Dumb newbie questions

[Overlord]

What does wheel backspacing mean?

What does spring rate mean?

Why does the length of a leaf spring matter?

This is the newbie board!

[HNRYS69]

Originally posted by Overlord
What does wheel backspacing mean?

What does spring rate mean?

Why does the length of a leaf spring matter?

This is the newbie board!

1. The length from the back of the wheel (rim) to its mounting serface (inside the rim where the lugs go)

2. How many lbs need to make a spring compress. The lesser the softer, the more the stiffer.

3. Longer the softer. But the more the stiffer(as in how many leafs are stacked upon each other)

4.

[Erik D_lux]

The leangth of a spring also matters because it has more arc available. If you had a 5" spring it would max out in no time. A 100" spring would have alot of arc.

[XJ Sean]

Originally posted by Overlord
What does wheel backspacing mean?

What does spring rate mean?

Why does the length of a leaf spring matter?

This is the newbie board!

Backspacing was covered,

Spring rate more technically is the weight required to compress a spring 1 inch. If you have a spring with a rate of 250 lbs it takes 250 pounds to compress is 1 inch. For a coil with a linear spring rate, it would need to compress 4 inches to support a 4000 lb truck (assuming even weight disctibution at all 4 corners).

For length of spring are you talking leaf or coil? both will allow more flex with greater length, but in leafs, more does NOT necessarily mean stiffer, often is usually means softer, and more flexible because the leafs are made of thinner steel (such as 10 thin leafs rather than 4 thick ones)

Coil length relates back to spring rate, a softer spring has to be longer to provide the same amount of lift as a shorter stiff spring