[Guest]

I am in the process of building a custom coil setup on my trail Jeep. I was wondering wich type of steel is necessary for the locating arms and the like. I know alot of guys like to run thin wall Chrome-Moly for weight savings, but is the expense really worth it or should I just run a slightly thicker walled DOM mild steel. Weight isn't that big of a deal to me but safety definetaly is. Will heavier DOM mild do the same job as C-M? My rig is Right at or under 4000 so it isn't a heavy vehicle. Cost is a major concern and I have heard that chrome-moly is extremely expensive. Is the difference that great or is it small? If the price difference isn't as great as some people make it out to be my vote would definetaly go to the chrome-moly. Thank You.

Scott Crothers

 

[Guest]

I'm in the process of designing a custom suspension for my 1980 CJ7. I am planning on using coil springs or air bags or buggy leaves (first choice is coil or air bags if I can get the design down). For the control arms I'm planning to use .120 DOM tubing. The reason is because it is cheaper than C-M; I'm not sure how much cheaper, but it is. Also I don't mind the weight of steel and I am trying to over engineer it. What type of coil springs are you planning to use; I haven't decided what type to use.

Tim Springer
1980 CJ7

 

[Smokngun]

Keep in mind, if you use Chrome moly it HAS to be Tig welded. Mild steel can be Mig welded and is much easier to work with. As far as strength goes... .083" wall C-M is about the same strength as .120 M-S but it weighs about 2/3 as much. The strength is in the welds. This info is from a friend who builds Drag car chassis for a living and knows alot about metalurgy.

Mike H.
1983 CJ-7 Laredo
/wwwthreads_images/icons/cool.gifo[[[[o

 

[Guest]

Tim,

I don't know all there is to know about coil spring offerings but for what I want I am leaning toward Terraflex lift coils for a TJ. I was for a while considering early Bronco Springs but decided they might be to stiff for my goals, which are, good but not crazy articulation and a smooth ride(my rig will be driven daily). The Bronco Springs are cheaper though, the guy I e-mailed at Terraflex said about $82 bucks a spring and the Wild horses Rockcrawlers are around $140 a pair. Not a substantial difference but still a diff. The beauty of the TJ coils is the soft spring rate we are talking 170 lbs./in. for 3" and alittle heavier for the new 4 inchers. The guy at wildhorses that I e-mailed (Jim Creel) said that the Bronco coils run an est. 180-330lb./in. The Bronco coils are vairiable rate whereas the TJ's are constant. The other option that I considered is custom coils by National Spring, but my rig is on a tight budget and I thought that they would be too expensive but never did price any.
I also considered using airbags at one time for coolness and easily adjustable ride heighth but decided with the extra complexety comes extra trail vulnerability and decided to use some good old reliable coils. Hope this was of some help.
Oh, yeah. I am planning on using Terraflex 3inchers in front and 4 inchers inback. All of the rates for TJ coils were for fronts only. I think that the TJ front coil design is superior to its rear design. I ahve seen some pretty awesome pictures of those front springs at work and think they are worth the little extra cost.

Scott Crothers

 

[Guest]

Thanks, I will probably use TJ springs if I go with the coils. I would like vairiable rate springs, but Avalanche Engineering said that they have had trouble getting a supplier to make an "accurate and consistant set". They have made a number of 4 wheel coils and are phasing them out for coil over race shocks in the front and 1/4 elliptic in the rear because they are "adjustable" and they give a better ride due to the coils being difficult to set up on the narrow Jeep axles. Good Luck, I'm still comparing coils to bags to 1/4 elliptical (or 3/4 elliptical since they really flex, and since I know a guy who uses them).

Tim Springer
1980 CJ7

 

[130]

How about this for some wild articulation, nice ride, and relatively simple setup. Reverse the front shackles, put buggy springs on all 4 corners AND use Revolver shackles. Whats the price ya say? MORE SR is about $260 with buggy leafs. You can make your own rear buggy leafs for ~$60, and Revolvers are around $250/pair $500/set shipping.... If you need more height, go with some OME springs or for REAL lift and twist- an R.E. S.O.A. lift! 4 Revolvers on stock springs in the stock location should ramp 900, so just imagine what all this could do for you. the MORE kits will lift you about an inch in front, and the rear buggy leaf should lift an inch in back, the Revolvers will lift about 1.5" I'm told. SOA gains the hieght of the axle, usually 5.5-6" and OME makes GREAT 2.5" lift springs... This is what I'm planning to do to my YJ. If ya still want adjustable height how about airbags between the frame and the buggy leaf? Just my ideas on how to get lifted and twisted...

 

[Guest]

Twisted man. Its cheap, has super flex, and is easy to engineer. There are a few things that I'm not sure of. First what type of drive shafts are you going to use to get enough travel out of it. Second are you planning to take it on the road after the lift; if so you could charge people for an E ticket ride. My plans for a suspension like this is to keep it spring under since I like to keep the Jeeps center of gravity as low as possible. It doesn't bother me to do a little (or a lot) of trimming to fit big tires. Also I would try to make a bracket to hold the buggies on the frame when on the road. Also to keep the price down you could make your own revolver type of shackle (see the other posts).

Tim Springer
1980 CJ7