Outer Limits 4x4 Board

hey all.
Finally took my 4x4 out today after fixing it up. I noticed that on small stuff it wants to see saw instead of all the wheels touching the ground. So i took it haome and took two of the load leafs out of the spring pack. It made a big difference. I was just wondering if i should do the same to the front or if their are any other ways of modding the suspension so that i get the most out of it. Like longer shackles and stuff. Any help would be great and im sure their will be others that can make use of this info.

Also make sure that your brake lines or shocks don't limit the flex!

The rear may want to axel wrap more leaves you take out.

here's mine with 2" springs articulating... not that good at all =) hehe

shock limit articulation on mine... drop shackles worked VERY well on it - you can see them in this pic but theyre not opened up.

http://images.deviantart.com/i/2002/36/ ... ic_Zuk.jpg

EDIT: i lied - the shackles arent on there =)

which one is the load, spring, is it the next largest from the main?

bj

load leaf is the bottom leaf or the smallest

thanks, wasn't sure which is which .

bj

Put up some pics when you're done, I'd be keen to see what kind of results you get.

This is mine, on 2" kings, with nothing removed and Rancho 5000s.

Urban Flex!

http://groups.msn.com/_Secure/0TgAdAy4XjIsQUb6a8qTuaaWKGcCoEveuKWBidKykyUEWiYvX4yZlbNBaevdkMX0t!DWqLvXNqx3mG!3GG03Vhkt2l!miPWXd0bxBvuLe8h7hbIPdMB9z3Q/IMG_3903.smljpg.jpg?dc=4675522100656697412
this is the flex i get with custom springs on the front, they are just 3 long soft leaves. these springs are about 1.5 inch lift at most. Shackles have also been lengthened

the back leaves are standard, as you can see doesnt flex up as well.

Well im taking it out again today hopefully, ill take the cam and get some happy snaps of the flex. The theory i got from the guy at the 4x4 place is that
you want the front average stiffness and the back to have the give in it. That way the front follows tha angle of the ground and the back just flexes to suit. Correct me if im wrong. Also a mate reckons put the stabiliser back in the car
with extended brackets. Will this be an improvement? I though it would limit flex too much. BTW my car doesnt have mauch stuff still in it so taking the load springs out didnt even change the height much. But if your car has some gear in it then it might not be a good idea to do that.

ok here is a poser shot. If the load springs were still in the car it would be see saawing way before i got this high.

equal flex is best. there is no point limiting flex at either end. get what you can outof it. as for the sawybar leave it off and forget it in my opinion. or get swaybar disconnects.

Equal flex would be great but a Patrol, Cruiser, Rangie etc all have more flex in the rear. I reckon take as much flex where you can get it and then if it isn't enough drive faster. Good luck and hopefully you achieve your goal.
Shane

the bigest prob with the rear is the shocks limiting flex. do what i did . mount a bit of box steel (40mm) between the existing mounts then cut out te botom of it and mount some longer shocks inward about 130mm from original mounts. Triton shocks work well. Also replace ya shackle nuts with nylock nuts and dont tighten them up to tight. this allows the shackle to twist a bit. will get about 2 inches more down travel with this setup.

the bigest prob with the rear is the shocks limiting flex. do what i did . mount a bit of box steel (40mm) between the existing mounts then cut out te botom of it and mount some longer shocks inward about 130mm from original mounts. Triton shocks work well. Also replace ya shackle nuts with nylock nuts and dont tighten them up to tight. this allows the shackle to twist a bit. will get about 2 inches more down travel with this setup.

How much longer shock would be ideal with just getting a longer shock if you could get a shock at any length you wanted? After market rear shock length is normally 525mm. So are you looking at 550mm, 575mm or 595mm.
Shane

EFS 2" lift, OME shocks. The shocks limit my travel.

4WD Stuff wrote:Equal flex would be great but a Patrol, Cruiser, Rangie etc all have more flex in the rear. I reckon take as much flex where you can get it and then if it isn't enough drive faster. Good luck and hopefully you achieve your goal.
Shane

who cares what happens with patrols yotas and rangies? It is only to their detriment that they dont have balanced flex. imo better to have more in front then more in back for stability under power.

How exactly do you guys ascertain what is limiting your flex?

4WD Stuff wrote:Equal flex would be great but a Patrol, Cruiser, Rangie etc all have more flex in the rear. I reckon take as much flex where you can get it and then if it isn't enough drive faster. Good luck and hopefully you achieve your goal.
Shane

As Muppet said who cares what thhey have, they still don't have equal flex. Equal flex also equals a better ride, which I'm sure we will all agree, the Suzis lack.

Also how does lack of flex equal faster speed, the only thing that will achieve is breaking things. If you have reached a practical limit of flex lockers fix thhat problem not speed

oldgold - ramp it, mark or take a digi pic where its flexing to. then take the shockies off and ramp it again... take another pic or remark it - if you got more travel with shocks off then its a shock problem. if its the same flex either way then its springs.

check your brake lines first!

im unsure what the comp /ext lengths of my rear shocks are but they came out of the rear of a mitsu triton.
i get full flex from the rear and still have some shock travel left. but the rear is still very stiff.
since doing RUF the front flexes better than the rear.


What leaf pack do others use? and how does it flex

Flex it till a wheel lifts off the ground, undo shock and remove/try. if wheel drops down. Shock is restricting travel. If cant remove (rear shock) axle weight on shock, so shock is restricting travel. if nothing happens, spring at full travel.
Important note. When flexing, one side of axle should be hard against bump stop and the other at full drop.
well thats what I do.

this is getting interesting... Everybody wants to have a coil sprung monster truck with huge wheels, maybe one day, but for now its good to have something that is a reasonable price and is fun to drive without bouncing around a heap.

Hey guy's new but thought i would tell yous that i run spoa and no shocks at all and i think it rides on road better

Hey oldgold you live in perth me should catch up..

no shocks

i run SPUA and could not run no shocks for long at all.

There are a few of us in perth. Inc me.

cheers

nicbeer wrote:no shocks

i run SPUA and could not run no shocks for long at all.

There are a few of us in perth. Inc me.

cheers

cool lets have a zook day no lux's or cruzers an pootrols

cool, but where to?
and I don't know of anyone else on here!

OME 2". the shocks limit my drop, atleast in the front, not sure of the rear

I added 3/4" chackles from TT and I got more drop

Zute wrote:EFS 2" lift, OME shocks. The shocks limit my travel.

How is the ride with the EFS suspension?

Well its way better than standard by a long way. Droped tyre pressures from 30 to 25psi. And that stoped the tyres from bouncing. I think the springs could be softer in the front.
Its a ute, so it needed to be able to carry some weight in the rear. Also I plan to fit a winch some day, and they know that when I ordered them. Most people say" shit this is rough".
Hope that helps.