mills, I drove VEX some 60 miles now at speeds of slow to 85 MPH. The Revolvers tend to dampen the ride further and make the ride very smooth, smoother than when I had the fixed Confer shackles installed.

Too, rather than being unruly, by their clever design, they tend to actually stabilize the Jeep at speed since they allow the suspension to center itself rather than the adverse. They also allow the suspension thus the Jeep to go over very bad road flaws and not kick steer to the right or left. They tend to absorb this and keep the Jeep straight.

At 70 MPH, I slammed on the brakes to see what would happen and the Jeep no longer pulled to the right which it always has done in the past no matter what I tried in tweaking it to correct this over the past 14 years I've ran VEX.

Too, now, in the panic stop, the Jeep stopped in a straight line and felt even more stable. There was no 'unloading' or the like and in fact, the Shackles definitely make the Jeep more stable and it felt compressed to the ground in reaction to the panic breaking. This 'unloading' issue is utter nonsense and not true whatsoever.

Next, taking VEX up and down steep inclines showed there is no wheel hop as claimed, nor is there 'unloading' on steep or off camber grades. The Jeep behaved as it always has and no noticeable change was inherent. It rides even more smooth in the most severe terrain and the body now stays level while the axles flex.

Conclusion

If one wants even more articulation than a fully set up and modified 2005 Jeep Rubicon of some $34,000 or more including the bare minimum modifications to acheive what has been garnered with VEX, the TeraFlex Revolver shackles are the way to go and cheap also for the bang you get in performance.

The only recommendation is to have a functional sway bar for the front and have disconnects for same to take full advantage of these devices.

Would I recommend them? Yes, absolutely and would prefer them over coil springs any day.

More data will be posted as tests continue........

 

 

.......and this is me, happy, in the ranch house alone, unsupervised..........

 

 

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