FJ60 springs on FJ40 - SUA photos (1 Viewer)

[Weber Sarge]

In that last photo , that would be the limit of the shackle's arc vs spring length - in other words , it should be hard on the bumpstop at that point or you're wasting travel in the spring's arc .
If that makes sense , lol...

The real question is : how much droop can you get out of these springs vs the 40 series stock units ??

Sarge

 

[Mustangstolli]

I'll need to adjust the bump stops a fair bit then - they were about the same distance away from the diff as the guard is above the tyre.

There is quite a bit more droop. Not sure exactly how much but will measure when I get a chance.

The leaf spring hung approx 30mm lower when diff was hanging by the shock.

 

[Weber Sarge]

If you correct the height on the bumpstops that will force the springs into more droop - it moves the weight over to the opposite side . Don't overlook the placement of those stops , some spring packs will not withstand being bent too far negative before they are damaged and the arch is somewhat lost or a negative bend occurs . I made custom flexy packs for my last 4x4 that could go negative easily , the droop was great but it also detracted from driveability on the road . That arch will somewhat act as a sway bar to a short extent - take it away and you'll induce a lot more body roll .
On a 3000lb Sami , no issue - hardtop Cruiser , big issue - lol .
Sarge

 

[Mustangstolli]

Gotcha.
Will finish making my 110mm shackles and re- test and adjust bump stops to suit.
Will measure droop at same time. Do you happen to know standard droop measurement (centre if hub to guard lip)?
Didn't measure that before replacing the springs.
Got an extra 50mm droop when I took off the shackle and let the diff hang by the shock, then approx 30mm when I put the new leaf and standard shackle back in (needed to take out out shocks for diff to sit on leaf pack). So approx 3" extra droop without extending shackle.

 

[brisveganbj42]

I think you're going to be hard pressed to find the limits of your setup using just a hi lift jack. I have see someone say you can either fully compress one end (both sides) or fully droop to find the limits of your suspension , then or subtract approximately 1" to cater for the extra droop/compression when crossed up. this should be done without shocks as your new springs probably will exceed the travel of your current shocks.

My bump stops were extended to do two things. 1) stop the tyres rubbing the guard, and 2) stop the shock from bottoming out or rather, limiting up travel.

 

[Mustangstolli]

what length shackles do you currently have on the front with your 75 series leaves? looks like with my factory 75mm pin to pin i'm binding well away from the bump stop or tyre contacting guard...

I've made my "replica 79 series" shackles (110mm between centres). I'm taking them to get zinc dichromated (yellow/gold colour) today to look like readily available aftermarket shackles.

I'm also currently changing the rear to disc brakes. I'm using 70 series rear rotors, which slid nicely over my full floater hub. Managed to find some half made brackets on gumtree - laser cut out of 10mm steel plate, which i've modified to take Subaru Brumby front calipers (they have the handbrake on them). Was going to use Toyota MR2 rear calipers, but the half made brackets were too narrow for the caliper mounting bolt spacing (about 120mm centre to centre). From reading a few forums and googling it looked like subaru had 2 types of calipers in the late 80s. One type for solid rotos and another for ventilated rotors. quickly ducked out to the wreckers and got a set from an 88/89 subaru leone. Of course when i got home and measured them up I found out they had a wide spacing for the mounting holes. So I ended up with another set i couldnt use - luckily the wreckers took them back! That when i found out Subaru had 4 types of calipers, not 2!!!

Subaru calipers had 4 different types, which made it a bit difficult to find the right ones:
1) narrow spacing (approx 102mm) solid disc
2) narrow spacing ventilated disc (the ones i needed - late 80's brumby)
3) wide spacing (approx 120mm) solid disc
4) wide spacing ventilated disc (late 80's L series such as leone).

