Talked to them today about making me a set of leafs which would allow me to do a SOA but not gain more than 4-5 inches lift over stock height. They told me that they had fabbed a set for a '40 owner in the Golden State. They got good low height, but had some problems off-roading. If the owner of that '40 is on POR, I'd appreciate a post describing the difficulties and limitations of a "low riding" SOA. Thanks.

I have a friend that is trying to sell a set of 4 or 5" Alcans. He had them installed for a few days, but other than that they are new.

He said when the castor angle was correct, the pinion was pointed down too far. Personally, I think he was smoking crack! How on earth can the relationship between the spring perches and the pinion angle change with a set of springs?

Anyhow, he is selling them if anyone is interested. I helped him set up the shocks/mounts on it - so I got to see it flex. It pretty much outflexed any Cruiser that I have seen.

They are not SOA though....

CAZ

I've heard that they're excellent and approached them for custom springs based on their reputation. If I don't go SOA, I'll play with the number of leafs in my OME to soften my ride.

How on earth can the relationship between the spring perches and the pinion angle change with a set of springs?
Quite easily and directly! Because the front LC spring pack does not have a "centered" axle locating pin, as the arch (i.e., lift) of the spring increases, the axle is rotated. Typically spring lifts of more that 2-3 degrees require shims to restore the caster angle. And since the stock caster angle is only plus one degree, it does not take much rotation to put it into the negative (=bad handling) zone. This is my understanding for what it is worth.

I think I worded this incorrectly....

Here is what he did....

He works at a spring/alignment shop and aligned the castor angle to what he said was the factory spec (with shims). He said that with it like this, the pinion was pointed too low.

What I MEANT to say was that I don't see how the relationship between the castor angle (not spring pad angle as I said before) and the pinion angle could ever change - unless the ends were cut off and rotated.... thus the reason I think he must be smoking crack ;-)

CAZ

Originally posted by CAZ
Here is what he did....
He works at a spring/alignment shop and aligned the castor angle to what he said was the factory spec (with shims). He said that with it like this, the pinion was pointed too low.
CAZ

That is exactly why you need to cut and rotate the front axle with most lifts of 4 or more inches.

Hey 71 Cruiser, how did your 5" Alcan's work out??

Did you cut and turn? Did you lengthen your driveshafts?

What's the flex like?

Originally posted by Mark 73' FJ40
Hey 71 Cruiser, how did your 5" Alcan's work out??

Did you cut and turn? Did you lengthen your driveshafts?

What's the flex like?


I love them, they are great springs. They flex like crazy. I fliped my rear springs so i had to lengthen my rear drive shaft. I havent cut and turned yet only because i have a disk break front end out of a 79 FJ-40 that i am swaping in but it will to be cut and turned.

Caz,

did you measure the pinion angle and castor prior to work? Assuming that the castor was exactly @ +1 prior to the work and it is now exactly at +1, then the pinion angle must still be at it's prior reading. It is possible that it "looks" pointed down in reference to the lifted truck. I know the angle at the u joint changed, but that should be expected.

Medusa are you the person who had the nice diagram on how the pinion rotates as the suspension cycles with a spring pin move in front of center , centered, and behind center. I know someone on the cruiser board posted it prior to the crash it was pretty good.

That was exactly my point!

It was a friend's truck - not mine. I argued with him for a while, and then finally gave up.

As for the springs, if someone on the east coast wants a set of Alcans, he has them up for sale. It would save the $100 shipping charge - not to mention that he would likely want less than the asking price since they are "used".

I would buy them myself as I currently run a set of Alcans on my 4runner and love them, but combining them with a spring over would just be WAY too much height for me.

CAZ

Medusa are you the person who had the nice diagram on how the pinion rotates as the suspension cycles with a spring pin move in front of center , centered, and behind center.

No, that was Paul Decker. The diagrams can be found on Paul's website (http://www.hotcampshowers.com/new169.html) . I found these diagrams to be extremely informative. They are very germain to the current thread on this board about track bars.