[Rivcamp]

I'm putting new YJ springs on my CJ5, in doing so I have to cut and reinstall the shackle and spring hangers to the 21/2" size. My question is, could I do a "Shackle reveral" by just placing the shackles where the spring eyes would be, or is there something else i could do? or needed. Not really wanting to spend another 250 for a kit. Thanks for your responses.

Doug

[jayhawkclint]

That's pretty much what I did. Works okay. It'll lift your front a little bit. You'll need to put a wedge in to correct pinion angle when you're done. Where do you get 21-1/2", though?

You can save even more money by making your own shackles, too. Easy to do. See pic below.

Some good reading from the folks over at www.earlycj5.com:

http://www.earlycj5.com/tech/SpringsShocks/yjconv/index.php

You can see my shackle setup off to the left in this pic:

[Rob55]

I have RE springs on my '84 CJ7 (not sure, but I do not think it is different for a CJ5, and if so let me apologize in advance) which are the same size (width) as the YJ springs. The rear springs should bolt right up, the fronts are 2 1/2"rear eye and 2" at the front eye (shackle). There are (at least) 3 approaches that I have tried. All worked perfectly well.
1) I used the RE shackles which are built to tie into the 2" hanger and wider at the base to attach to the 2 1/2" spring eye. Very strong, good hardware and not too many $
2) I used the rear spring hanger on the front (the Currie rear which is stronger than stock and is 2 1/2" wide, allowing you to use YJ shackles. This worked fine, however the rear hangers are slightly longer than the front and I was concerned about the effect on my alignment - drove about 100 miles with this set up and saw no noticeable problems (and I do not run a sterring stabilizer).
3) My current solution - I am running the stock width Currie spring hanager (2") and built 2 special 1/4" spacers to ride outboard of the hanger eye allowing me to run the YJ width shackles (actually running the Currie tow shackles).

I found this URL which has a 4th option, and looks pertty bulletproof.
http://www.rocky-road.com/wranglerconversion.html

Hope this helps.

[jayhawkclint]

'75 uses 1.75" springs - need to replace the hangers and main eye mounts.

[slacker92104]

From what I understood, the switch to wrangler springs eliminates the need for the shackle reverse.

http://jeep.off-road.com/jeep/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=260276