Longer Springs up front
- Thread starter MiniPigg
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Have not used longer springs in the front but am considering and would love to. I am looking at stretching the wheelbase by moving the rear 2 inches back when I swap to 60 axles and that would be an excellent time to swap to longer springs in the front as well. Let me know what you come up with.
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- #3
still havent done anything... Brian (ridgerunner) and I have been talking this conversion over.
This is what I have... Alcan springs front and rear. Now I believe its a 3-4" lift. I am using a front shackle thats at least 1-1.5" above stock. I am the third owner of these spring packs so they have to be broken in by now.
The front shackle is still at a negative degree. So it is not pointing forward... instead it points to the rear of the pig. Adding more weight does nothing.... Ive added a good 600lbs and all it did was allow the shackle to move somewhat forwrd but was still aiming towards the rear of the truck. Ben said take out some overload leafs... maybe....
We have two other solutions on the table... one is to move the front shackle hanger towards the rear of the truck to allow the shackle to be at the proper angle...
the other was to cut the eyes from the main alcan spring... as well as the military wrap.... then add the first two springs from a factory FJ55 rear spring packs.... this would extend the front springs about another 3 inches. I would redrill them to bring the axle in its proper location or maybe even allow the axle to move forward another inch or so... then if need be I would move the hanger forward... ????
This is what I have... Alcan springs front and rear. Now I believe its a 3-4" lift. I am using a front shackle thats at least 1-1.5" above stock. I am the third owner of these spring packs so they have to be broken in by now.
The front shackle is still at a negative degree. So it is not pointing forward... instead it points to the rear of the pig. Adding more weight does nothing.... Ive added a good 600lbs and all it did was allow the shackle to move somewhat forwrd but was still aiming towards the rear of the truck. Ben said take out some overload leafs... maybe....
We have two other solutions on the table... one is to move the front shackle hanger towards the rear of the truck to allow the shackle to be at the proper angle...
the other was to cut the eyes from the main alcan spring... as well as the military wrap.... then add the first two springs from a factory FJ55 rear spring packs.... this would extend the front springs about another 3 inches. I would redrill them to bring the axle in its proper location or maybe even allow the axle to move forward another inch or so... then if need be I would move the hanger forward... ????
Sounds like a lot of work ;p I would move your shackle mounts around. That would give you a better angle on that shackle. IMO, cutting up the Alcan springs would be bad...They are nice and you can always get your money out of them selling. They are definitely 4" springs. I had a heavy bumper and winch up front so that probably helped with the angle, mine were straight, not negative.
Here's a pic with factory leaves in place of the bottom 3 leaves, alcans on the top. The angle isn't too bad, and those are 33" swampers.
IMO, if you want to keep the height...just go SOA. Paul and Julies pig (in horsetooth 4 wheelers) is probably the exact same height, or slightly smaller than my pig with Alcans was. The pig has a great wheelbase 106" not sure why you'd need anymore?
Here's a pic with factory leaves in place of the bottom 3 leaves, alcans on the top. The angle isn't too bad, and those are 33" swampers.
IMO, if you want to keep the height...just go SOA. Paul and Julies pig (in horsetooth 4 wheelers) is probably the exact same height, or slightly smaller than my pig with Alcans was. The pig has a great wheelbase 106" not sure why you'd need anymore?
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- #5
Hi Ben,
Ive given it a lot of thought and I am still unsure of which dirrection I might go.
Some of the suzuki guys use a longer spring in the front and they have awesome ride with flex. That was my thinking with the full alcan leaf pack with the eyes cut and using the two main factory leafs from the rear springs.
I also thought about taking one of the bottom two overload leafs off to see if that would soften them out.
Brian suggested taking the pig out more and flexing them.
I am still thinking this over. btw... was it the bottom leafs you took out?
thanks
dave
what about 60 springs
IIRC it was only the top few springs in the front pack that were alcan, after that they were factory 40/55 springs. you could always play with them to get the height difference.
In the pic I don't think that flex is a real issue up front, you could get even more if you just flipped that front frame mount around to get a better shackle angle. Quick, easy, FREE!
The rear is where I see the problem. It just doesn't flex at all like the front. It's not bad, but it's definitley not the front. I was going to sell the front packs, switch the rear springs to the front, and then coil the rear. You can see how well gumby's flexes. You could damn near just go take everything you need from a wrecked 80...trust me the rear on those flex VERY nice. Are you just wanting more flex? better ride? hard core crawler?
if you are going to go over lots of rocks, sell the alcans, SOA stock front, and coil rear. If just a mild wheeler/crawler just lock it, better shocks and run it. It went everywhere and more than where I wanted to go with ARB's F/R...really imo...needs power steering/gearing first before anymore flex
First pic, flex with 33's and partial alcan/stock pack
Next pic, full alcan packs front and rear.
Last weekend I went wheelin in the middle of the night and inverted my damn shackles for the 4th time since I have had this pig. I really hate inverting the shackles. Whats the point in have the shackles at the front of the spring? Is there any benefit? Right after correcting the inverted shackles 100 feet up the trail the main leaf snapped like a twig. so after recovery mission the next day armed with a borrowed leafpack from my brother's "in process" 55 we retrieved my p.o.s. pig.
The planned fix involved using the top two leaves from some 40 springs and the rest of the leaves from the packs that were on the pig. But due to different springpin location and spring eye diameter it was way easier to steal the brand new 2.5 inch dakar springs that were waiting to go on my buddy's 60 project and order him some new ones. So in my opinion 60 springs on the front of a 55? piece a cake. And they look nice too.
The planned fix involved using the top two leaves from some 40 springs and the rest of the leaves from the packs that were on the pig. But due to different springpin location and spring eye diameter it was way easier to steal the brand new 2.5 inch dakar springs that were waiting to go on my buddy's 60 project and order him some new ones. So in my opinion 60 springs on the front of a 55? piece a cake. And they look nice too.
longer no. but they are a bit wider. they do ride very nice though. it is necessary to massage the spring hanger a bit wider.