richardlillard1
SILVER Star
Superior Engineering Super Flex Radius Arms Review (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Despingator
- Start date
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thats the plan for a 3/8" fabricated housing when i trash the noodly stockers. my guess is the oem bushings will break down a bunch quicker with the added flex......but its relatively cheap and easy to pop in new bushings every few years. and it wont take much added spacing at the mounts frame and axle side to get an additional 6-12" of flex.
for a rig thats more dual use (road and trail) the bushings and change intervals should be bearable. For a more dedicated wheeler that sees alot of trail use......it will probably eat bushings too quickly and be alot better to do something like @nukegoat did with longer arms / better flex and driving characteristics that doesnt hang down like the Superflexdraggers.
Also- the main limiters of flex are running too heavy of a spring coupled with sway bar in above pics. stocker arms with Frankies springs and no sway bar flex alot better than all the above superflex pix. rears arent even fully stuffed and fronts arent even close in those pics. Whats the weight rating on those Dobinsons? that rear stuff has a good 6"+ to go in rear.
if you look at the pic of the front Dobinsons above....you will notice that the springs arent compressing but rather curving to the side. this simply means there isnt enough weight to fully compress those and they are just squeezing sideways. If you want to max out the Superflexes- you are gonna need to go down in spring weight and get them to squish more.
37s fully stuff on 3"-ish lift only by trimming fenders and recentering the rear with a slightly longer control arm.
easy solution to max out those superflexes is just go with a lower weight rated spring imho and slight trimming. delete front swaybar. no need to delete rear one as the cruisers weight will push thru if you lower the frame side mounts. and then you cant adjust bumpstops at full stuff.
whats the weight of this rig?
for a rig thats more dual use (road and trail) the bushings and change intervals should be bearable. For a more dedicated wheeler that sees alot of trail use......it will probably eat bushings too quickly and be alot better to do something like @nukegoat did with longer arms / better flex and driving characteristics that doesnt hang down like the Superflexdraggers.
Also- the main limiters of flex are running too heavy of a spring coupled with sway bar in above pics. stocker arms with Frankies springs and no sway bar flex alot better than all the above superflex pix. rears arent even fully stuffed and fronts arent even close in those pics. Whats the weight rating on those Dobinsons? that rear stuff has a good 6"+ to go in rear.
if you look at the pic of the front Dobinsons above....you will notice that the springs arent compressing but rather curving to the side. this simply means there isnt enough weight to fully compress those and they are just squeezing sideways. If you want to max out the Superflexes- you are gonna need to go down in spring weight and get them to squish more.
37s fully stuff on 3"-ish lift only by trimming fenders and recentering the rear with a slightly longer control arm.
easy solution to max out those superflexes is just go with a lower weight rated spring imho and slight trimming. delete front swaybar. no need to delete rear one as the cruisers weight will push thru if you lower the frame side mounts. and then you cant adjust bumpstops at full stuff.
whats the weight of this rig?
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I run S.E full 6" high flex set up. Bought every thing from them including the Amada remote resivour shocks. Flex up front is unreal. On road my truck handles like a truck with 6" lift and none speed rated 37" tyres. I ran the OME 4" lift with the long travel shocks and 35" tyres. Superior out does my old set up in every way.
I will post some flex pictures. This is the only one I have on my phone.
I will post some flex pictures. This is the only one I have on my phone.
Dobinsons doesnt list any weight ratings or specs on their websites ( usa and au).
Also- this pic clearly shows the spring on right with very little compression and a ton of arc/curve. Id call into question whether these were actually a progressively wound spring as im not seeing much compression at all on the upper or lower ends of the coils. Furthermore- the spacing between coils isnt that different from left to right side which leads me to believe the springs are far too heavy for the given setup.
Also- this pic clearly shows the spring on right with very little compression and a ton of arc/curve. Id call into question whether these were actually a progressively wound spring as im not seeing much compression at all on the upper or lower ends of the coils. Furthermore- the spacing between coils isnt that different from left to right side which leads me to believe the springs are far too heavy for the given setup.
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P.S. Totally agree with above. Your spring rating is way to hard.
i cant find my old Frankies flex pics on stock arms with sway bars and im not finding any searching threads here......dammit. I may be able to snap a few later today -
also- Aussies tend to run their rigs like they enjoy their women.....HEAVY.
as in expo heavy. If i had to guess those Aussie springs work well on a 7500lb loaded for outback type rig. Original posters rig looks alot lighter.
springs that are dialed for your vehicles unloaded weight will allow you to delete the swaybars and offset missing sways in normal driving conditions. its really only emergency high speed avoidance that is compromized without the swaybars.....but going to 37s and extra weight with our crappy brakes could arguably be more of a factor than sway control imho.
also- Aussies tend to run their rigs like they enjoy their women.....HEAVY.
as in expo heavy. If i had to guess those Aussie springs work well on a 7500lb loaded for outback type rig. Original posters rig looks alot lighter.springs that are dialed for your vehicles unloaded weight will allow you to delete the swaybars and offset missing sways in normal driving conditions. its really only emergency high speed avoidance that is compromized without the swaybars.....but going to 37s and extra weight with our crappy brakes could arguably be more of a factor than sway control imho.
