This post is for my buggy but could be applied to any leaf sprung jeep. The back of my buggy doesn't flex at all and i've have 2 flops and countless close calls that probably could have been avoided if the rear of my buggy flexed. I think my biggest problem is the factory bump stop placement only allows me 1-2" of uptravel and it's going to get cut off. What are some of your ticks to get decent flex out of leaf springs? I have stock s10 rear springs that were spring under mounted spring over. My fronts are stock yj springs with some extra leafs added, they worked great but are getting pulled off in favor of some coils.
Leaf Spring Flex Help
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It would seem that there are three factors controlling flex (and roll resistance) of a leaf spring system:
1) Spring stiffness: Obviously the spring needs to be strong enough to support the weight it carries. Your buggy, with next to nothing back there, can use pretty soft springs. You might be able to take a leaf out of the packs, but not if you're only an inch off the bump stops now.
2) Spring length: Obviously the longer the leaf, the more travel it will have.
3) Distance between the springs on the axel: If the springs were right next to the differential, there would be very little roll stiffness and the amount of flex available would be enormous. It shouldn't be difficult to just inboard the rear spring mounts, which should be a great improvement. I've never seen it done before; maybe there's a good reason. On the highway it could lead to some wild handling. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
And BTW, I've read several times, and it seems to be so, that up-travel isn't nearly as important as droop.
1) Spring stiffness: Obviously the spring needs to be strong enough to support the weight it carries. Your buggy, with next to nothing back there, can use pretty soft springs. You might be able to take a leaf out of the packs, but not if you're only an inch off the bump stops now.
2) Spring length: Obviously the longer the leaf, the more travel it will have.
3) Distance between the springs on the axel: If the springs were right next to the differential, there would be very little roll stiffness and the amount of flex available would be enormous. It shouldn't be difficult to just inboard the rear spring mounts, which should be a great improvement. I've never seen it done before; maybe there's a good reason. On the highway it could lead to some wild handling. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
And BTW, I've read several times, and it seems to be so, that up-travel isn't nearly as important as droop.
Before i moved my axle 14" forward the spring rate was pretty good and i had decent rear axle flex.
I have almost no uptravel, my stock bump stop (i moved my axle 14" forward) is about 8" from the end of the spring and has 1-2" before it comes in conact with the spring. I also think another problem could be my shackle/ spring angle, the front for the spring mounts about 10" lower then where the rear of the spring mounts. My shackle has a pretty close to perfect angle if you were to look at it as if the spring was level my shackle would be sitting at / angle or even close to horozontally flat.
I think maybe to fix this problem i'm going to cut off the moved forward stock hangers and make new spring hangers so the leaf springs are flat with the bottom of the frame, i always used to get hung up on the spring hangers anyways. I am on beaver island working this summer so i'm 4 hours away from my buggy making money and comming up with ideas, it would be nice to have it here to look at/ try ideas with.
I have almost no uptravel, my stock bump stop (i moved my axle 14" forward) is about 8" from the end of the spring and has 1-2" before it comes in conact with the spring. I also think another problem could be my shackle/ spring angle, the front for the spring mounts about 10" lower then where the rear of the spring mounts. My shackle has a pretty close to perfect angle if you were to look at it as if the spring was level my shackle would be sitting at / angle or even close to horozontally flat.
I think maybe to fix this problem i'm going to cut off the moved forward stock hangers and make new spring hangers so the leaf springs are flat with the bottom of the frame, i always used to get hung up on the spring hangers anyways. I am on beaver island working this summer so i'm 4 hours away from my buggy making money and comming up with ideas, it would be nice to have it here to look at/ try ideas with.
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Moving the back axel forward will put a lot more weight on it. It could now not be strong enough.
The way to analyze your shackle angle is to jack up the frame and see if the shackle winds up pointing at the spring eye. At that point it is limiting the drop of the axel. If that happens too soon, moving the shackle mount forward or the spring perch back will help.
I don't see any advantage in setting the shackle at the same elevation as the spring perch. Stock rigs are not that way, probably for some arcane reason like generating the right amount of roll steer. I can't see it helping flex.
The way to analyze your shackle angle is to jack up the frame and see if the shackle winds up pointing at the spring eye. At that point it is limiting the drop of the axel. If that happens too soon, moving the shackle mount forward or the spring perch back will help.
I don't see any advantage in setting the shackle at the same elevation as the spring perch. Stock rigs are not that way, probably for some arcane reason like generating the right amount of roll steer. I can't see it helping flex.
I'm not talking about setting them at the same elevation, just changing the shackle angle and getting rid of the spring hangers i get hung up on all the time. I've found a pretty steep angle on my shackles has given me a good ride and good flex.
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