She Thinks My Cruiser's Flexy

[76FJ40]

I finally got around to flexing my Cruiser with a forklift since I don't have access to an RTI ramp. If my calculations are correct, it flexes well over 1000 from both the front and rear - Woohooo!.

[72cruiser]

love that pic of the rear just droppin away on the trail....lookin nice


malphrus

[woody]

I'd love to see a pic at ride height....curious how level it sits with the SUA front and linked rear...

nice flex tho! How's the trail balance??

[fj40mayo]

Very Nice. Need some more pics of your setup.

[76FJ40]

It sits level at ride height with a 4" Skyjacker lift on the front. The original plan was to do coils or a SOA on the front, but I'm pretty pleased with how it flexes just like it is. My son designed the coil setup using AotuCAD and the experience he got from doing a full coil conversion on his 4Runner. I've attached a few more pics of the rear coil setup as requested.

[76FJ40]

Let's try this again with smaller files ...

[72cruiser]

how much did the whole 3 link/coils set you back?

i'm thinkin i like that a lot...esp since i have no money and can just sit here at work and be bored, webwheel, and 'work' on the cruiser, ha ha


malphrus

[Gumby]

Now you have to give us some tech details. Can't just go postin pics like that as a tease. Are you using heims at the link ends? Does the upper axle side pivot? What's the end like there? It looks like a huge heim. What coils did you use?
Square tube lowers?
Thanks

[woody]

read his sig line noobie...."aerostar coils"....

[Gumby]

Like I ever read those things. That would imply that I care about others when that is plainly not the case unless I am trying to steal ideas shamelessly.

I have read from others that the aerostar coils are too flexy and lead to body lean. What do you think? True and your front Skyjackers even it out, or false and I should run out and put them on all four corners?

[76FJ40]

I had SpiderTrax make the 1 1/2" DOM lower links and my son made the 1 3/4" DOM upper wishbone link and everything else. All of the links have heims on both ends, the smaller heims (3/4") came from Adventurous Off Road and the Big Mama Jama heim (1") came from Lefthander Supply. The link inserts came from Factory Tubular. All of the heims have misalignment washers for about 38 degrees of rotation. All together is cost $6 - 800 for everything to convert the rears to coils. The axle actually rotates more than I had hoped for so I need to find a way to limit its travel.

We used Aerostar coils attached at both ends to keep them from popping out under full droop. It drives great on the highway, smoother than with the 4" Skyjacker lift in the rear. We also lengthened the wheelbase 4" which also helps the ride. Body roll is not a problem, even on the highway - it's certainly no worse than with the Skyjacker lift front and rear. You can see from the trail pic on School Bus at Tellico that body lean is not a problem on the trail - I was very surprised at how level the body remains. I would not, however, put coils as squishy as the Aerostar coils on all 4 corners. That would be like trying to drive a mound of Jello. The Skyjacker leafs in the front seem to be a good match for the Aerostar coils in the rear - they keep it from being too tippy.

[76FJ40]

Let me try the specs one more time. The upper link is 1 1/4" DOM and the lower links are 1 3/8" DOM. The large heim in the center of the axle is 1 1/4" x 1" and the other heim jounts are 3/4" x 5/8".

[Mace]

What wall Dom???

[elskippo]

I know the upper wishbone is 3/16 wall I bent that one. I think the lowers are 3/16's as well.

[elskippo]

I should have phraised that last post better. I bent the upper in the bender not on the trail.

[woody]

I run a center limit strap on my rig with the 4-link and the 1/4 ellip packs. When one tire fully squashes the fender, the opposite tire can only fall away so far before the limit stops it. Probably less than 2" loose at ride height too, so it limits both tires falling away very well, and helps on steep downhills when you don't want it to unload too easily.

My only concern would be the balance...in your Tellico shot (I knew I'd been on that trail! lol), it appears like your front isn't doing much while the rear takes all the flex. In that specific photo, it works, since the front is on a relatively level spot, but if you were taking the front up at an angle, I'd be concerned that the front frame would remain level with the axle and tip the rig way over, versus compressing the front hard.

However, no two wheelin rigs and drivers are the same, so it may work great for you! (which, given the pic, it appears to!)

[76FJ40]

Woody,

The reason I was flexing it with the forklift was to find where it was binding under maximum articulation. I was expecting to find the bind when the rear flexed and planned to install a limiting strap as you mentioned. What I found was that I never came close to binding when the rear flexed so I moved to the front. As it turns out, the frame flexes enough when the left front tire is raised about 35" to get the upper link close to the drive shaft. My son (elskippo) is planning to cross brace my roll cage to try to take a little flex out of the frame.

Like you, I expected the front axle and leaves to cause the body to roll as the front went over obstacles. As you can see from the pics, the front is much more compliant than I expected, I guess that's due to the frame flexing more than expected. I'm very surprised at how stable the body remains while going over obstacles with the front and rear axles. I guess that the rear works well due to a good design and the front works well due to good luck. At this point, I'm not planning to make any changes to the frot suspension.

[72cruiser]

hmmmm, so the plans may have changed some...

put the 55s SOA on the front and go coils in the rear...i like


malphrus

thanks for the info man, i might be askin about some stuff later on (years later on perhaps, ha ha)

[phishtaco]

Ummm...Can you put the cad files into a .pdf and post them up