Made up some 13mm spacers to suit the rotor offset. Taking the spacers and brackets to the electroplaters as well. Still tossing up whether to do them as bright zinc (silver/polished stainess sort of finish) or zinc chromate (yellow/gold finish). Any suggestions? Mainly doing it for corrosion protection. I was just going to paint them flat black to match the diff, but thought i might as well plate them whilst i'm doing the shackles

 

[Weber Sarge]

Shocks are almost always the limiting factor , especially if you're limited on what you can modify down Under . Here , it's mostly run what looks reasonably safe and sometimes not even that . Aussie's got the cool vehicles , we got (mostly) the cool laws .
Subie calipers are great , so are late 90's Mustang rear ventilated calipers - very strong built , good braking single piston with a tough , simple handbrake very similar to Subaru's design . The Ford has some of the best made cables I've seen to date , built way heavier than needed for a car and on a 4x4 should last a long while and take a beating .

May have to flex it out and break the springs into the bushings a bit , then measure at full droop for overall shock length as well as against the bumps for the short dimension of the shocks . Probably looking at 10-12" of travel total .
Sarge

 

[brisveganbj42]

Took some measurements for you of my setup...

My shackles...

Rear end top of diff housing to top of inner wheel well

Front end top of diff housing to bottom of chassis rail

 

[Mustangstolli]

Cool, so your shackles are 120mm long. 10mm longer than the ones I made up.

Just opened the package my ford shock towers came in (after almost a year sitting in the garage shelf).... And of course they are different to the ones I asked for! They suit a pin on top instead of the eye. They are basically straight. The ones I've seen on mud I thought tilted outward slightly?? Can anyone confirm?

I think I can still use them, they are very solid and mount with 5 bolts, not two...

Any ideas if I will run into trouble with shock alignment if they don't angle out ?

Thanks

 

[Mustangstolli]

Photo of shock tower

 

[brisveganbj42]

shouldn't be too big of a deal with the shock towers.. just get some of these: http://www.superiorengineering.com.au/product_info.php?products_id=20880

 

[Mustangstolli]

I've actually just dropped my 6" lift on my 80 series to a 4". The rear shocks are pin top and eye bottom. Hopefully I can use the on my 40! Also have a spare rear set of. 4" shocks but they squeak like mad! Good for dummy fitting tho.
I was mainly concerned that the towers are straight (actually lean in at the top ) rather than leaning out. Had a quick look at it just now and should still work...

 

[Mustangstolli]

Picked up my parts from the zinc platers today. Pressed the greasable bolts out of the new standard shackles and pressed them into my newly zinc plated bling shackle plates.

Then installed the 110mm shackles in all 4 corners. Much better looking shackle angle front and rear!

 

[Mustangstolli]

Used high lift jack to lift a corner again and it looked a lot more comfortable at top of jacks limits - especially at the front end. Totally maxed the jack out and still had plenty more travel.

The rear hits the exhaust which is getting replaced when the turbo goes in anyway. Had approx 15mm clearance to inside of wheel well and plenty of clearance to the top of the wheel well.

Front came to within 40mm of the guard lip with 3" left before hitting bump stop - so will need to extend front bump stops 2". How did people offset them to suit the stretched wheelbase?

 

[Mustangstolli]

Also got the rear disc brake brackets and spacers back.

Made up a 3mm spacer to replace the drum brake backing plate.


Then it was all bolt up, using 70 series rotors and subaru brumby calipers. The calipers needed abut of clearancing with a grinder to suit the large diameter rotors. Still waiting on brake pads to arrive...

 

[Mustangstolli]

Couple more photos....

 

[brisveganbj42]

You can see my front bumpstop here:

 

[Weber Sarge]

You'll probably have to move those bumpstops to align them with the axle housing , flex looks great so far . How is the braking power with those Suby calipers ?
Sarge

 

[Mustangstolli]

Haven't put that diff in yet. It's a spare diff I got which has the handbrake bracketery on it (from a late model bj42).

Still need to pull the centre and install Detroit locker I have somewhere in the garage.

So much to do - so little time!

 

[sadam_husain]

looks good mate