Outer Limits 4x4 Board

need to wait till i can afford new rear shocks..

still pretty sad.. plenty left in the shackle angle..



when i was airing up i noticed a few rub spots on the tub! always a good sign
ormeau trip vid 17mb divx

ok.. i think it might be time to work on the front springs now..

I was thinking of taking the same approach with the front as I did the back..

and that is.. 60# front springs with load leaf removed
find some 75# front springs and take the 3,4th leaves and add this to the 60# pack..

Has anyone else got any pointers on what they did with their front end?

Tojo.. have you done your front springs as well? Did you just do teh same as you did in the rear?

Thanks guys.


p.s. yes i still need to get more recent pix of backend flex with my longer shox.

i tried the 60# rears in the front but decided they were too long and i didn't want to move my hanger. So i just used some 75# front mixed with 40# springs. Seems to work ok for me. Bear in mind i tried this before i boosted the 60# pack with the thicker 75# leaves, so with that it might work out ok.

I need new back shocks as mine are leaking. Out of curiousity, what are the measurements for your rear shock mounts extended, collapsed and static?

shorty_f0rty wrote:ok.. i think it might be time to work on the front springs now..

I was thinking of taking the same approach with the front as I did the back..

and that is.. 60# front springs with load leaf removed
find some 75# front springs and take the 3,4th leaves and add this to the 60# pack..

Has anyone else got any pointers on what they did with their front end?

Tojo.. have you done your front springs as well? Did you just do teh same as you did in the rear?

Thanks guys.


p.s. yes i still need to get more recent pix of backend flex with my longer shox.

why do you want to go 60 series front springs? they are shorter than the stock ones.

for better flex and approach angle either flip your front springs so that the long side is solid mount, or go some 75 front springs (slightly longer) or some 55 series front springs (centered spring pin) and mess with the packs

picked up some hzj75 front springs yesterday.. they seem longer center pin to shackle which is good.. should improve the shackle angle a bit..

front lengths
series | shackle | fixed | total
40 | 600mm | 500mm | 1100mm
60 | 550mm | 550mm | 1100mm
75 | 600mm | 550mm | 1150mm ~ approx

tojo.. can you plz see how you mixed your 40/75 pack? also any chance of posting any more recent poser/flex pix? I'll try and get you some shock measurements this weekend.

the springs i found are have 6leaves (currernt fronts have 7) .. can't really see any way to add 60# leaves easily (all approx same length,etc) so i figure..

1,2 leaves should be 75 for length, rest are 40 for load? i wonder if leaving the 75springs as they are would go ok..? theyd have a heavier motor than a 3b out of the factory wouldn't they? just wondering if the front end would sag .. only 1 way to find out!

spose i could always:
1) swap out 2" lifted 40 springs with 75's
2) check load/flex and compression
if good test drive, else mix with 40pack.

just trying to think this out before i dive in pulling the front end apart ..

Dude, just use the std 40 leaves. Pull on long leaf (3rd down) and maybe 1-2 of the smallest leaves.

The std leaves will flex heaps. Thats all i have in the front of mine plus 2"extd shackles.

Just play with the leaves till you have what you want the bigger the leaf you remove the more its changes.

according to this http://www.birfield.com/modules.php?nam ... 04-02.html their shorter...

i used to run 3 75# leaves and it flexed good. Since then i have added 2 40# small leaves to increase the height slightly. Dont have any recent flex pics. Here is one from before. Standard 40# leaves can flex real good too. But the 75# front will give you a longer wheelbase and move your axle forward. Also, some people like myself have full size bullbars, winches with steel cable and go camping for up to 10 days at a time. So i need load carrying capability as well. Which is why i use a combination of the thicker 75# leaves and thinner 40# ones. Taking heaps of leaves out of a 40# pack wouldn't suite my needs. But it probably would for most of the people on here.

did the spring swap on the front today

mixed 75 + 40 spring packs.


well.. i only ended up replacing the 2 main 40 leaves with those from the hzj75.. i think it looks like it needs 3 leaves cos the pack is pretty flat

well at least its fixed up the shackle angle on the front


with these springs the diff has moved a good 2.5" forward.. i had to undo the front brake line bracket to allow the diff to reach.. that is all it took..

I'm gonna go out for a bit now and see how it rides.. its definately lost a few inches in ride height.. but maybe thats the 31"s making the differents

Tojo wrote:Out of curiousity, what are the measurements for your rear shock mounts extended, collapsed and static?

had a chance to flex it and measure up.

measurements are from shock pin/pin
extended: 600mm
Compressed: 500mm
static: tba

looks like you've been busy. I just fitted new rear shocks to mine and ended up using OME rear Nissan GQ ones (same as what i already had on the front). If you are using standard front shocks they will most likely be too short. You should have a heaps better ride and good flex now.

added another 75 leaf to the front springs this arvo..

so that makes it main, 2nd,3rd leaves are 75/4,5,6,7 are 40 leaves..

the shackle angle is improved a bit giving me about 35mm lift back..



oh.. and yet another front bar

this is gonna help me mount daz's old bar a bit better when the winch is on..


picked up another brakeline and drive shaft for modifying on the front (hj61 rear shaft, need to take 30-40mm out)..

when i let the diff's weight on the springs there was a heap of flex! about to take it out for a test drive to check out the ride..

latest progress pix i reckon im about 80% done so far.. hope to get it all done this week.