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Hey guys,
The front springs he is using are C96-462 with a free length of 605/615mm and spring rate of 300lbs per inch. The spring rate is not considered a stiff rate per say, i think the reason the coils don't compress as much is because this coil design has a lot of wounds. If he had our other coil option of C59-310 which is 575/585mm and spring rate of 332lbs per inch you can see more of a difference in the compression of the coils. Also the springs are linear rate not progressive. All of our "flexi" coils are a progressive rate design. I know Ben Dobinsons has made some "flexi" coils in Australia for 80 series but only 3" and 4" and are progressive rate.
any idea what the weight rating 'above' a stock spring? most OmE and Slee ,Frankies aftermarket springs are typically rated for an "extra xxx lbs" over stock per corner so people can dial in springs capacity to the weight of their vehicle.
That is correct, both of our choices for 6" lift are rated to bumper and winch which is typically approx 210 lbs. Now most manufacturers use that as a guide to give the client an idea of ride height with additional weight. C59-310 coils that are free length of 575/585mm with spring rate of 332lbs per inch is our design for 6" lifts. Richard with the orange 80 series asked us to make him a custom coil based off his specs from a TJM coil 770frc780b. The coils we made for Richard is part number C96-462, with a free length of 605/615mm and spring rate of 300 lbs per inch.
That being said, both of those Dobinson coil part numbers C59-310 and C96-462 will work with the same front weight just the C96-462 will sit a little higher. Richard had our MRR remote resi shocks on his 80 but later fitted some fox resi shocks for more length to suit the Superior Engineering Flex arms. With our shocks and coils, probably the best ride you can get out of an 80 series, he can tell you himself.
I'm going to bring in some of our "flexi" coils for the 80 series in the next containers but only offer 3" and 4" lift.
the best ride is a spring which works with the weight of a vehicle. Original posters vehicle has both a winch(8k?9k?10k?) and bumper(tube-lightish 120lbish?) in front.....and they clearly are not flexing albeit with the Superior engineering arms and shocks. My guess is that even with an additional battery and even heavier bumper it still isnt goign to correct that the springs are waaay too heavy.
Im half tempted to send @Despingator a spare set of my Frankies springs just so he can see how his 80 "should" feel when matched to springs accurately dialed for his vehicles weight. Unfortunately we are on opposite coasts so its probably cheaper to just swap in some lighter weight coils.
Or maybe he can add 200lbs more ( sit a person on bumper) and do the same or even higher front wheel lift with forklift to see if the Dobinsons actually flex vs squeeze sideways without flex. The best would be to get it crossed up in a ditch vs forkliftign one end so that more weight stays on front end imho.
How many winds of the coils (i count 13+ on his pic) and whats the mm diameter of the material?
Im half tempted to send @Despingator a spare set of my Frankies springs just so he can see how his 80 "should" feel when matched to springs accurately dialed for his vehicles weight. Unfortunately we are on opposite coasts so its probably cheaper to just swap in some lighter weight coils.
Or maybe he can add 200lbs more ( sit a person on bumper) and do the same or even higher front wheel lift with forklift to see if the Dobinsons actually flex vs squeeze sideways without flex. The best would be to get it crossed up in a ditch vs forkliftign one end so that more weight stays on front end imho.
How many winds of the coils (i count 13+ on his pic) and whats the mm diameter of the material?
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Sure send Richard some of Frankie's springs, he likes to try out different stuff. If you compare spring rates between brands, 300lbs per inch is not heavy spring rate. Like i mentioned earlier we go with a progressive rate for our flexi coils that are made for maximizing flex, these coils weren't designed for that in particular. I will get you the wound count and diameter shortly.
14.7 turns
20mm diameter
20mm diameter
richardlillard1
SILVER Star
Did someone say Richard?
richardlillard1
SILVER Star
Hell, he could even try them with OME springs.
What Springs and shocks are shown in these photos? Were you running the stock radius arms that you ground thinner?
thatcabledude
GOLD Star
x2
richardlillard1
SILVER Star
No, as was stated in the first page of this thread, I run the SE arms.
I run OME springs (850J, 863) and shocks, the fronts are extended two inches.
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Anyone know where I can buy a set?
Also what bushings are they using?
Looks very interesting.
Also what bushings are they using?
Looks very interesting.
Yeap, I sure do want a set for myself, that would eliminate a lot of welding.
richardlillard1
SILVER Star
They come with their proprietary bushings in them, but factory bushings fit. Just but a stock replacement arm from them (half the price), then run something like the washer mod or landtank's plates on them.
