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leaf spring resetting???

Posted: Mon Jan 05, 2004 8:28 pm
by Bluey
ok, basically decided to get my springs (85 middy) reset at local spring shop instead of buying newies. as far as i can tell they are standard springs, and im running old school bfg muddies, 33", no bl and assuming i buy new greasables and bushes:

so my questions are:
1. what lift do i go for? extra 2" front, 3" back. or something else. is that extra than current or over standard? how will spring joint know what standard should be so can reset to that plus 2" or whatever

2. heard/read comments before about taking 2 out of leaf pack front, and 3 out of rear pack. is this good idea? which leaves should be removed, for eg second and third from bottom on front. or ....

3. anything else i should do or consider?


any replys on resetting greatly appreciated


Cheers
Lance

Posted: Mon Jan 05, 2004 9:00 pm
by Tojo
your spring shop should be able to help with your questions. They will need to know the intended use of your vehicle and what you want. Basically how much load you regularly carry, whether you want the springs set for maxumum height or are after maxumum flex. What you can do is measure the bumpstop clearance. Then use a highlift jack to jack up your bullbar / bumper untill you have the car as high as you want. Re measure your bumpstop clearance. This is a rough guide to measure how high you need the springs reset (tell this measurement to your spring resetter and how you determined it). You should take into account the shackle angle. If it is straight up and down you will have a lot of lift but minimal down travel and risk shackle inversions in the front. This can be overcome by fitting anti inversion plates. Springs set this high usually give a rough ride, especially in a swb. I cant really comment on how many or which leaves to remove.
Heres a few pics demonstrating what i was saying about jacking the car up and measureing your bumpstop clearance. You can see that resetting your springs can give quite a height increase. Note the shackle angles. By the way, this is a BJ42 swb with 35" bfg's running longer rear springs with extended shackles. I run them as per the first picture.

Posted: Mon Jan 05, 2004 9:05 pm
by Tojo
in this pic you can see that i could get quite a height increase if i reset the springs to make the shackle straight up and down. But i prefer the shackle angle as per the first picture. I hope this helps and gives you a few things to think about. Jack up your car and do some measureing. Take a few pics and have a think about it. You can get very good results from using landcruiser springs.