Outer Limits 4x4 Board

Is it true that the feroza should always be lower in the front than in the back. I Finally raised the old gal (after 2nd time lucky).

I am sure I did it the way you are not supposed to (replaced one leaf in my rear set ands added a stronger one, then added a home made extended shackle).

Seems to work great but the side to side movement is a bit scary.

PS How do you test/measure leaf spring strengths.

Did you brace the 2 shackle plates? This should reduce the sideway movement to almost nothing. By testing leaf spring strenght do you mean determinig the spring rate? In that case a simple way is to put the leaf upside down on a flat surface and put a weight close to the center hole of the spring.

Then measure the deflection between an unloaded and loaded spring. use this same weight on another spring and see how much it deflects, This should give you an idea about the relative springrates.

This method is quite innacurate because of the friction between leafsbut as an indication it works fine.

Each plate used for the side of the shackle has the ends bent at 90 degrees for strength and inbetween the sides i have a pipe type device with a high tension bolt going through each plate & pipe and out the other side, will take a pic tonight to show. I have not welded the two side together as i was not sure if i may need to seperat them for whatever reason.

As for the weight measuring idea i tried to do a similar idea - using me as the weight. (dont try it with a drink in hand- soft or otherwise). i cant make up my mind if the spring is harder with or with out one leaf exchanged. might try changing shocks 1st before i go changing things around again.

I just get home this evening and goto look at rhe feroza - and she is leaning to the drivers side at least 2 inches. Now what have i done. this 'do-it-yourself' stuff is only great when it works right.
Looks like i have to remove the rear suspension again
as for checking what - i have no idea - i guess check the spring strengths against one another and............. bah humbug !

The height diff will be a problem with your springs. Most likely the rears.

I guess i should remove them and start again.
So much for my weekend of mudding -

G'day all, been a while since I've posted in here, but have been popping in regularly to have a read.

The front SHOULD be slightly lower than the rear.... handling and ride deteriorate when the rear is lower than the front.

I'll try and post up some pics of my homebrew shackles and spring mods in the next few days...

Shackles are fairly heavy duty, simply 2 steel plates with a big high tensile bolt in the middle for stiffness. Can't remember if I re-used the original shackle bolts at each end of the shackle, but I've now run these for about 4 years and they've worked fantastically. Shackles are approx. twice the length of the originals and give considerably better rear axle articulation than the stockies.

You'll find that your leaf springs will flatten with extended shackles, so a stiffer spring pack is important for extra lift. I went to a "pick & pull" wrecker with a tape measure and ended up using springs from the rear of a Holden HZ ute.

Mine is a widetrack, so couldn't find anything with a 70mm wide leaf spring, these came in at about 65mm, so I thought I'd give it a shot. Can't really tell the difference unless you look really close.

Only needed one leaf out of the new pack to bring the Fez springs back to approx. normal curve. Measurement from ground to rear guard is (I think, from memory) 860mm with BFG muddies with about 30% tread left.

Ride and handling are still quite good, although maximum droop is limited by the crap shocks I'm using at the moment....snapped one a while back, so replaced both rears with a set from a ford falcon....$16 from the same place I got the spring packs.

There should be negligble (sp?) sideways movement with your extended shackles. If there is, go back to the originals until you can fab up something decent.

Anyway, good luck with ya mods. I'll take some pics tomorrow and post 'em up in the next few days once I get home.

Cheers,

Thanks for the tip, I will leave the front for know and work on the rear springs.

My next try will be to remove the springs and measure them weigt wise (upside down on a flat surface and add weight) to see if they are the same strengths. my guess is the drivers should be slightly stronger. Then remove a leaf and add a stronger one.

will try tonight/tomorrow to get it done.

If I dont get sidelined with a few drinks 1st.
oh well raise hell

Just a point- making extended shackles for a wide track will be a lot easier than a narrow track. The narrow tracks shackles need to be wider at the top than the bottom (spring ) end; whereas I'm fairly sure the widetrack is the same width both ends?

The shackles were the easiest part.

OK

Rear springs out, and guess what - before i even start doing any more work the drivers side is 1/2" shorter (measure meathod - put springs upside down on flat sirface, measure from middle of spring to the ground) passenger side is 5" and drivers side is 4 1/2".
When i add weight (me 275lbs - i know to much )
drivers side bends to 3 5/8"
passangers 4 1/4"
so at least the weight dip is simialr at about a 3/4 " give or take.

