Outer Limits 4x4 Board

gents.. just wondering if anyone has any ideas I could use to make the main leaf softer in the rear of my 42?



As you can see here I've got mega spring retainers that will keep the leaves in line while the pack separates except the pack doesn't separate.

with the number and lengths of leaves in the pack if the main leaf is softer it shouldnt affect ride height much or load carrying capacity. I realise I'll need to remove some smaller leaves if I want to get any more compression.. but im not worried about that at this stage as its a relatively easy fix..

So is there any other methods available to soften a main leave apart from removing the leaf and getting it reset at a softer rate separetly?

leave the rear end on axle stands with the rear diff at full droop with besser bricks attached to the wheels for a week?

What are you trying to do exactly ?

The leaf pack will not seperate if the weight is on your wheel and the ubolts are done up tight pushing the weight of the 40 through the centre of tha pack, whay would they ?

From mempry your pack was a collection of old used spring pakc's yeah ?

Did you build them on the car orr off ?

If I was you I would pull the pack and remove all the leaves apart from the main one and jack the car up and down to ensure shackels, shocks and bumpstops are all working correct then start adding other leaves until you get the desired effect. You can govern the way the pack performs by mixing short, long, thick thin etc.

If you want super flexy then I would look at eaither a greater step between leaf lengths or thining out the thickness as you have a lot of close heavy leaves in those their packs.

I'm just trying to get a bit more droop out of the rear springs by making the rear leaf packs to separate. In the pic the far wheel is off the ground, and all the weight in the rear on the closest wheel.

i just figured the current spring rate of the main leaf meant it wasn't flexing as much as it could when there was no weight on one side or being leveraged down with the opposite side compressed.

probably splitting hairs and wouldn't really see much gains for the effort involved but it's bugging me that I can't get the rear springs working as good as the front..

oh.. and yeh they are a mix of 60series rears with the load leaf removed and the 3rd longest leaf is from a 75series. the complete pack was then reset with an inch more lift (match up with the front end). Currently i'm not using a bumpstop in the rear as its no where near the stock position and i haven't extended them. shocks have plenty left in them in compression and extension.

I just dont think its possible in a 40 to get similar travel in the rear leafs to match what is easily achiveable in the front.

Look at my rear setup now, 8" longer leaves then stock, good shackle angle, 12" travel shocks, and still only gained a small amount of travel over my last set of leaf packs.

I think a lot of it is due to the rear leafs being outboarded a lot compared to the front. Front see's a lot more leverage and you get more wheel droop before the leaves start to bind by twisting up etc.

I did see one build on IH8Mud of a guy who inboarded his rear leaves to match the front which gave him good results. I imagine the onroad handling would suffer a fair bit but.

Easiest option is probably just to link/coil the rear end.

cheers Twiaty.. theres some food for thought there...

i wonder if thats the bonus of using 55 rear springs.. they are a thinner leaf than the 60s and will droop more.. wish i had some to compare..

I doubt very much if you are getting bugger all down force on your outside wheel with your inside tucked. If you were I would expect to see the shackle trying to extend the leaf pack where as it looks like it is just supporting it.

With the simplicity of linking the rear I would do that, no steering, no issues, plenty of clearance and then you get some travel.

I think I still have some 60 series rear ligted spring packs if you want to see if they are any longer / ligher on the main leafs

I have a middy with 60 series rear packs that behave similar to yours, no separation at full drop, where as the front leaves do it heaps! No idea why.

When crossed up, check that the other wheel (the one that is up in the guard) that the sidewall is not hard up against the chassis. That will STOP the other side drooping at all. I put superior drop shackles in my 75 looking for more flex in the rear, only to find them hardly working due to the tyre hitting the chassis on the upside. Next step was to put wheel spacers on but I ended up selling it and jumping the fence buying a Nissan (well, ford's rendition anyway )

By the way you do have too many leaves in there, and don't go putting big lifted leaves in either, the flatter the spring the more flexible they are. Both my old cruisers had standard spring packs only with the retainers removed and longer shackles.

you don't need the spring packs to separate to have good flex. I think you should get rid of the two thick 75 series leaves and use thinner 60 or 40 series ones.

In these pics the leaves are not separating but they still have pretty good flex. I don't think you really need anymore flex than this for a road going spring under rig. I think your suspension is pretty similar with only a few minor differences.

This is the same spot from opposing sides.

cheers guys.. not sure if i can be farked doing that at this stage but its something to think about if I get bored and want to try it out..

I found a pic from when I put the 60 springs in the first time.. I can't remember if I had them reset or not (and no idea how much if I did) but I know they removed the load leaf..




Not sure why we didnt go higher to see how much it would flex... think that probably freaked us out enough at that stage.. the top of a 31" isn't really under the side step and would have to move a heap more to make a considerable droop. any more and it wouldn't be healthy for the main leaf if you were to be doing that often.