anyway.. front pax shock is fully extended, rear drivers wheel still has a bit left it it before it comes off the ground.. front drivers bumpstop has about 2 inches left to go and the tire doesnt even come close to touching the guard.

rear pax is very close to scrubbing the tub and probably will with longer shocks up front.

new shocks for the front coming tomorrow! (procomps i think)

looks like you got some pretty cool front flex there

im now inspired to get off my ass and start thinking about this again

Go mate, do the mods will go gr8 offroad..

got some new pro comp shocks for the front today..

totally extended these are 25.5inches long approx 1.5inches longer than the previous shocks (that are for 2" suspension lift)..

i need to get it flexed up now and measure shock lengths..

went for a cruise this morning and did a bit more ramping and a bit more measuring..

heres the pix!




here is a bad photo of the space for the front driverside to tuck up into the guard.. no touching and about an inch to spare before rubbing.. you can also see the spring touching the steering arm (not sure what its called)






with the front ramped..

front shock lengths -
compressed: 410mm
extended: 635mm

front bumpstop gaps (bottom of bumpstop to top of diff)-
compressed: 70mm
extended: 250mm

with the rear up..

front shock lengths -
compressed: 410mm
extended: 610mm (the front drivers side shock is fouling on the steering arm which means its loosing an inch of travel on that side.. not sure what to do about that yet..

looks good. I thought your shock would hit the steering arm. I modified my top mount so mine doesn't touch. Has worked ok so far. I also welded new mounts ont the diff.

Tojo wrote:looks good. I thought your shock would hit the steering arm. I modified my top mount so mine doesn't touch. Has worked ok so far. I also welded new mounts ont the diff.

I also have a custom hillbilly shock mount

MY45 wrote:

Tojo wrote:looks good. I thought your shock would hit the steering arm. I modified my top mount so mine doesn't touch. Has worked ok so far. I also welded new mounts ont the diff.

I also have a custom hillbilly shock mount

I have something similar as well.

After all that screwing around would you say the Scanas are of a much better flex on the rear? Doesn't look like any astronomical difference? I was thinking of doing the 55 swap on my 1976 40# but am now thinking of a much more radical mod that would give me much bigger gains.

PS mine is SPOA

heres some pix from the weekend just gone out at ormeau where i had a better opportunity to test the flex on some real terrain




after this run there were a few dents in my new shocks where it rubbed and hit the shock tower and the shockboots got all cut up.. need to look at that sometime soon (inner guard chop maybe?) i guess

Busiboy wrote:
After all that screwing around would you say the ***** are of a much better flex on the rear? Doesn't look like any astronomical difference?

i guess where its at with the rear is that its mostly for the droop.. i need to look at extending rear bumpstops to keep the jt2's off the tub. even then the back wheel still tucks nicely into the guard.. when i ramped it on that rock i dont think i got the rears off the ground..

i have considered getting the rear springs reset with another inch but then my cog would be higher than i want it at the moment.. the rear still sags and there is a definate cruiser lean.. almost typical of stock springs on a cruiser.. but i'm content with that for the moment keeping things low..

i think im pretty much done playing with my suspension except for working out a few bugs but the ride, handing, change in wheelbase and flex is so much better with these mods and i would definately consider it worthwhile on a SUA SWB.

MY45 wrote:

Tojo wrote:looks good. I thought your shock would hit the steering arm. I modified my top mount so mine doesn't touch. Has worked ok so far. I also welded new mounts ont the diff.

I also have a custom hillbilly shock mount

any chance of a pic?

Ill get one this weekend for you.

hey guys i have read through the 40# suspension threads in the bible and others. And my brain is starting to hurt.
I have just bought a 74 swb cruiser and the ride is terrible the back end is so fckin hard its not funny. My goal with this rig is to lift it up a couple of inchs and fit some 33's to it and at the same time try to soften the ride, what are some ways of acheiving this.
What i was thinking of doing was having the original springs reset higher (is this possible) and having some 2"extended shackles made up. this should give me the height to clear the tyres but i may still have some rubbing issues on the tub. Is it true that having the springs reset wil make the ride harder, will removing one of the smaller leafs help to soften the ride.

cheers camo

Having the springs reset for a 2" lift will make them harder again.

Remove a couple of leaves from the front and rear(remove more from the rear for better flex and ride), add the extended shackels and see if the 33's will fit. They just might with the height from the shackels.

thanks mate, will this case be the same as the ones above. Just take out the 2 or 2 smallest leaves at the back and the 2 smallest at the front. If I were to go for new springs would that make any difference to the ride.

highlucks wrote:thanks mate, will this case be the same as the ones above. Just take out the 2 or 2 smallest leaves at the back and the 2 smallest at the front. If I were to go for new springs would that make any difference to the ride.

Depends on the spring rate of the new springs, i dont have anyexperiance with new springs so cant really comment.

Removing leaves from the pack is very trial and error i would start with a small one and a medium sized one. Then see if you get too much axel wrap or enough flex. Its a bit of a PITA swapping the leaves in and out but its worth it

sorry for the lamen questions but when you say axle wrap do you mean the diff turning with the tailshaft as the pivot point

highlucks wrote:sorry for the lamen questions but when you say axle wrap do you mean the diff turning with the tailshaft as the pivot point

No - twisting around the axle. If you dont have enoguh leaf in front of the axle, the pinion will twist up - you can even permanantly bend the spring.

If you want a softer ride, UHMW strips (self adhesive is better) between the leaves make a huge difference - also improve flex.