Suspension

[PJ.zook]

Ive been doing a bit of reading, and am currently in the middle of extending the front of the chassis rails to do RUF.

My questions are, should i just stick to RUF? Ive read you can use YJ jeep springs. Will they offer a better ride? Are they much longer than the zooks. Are YJ front and back springs the same?

Ive also read you can use Feroza springs. Any more info anyone? I got most of this from the sierra bible.

[suzuki boy]

I think the jeep yj is the same as the tj (wrangler) but the yj is leaf sprung and has square head lights. So the wheel base of the yj i think should be a bit longer than the suzuki. My dad has a wrangler and the wheel base is longer.

I read some where on here a while ago that the yj's fit on certain zooks and not others don't know if they had been moded though.

I think the yj springs may be a bit stiff though. Surely some people will be able to answer your question for sure though.
Hope this helps.

[suzuki boy]

Maybe ask about the yj springs in the jeep section.

[PJ.zook]

Thanks for that. Yeh the main thing im after is ride comfort, i dont want to coil it as its a basic thrashmobile which im slowly upgrading. As standard my zook as im sure all others do, rides like vomit.

[suzuki boy]

Sounds like mine!

[christover1]

A big part of doing ruf is the balance front to back, a big plus off road if front and rear react the same, and to me using same springs all round makes sense...sierra or yj....but this is only a theory and I have no comments or facts to back it up. ???

christover

[suzuki boy]

Probably a stupid question but what does RUF stand for?

[hypo]

Probably a stupid question but what does RUF stand for?

Rears Up Front

[suzuki boy]

Fair enough thanks for that!

[bazooked]

I think the jeep yj is the same as the tj (wrangler) but the yj is leaf sprung and has square head lights. So the wheel base of the yj i think should be a bit longer than the suzuki. My dad has a wrangler and the wheel base is longer.

I read some where on here a while ago that the yj's fit on certain zooks and not others don't know if they had been moded though.

I think the yj springs may be a bit stiff though. Surely some people will be able to answer your question for sure though.
Hope this helps.

just to get ur brain straight yj are leafs and tj are COILS, 2 totally different setups, as for ride comfort on a zook? the yjs are up there with the ride of coils, i had yjs on my shorty (still got them, in the garage), and they flexed awesome on the zook.

[suzuki boy]

I was comparing the tj and the yj for the wheel base.

My dads has a tj and its smooth as but a guy in our club has a yj and i went for a ride in it and for the day and it was the worst ride possible!

[Gwagensteve]

YJ's have a terrible ride mostly because they have very little compression travel in stock form - much like a standard sierra. Because of this, stiff shocks are required to prevent uncontrollable bouncing and the ride is rubbish.

YJ springs are also very flat. Most of the time, they are used in a SPOA application.

Personally, I think that RUF with OME/Dakar springs ride very well. Don't get sucked into following US trends. YJ springs are everywhere in the US, so there are lots of bracket kits to fit them. They are not worth chasing here just because they are soo much harder to find. I don't believe in doing fabrication to fit a rare/old part.

I don't think you will be dissapointed in the ride with RUF with sierra rear OME/Dakar springs. Use an appropriate shock like an OME N76 or a Rancho 99009. Run about 4 leaves in the front, removing the big overloads. I would recommend a heavy duty rear as the starting point as it has a full length secondary leaf which will resist bending better.

Oh, if you are SPOA, then I can't really help as IMHO sierra leaves will have too much arch and give you excessive lift unless you run them with too few leaves to locate the axle properly. You may need to get a pring makes to copy (or buy!) some trail tough bonz-eye springs, as these are purpose built for SPOA application.

Steve.

[bazooked]

i dunno about that steve the yj setup in my zook works awesome and rides pretty sweet aswell.

[PJ.zook]

Thanks for that info everyone. Steve thanks for that, i think i will just stick to my origional plan of using RUF. I will be using Ironman all round too as i can get it at mates rates including shocks.

[christover1]

Thanks for that info everyone. Steve thanks for that, i think i will just stick to my origional plan of using RUF. I will be using Ironman all round too as i can get it at mates rates including shocks.

Be patient wit Iron Man, it will take a while to "bed in".
Will be a bit stiff at first, but the more Offroad you do, the quicker they soften.
So WHEEL it often good excuse anyway

[PJ.zook]

Well as you can see i introduced the 9" to the front of the zook with these results, man i love the ol 9incha, goes thru 1.5" thick solid shacklepins in no time at all.
I got rid of the crossmember with the recovery point that got bent in some rough Otways one on one snatching action with a hilux, getting me out of a mudhole filled higher than my chassis with mud the consistancy of wet cement.
Anyway that let go with a bang as it was bent and under stress.
Getting the bodymount bolt out was fun due to it was slightly bent and wouldnt go thru my aluminium liftblocks.


Next to go were the bent side extension bars which held up the sad excuse for a bumperbar, which then held up my old alloy pedestrian mauler roobar.
I was considering keeping the small part of it that held up my body mount, but decided it would work against how i planned to fit the extension, and it would only take me 10min to whip up a new one out of C section or something.
Problem was that this part was also the front leaf spring mount. Since i am moving that mount forward 70mm, i borrowed scotts bottlejack and widened the gap between the chassis and the leafs wiggy wiggy (soz listening to ICP), and then shoved some bits of wood in the gap to keep it expanded without the jack.
Now i could pull the swinging shackle out without it collapsing on me.
Im keeping the bodymount for now as im not sure what to do with it, im thinking i may be able to keep it still and reinforce it.


Here is the 100x50 piece of RHS im using as the extension of the chassis. I figure it to be about the perfect length as it gives plenty of room to weld the new shacklemount on one side, and lots of room to also mount a custom bullbar to the other side with some crushtubes.
What im planning on is grinding smooth both sides of teh old chassis rail, then im going to use two 5mm flatplates either side of the chassis rail and extension effectively sandwiching them between the flatplate. Then im going to drill a large hole in the chassis half of the flatplate so it meets up with the hole left by the old crossmember, then i will weld around the inside there, and along the outsides. Should be strong as the proverbial outdoor crapper.
Should i fully weld or stitch weld these plates to the chassis btw?
I will be using the same RHS as a new crossmember too replacing the old tube. I will be welding some strong ass recovery points on the bottom of both sides of the extension too. The old factory tiedown served me well but you need to move on. Hell the old tiedown point was so strong it was ripping the crossmember out instead of itself off the crossmember. Them Elbonians/Chinese/whoever made this thing did an arite job.

[Gwagensteve]

i dunno about that steve the yj setup in my zook works awesome and rides pretty sweet aswell.

I never said they couldn't ride good in a sierra, only that the springs are harder to find, and take lots more work to fit.

Bazooked, are you SPOA? I think that wrangler springs are well suited to SPOA.

[bazooked]

i dunno about that steve the yj setup in my zook works awesome and rides pretty sweet aswell.

I never said they couldn't ride good in a sierra, only that the springs are harder to find, and take lots more work to fit.

Bazooked, are you SPOA? I think that wrangler springs are well suited to SPOA.

yes