Now - if i remove my previoslu added middle leaf the driver both springs under my weight drop about 1 3/4".

so what does that tell me ---------- (%*^&% if I know, maybe the leaning problem startd with the initial sag of the drivers spring, should I build it up to give it the same 5" height - if so how...
As usual I look forward to your help

One more question found some numbers on the springs which number corrisponds with which side ??

AND another 'one more question'

Now that every spring is disassembled and every leaf out - I see a difference between the two side set A is higher than set B, but they both bend/dib about the same when weight is applied.
So I guess my question is "do i put the higher set in the drivers side OR do I mix and match the leafs to try to give the same start height", although, the start height will be goverened by the main leaf (one with the bushings) right ??

hmmmmmmmmmm
and some people call this fun.

*** honey unlock the bar !!!!! **

Were these spring packs on the truck when you bought it? Is this a daily driver? Those shackles are REALLY long (9"?) and that one bolt in the middle is not going to stop the sway in the back. I don't mean to offend you but I wouldn't run those. If I had to I would weld in two 1" square X 1/8" thick pieces of tubling on each one.

If you really need that much lift just do a spring over. That will give you 4 1/2 to 5" of lift and you can run proper shackles and the Feroza flat springs. Just my opinion.

Like this:

This shackles are 8" total and the bolt in the middle is were the spring iswas currently supposed to bolt up, it is adjustable once I have decided on my height any excess can be cut, they are also plates that can be welded between them on the fromt or back. (but i liked your square pipe idea, so might try that)

the sprimg over was how is was done by my mechanic, but the U-bolts kept slipping as there was no flat platform to bolt the leafs down on. So all that I am doing is home made etc...

I need to sort out the leaning...

BajanFeroza wrote: the sprimg over was how is was done by my mechanic, but the U-bolts kept slipping as there was no flat platform to bolt the leafs down on. So all that I am doing is home made etc...

I need to sort out the leaning...

man you need a new mechanic he should have known that for it to work he had to put the perches/ mounts for the spring ontop of the diff not just sit the springs on top and bolt down and hope for the best

thats just dodgy

Not to mention it was just too much height, thats why i am doing it my self, with a little help/knowledge from you guys.

Still dont know whichside to put the lower spring sets on.

Have you looked in the service manual? It has got some info on the different springs.

I looked through the downloaded version but did not see any identification numbers. alot of tourqe settings but no id numbers. might i have the wrong manual?.

I have a `91-92 parts catalog...like the ones that the dealerships have. The part # for the rear springs packs:

48210-87646-000

Both sides are the same #.

It sounds to me like you have something different. Compare the two main leafs; the ones with the holes for the bushings. Measure length and arch. If they are the same compare the next two. Mine have four leaves in the pack. I believe that some of the later models only have three leaves. You don't need the bottom overload spring (the shortest one) unless you are towing or carrying a lot of weight in the back.

If the main leaves are different you can have one of them re_arched. Re-arching doesn't seem to last very long. You can take your measurments and go to a salvage yard to see if you can find something that will work. They are 2 3/4" wide and 40.06" in length. Arch is 6.5" unloaded.

Hope that this helps...

Thanks, as usual

The number i found was 48110-87648 on one spring, the other was worn off.

The main springs are different arches, and trying to find similar size replacements is not easy, they are either to long or to wide.

I am trying different ideas at the moment (interchanging he leafs on each pack) but its not looking good.

well i would say the larger spring would go on the side with the most weight but thats just a theory

well i would say the larger spring would go on the side with the most weight but thats just a theory

UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE

OK, It seems I may have solved my problem, I removed the two spring packs and opened each one and seperated every leaf.
I took out the thinnist ones and replaced them with ones equaol in thikness to the largest ones (11mm).

I then put all the shorter leafs together in one pack and the taller ones together in another pack and bolted then up. The addition of the new spring made a difference in height-difference between the two, it was now less. So I installed the shorter pack on the passanger side and the higher pack on the driver side. NOW, there is only a 1/2" differrence in lean.

The only scare is that the nuts on the U-blot are near the end of the bolt, i guess i could remove the very thick rebound spring next.

I also wound down the front so it was about 1" lower than the front, the slight reduction in front height and the changes in the back have made a TREMENDOUS difference in the ride, it is soft but firm (on bumpy road only) have not been off-roading yet.

Well now on to my next task (as long as nothing happens to the suspension) of fixing the gas guage (and upgrading the lights, cleaning up the wiring, removing/modifying the center console, installing a CD player etc) it never ends....

Well thanks to everyone for your help , till next time
C YA