Outer Limits 4x4 Board

Ok you suspension guru's, help me out.

What will be the difference in the performance of leaf springs that have the location pin in the centre and those that have it offset to one side.

I have been looking at diffenrent springs and found some that have the pin a fair way to one side.

How will these differ in flex/travel than a centrally located pin spring.

Make sense?

Wolverine wrote:What will be the difference in the performance of leaf springs that have the location pin in the centre and those that have it offset to one side.

I have been looking at diffenrent springs and found some that have the pin a fair way to one side.

Do you mean to one side, or to one end of the spring? i.e. closer to the edges, or closer to the eyes of the springs?

They will obviously either lengthen or shorten your wheelbase depending on which way you place ie long side on the inside = lengthen.

They will affect the way the spring absorbs shocks from the terrain. They won't affect it as much as putting a longer spring in which softens the ride considerable. The main reason for going to a spring with a long and short section is the wheelbase change which then changes the ride. the further you put the axles from you the softer the ride will appear to you. It will also help your approach & departure angles as the angle will decrease.

What springs have you found?

yeah I mean to one end of the spring.

The springs are from a toyota corolla. They are the same width etc as the sierra springs just a bit longer. They are a four spring pack and are pretty soft. Also very cheap and a dime a dozen.

I was looking at running them on the front as I think they are approx 5-6 inches longer than standard.

I quess the side of the spring with the furtherest distance from the end to the locator would go to the rear.

But does this offset affect how much the spring flexes as appose to a centrally mounted one.

Wolverine wrote:But does this offset affect how much the spring flexes as appose to a centrally mounted one.

I reckon it would have to as a matter of physics - but as to how much - i do not know

Damn physics!!!!!!!!!!!

Wolverine wrote:yeah I mean to one end of the spring.

The springs are from a toyota corolla. They are the same width etc as the sierra springs just a bit longer. They are a four spring pack and are pretty soft. Also very cheap and a dime a dozen.

I was looking at running them on the front as I think they are approx 5-6 inches longer than standard.

I quess the side of the spring with the furtherest distance from the end to the locator would go to the rear.

But does this offset affect how much the spring flexes as appose to a centrally mounted one.

I have seen these springs used in the rear of a Zuk before, you are right they are VERY soft (softer than 3 leaf OME rears) the owner of the vehicle had quite a bit of trouble with axle wrap (SPUA) and ended up going back to the the OME rears...
If you added a few shorter leaves and made a hybrid pack that was a little stiffer, they would probarbly work really well (he had me in the rear of his Zuk) and for a shackle reverse fron they would probarbly work quite well also ..

Wolverine wrote:yeah I mean to one end of the spring.

The springs are from a toyota corolla. I was looking at running them on the front as I think they are approx 5-6 inches longer than standard.

I quess the side of the spring with the furtherest distance from the end to the locator would go to the rear.

But does this offset affect how much the spring flexes as appose to a centrally mounted one.

my rear spring isnt central anymore an it flexes quite well
the AZTEC buggy's front springs also arnt in the middle an flex nice

what model corolla are they out of ? and are they 5 or 6 inch longer then the front or 5 or 6 inch longer then the rears? what is the lenght?
how far is the center pin off the middle?

thanks Tim

I tried some of these, when I did it I had to move the fixed mount forward 5 inches and use and extended shakle and redrill the centre pin as if you use the factory pin you would have to move the shackle mount way back to get the tire in the right spot, they had huge amounts of travel, to the point that uni bind was the limiting factor but they were to soft to even think about on road and I think for to much sidehill off road use even built up with extra leaves.

But back to your question, I think a spring would have more travel in the middle than if the pin was off to one side as the diff couldn't put as much leverage on the short side

zooki wrote:I tried some of these, when I did it I had to move the fixed mount forward 5 inches and use and extended shakle and redrill the centre pin as if you use the factory pin you would have to move the shackle mount way back to get the tire in the right spot, they had huge amounts of travel, to the point that uni bind was the limiting factor but they were to soft to even think about on road and I think for to much sidehill off road use even built up with extra leaves.

But back to your question, I think a spring would have more travel in the middle than if the pin was off to one side as the diff couldn't put as much leverage on the short side

what model were they out of?

Mid 70's sedan, whatever model that is? Datsun 120y's had the same width spring but a different length from memory as well

They were the fronts out of an early model corolla. They are approx 5-6 inches longer than zuk fronts.

I think you can get longer springs from the rears(wagons)

They are at a mates house I will measure them up again when I go there next.