I was sitting on the can thinking about 4-links, and remember a while back in one of the rags there was an article about Aussie wheeling, and they made mention about one of the trucks that had a 4-link, but the odd thing was that he was using old leaf springs cut in half in their stock locations (axle to fixed spring mount) as his lower links. Anyone ever hear of this and how good/bad they are?:D

check the mag, but I don't think the springs were cut

I am using leafs as the lower links on both my front 3 link and rear 4 link. It works good for me @ about 2500 lbs. but I dont think it would work so well on a heavier rig. to much flex in the springs.

This is a very interesting idea. I was kinda thinking that a 1/4 spring in the back would make a better top arm, as the torque would put the spring in tension rather than compression when moving forward. Otherwise I am thinking that the rear end might try to wrap the spring by pivoting on the upper link.

Some of the russion GAZ trucks had a setup like this with 1/4 elliptical springs for top and bottom.

canadian army iltis uses a leaf spring pack mounted transversly as the upper controll arm / spring all in one. seems to work ok but they are a light vehicle. try it and let us know if it works out.

Don't use the spring as a link. Can you say HACK?

lord bakersville did that, check out his cruiser.

I highly don't recomend it. just too damn ghetto. there is a whole thread about it

Another crazy suspension idea is to have a 4 link with the leaf springs having shackles mounted at both ends of the springs


Rhino

hmmm.....Why wouldn't it work...they would never bend on the rocks...shit never even thought of it before.....I'll throw it in the mix and see what happens.;)

If used as an upper link, think about pinion angles. If used as a lower, think hard about axle wrap.

OTOH, some really old 2wd IFS Willys wagons used a 1/4 elliptic pack mounted transversely on each side to function as the upper a-arm, and we know how hardcore those are. :D

This post is in reference to the same article (I beleive) that you are refering to.Leaf springs W/ Coils (http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=8492)

hack

more hack

Less hack.
http://www.polyperformance.com/lesshack.jpg

Those pics are not the set-up style he's referring to.

The article was a pic of a Aussie Toy that had the two origional main leafs attached SOA and tothe frame for LOCATING THE AXLE ONLY ...............and then the weight of the vehicle was taken over by two coil springs sitting on top of the axle.:beer:

I remember a green CJ in one of the mags a few years ago that ran that setup, think it was in the Dakota Territory Challenge coverage. If I remember right, they said it had alot of bugs to work out, huge axle wrap, and bent all the main leafs. Could probably be made to work, but would take alot of tweaking to get it right.

Originally posted by kwrangln
I remember a green CJ in one of the mags a few years ago that ran that setup, think it was in the Dakota Territory Challenge coverage. If I remember right, they said it had alot of bugs to work out, huge axle wrap, and bent all the main leafs. Could probably be made to work, but would take alot of tweaking to get it right.

Simple axle wrap bars would solve 90% that. I don't know about "lots of bugs"...........

I think ANY & ALL custom set-ups have bugs to deal with; no matter how well thought-out.

The only problem I see with this set-up is making sure that when you have the weight of the vehicle on the coil springs, that there isn't any undue stress on the leaves. In other words, make sure when your vehicle is at static height with the coils, that the springs are in a natural postion, and not being forced up/down or Side-to-Side.

And that's not even a BIG problem, all you really need to know is the compressed (with vehicle weight only, not flexing:rolleyes: ) height of the coil springs and make the mounts accordingly.