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Calculating Coil Rate
Posted: Wed Mar 09, 2005 10:25 am
by John H
I am shopping for new coils for the Patrol and want to go a little lower and a touch softer in spring rate.
- I know what my current 6inch springs are 290lbs front & 360lbs rear.
- I also know the obvious stuff like my wire diameter and number of winds etc.
My problem is that most 4x4 stores are happy to tell you that they have a ‘firm 5-inch lift’ but are useless at supplying info on spring rate.
So, is there any way that I can use measurements taken from the coils in the store to calculate (or guess at) the spring rate?
Posted: Wed Mar 09, 2005 10:34 am
by ozy1
To Calculate Coil Spring Rate-
RATE= (9909 x material dia. x material dia. x material dia. x material dia.)
divided by
(no. of active coils x mean dia. x mean dia. x mean dia.)
Mean dia. = I.D. + material dia.
All measurements are in millimetres
Result is in N/mm
To convert answer to Kg/mm = N/mm x 0.10192
got this from
http://www.industrialsprings.com.au/calc.htm
hope it helps
Posted: Wed Mar 09, 2005 10:49 am
by John H
ozy1 wrote:To Calculate Coil Spring Rate-
RATE= (9909 x material dia. x material dia. x material dia. x material dia.)
divided by
(no. of active coils x mean dia. x mean dia. x mean dia.)
Mean dia. = I.D. + material dia.
All measurements are in millimetres
Result is in N/mm
To convert answer to Kg/mm = N/mm x 0.10192
got this from
http://www.industrialsprings.com.au/calc.htmhope it helps
Now, THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKING BOUT!
Cheers
Posted: Wed Mar 09, 2005 4:16 pm
by Charlie
You might try Ultimate Suspension or Allsprings ,they know a lot more than your average salesman and can custom make if need be.Customs no more expensive actually.
Regards Charlie
Posted: Wed Mar 09, 2005 5:28 pm
by 1MadEngineer
ozy1 wrote:To Calculate Coil Spring Rate-
RATE= (9909 x material dia. x material dia. x material dia. x material dia.)
divided by
(no. of active coils x mean dia. x mean dia. x mean dia.)
Mean dia. = I.D. + material dia.
All measurements are in millimetres
Result is in N/mm
To convert answer to Kg/mm = N/mm x 0.10192
got this from
http://www.industrialsprings.com.au/calc.htmhope it helps
so what about the material constant?
Posted: Wed Mar 09, 2005 7:41 pm
by Cheezy4x4
Use a spring rater. We do and it will suprise you how different spring rates vary.

Posted: Wed Mar 09, 2005 8:25 pm
by YankeeDave
most fundemental formula for springs is
f=-kx
where force = - spring rate x displacement
force can be: applied mass x gravity (9.8m/s) which will give you a force in N (neutons) or use imperial units if you'd like.
Posted: Wed Mar 09, 2005 8:49 pm
by bigpat
I normally use a wire constant of 12 X (10 to the power of 6).
Note that the number of effective coils IS NOT the total number of coil windings. No. of effective coils is total number minus 1.5 coils.
This is to allow for the ends of the wire which are weaker in spring rate.
Cheers,
Pat