Okay are you talking about a TJ or a CJ8? There's a bit of a difference in the wheelbase of the two and thats a lot of the problem. And two were talking leafs in the front and a tracbar, control arm set up in the front or rear of the coils right? Because anything else will behave differently and potentially better

 

Okay are you talking about a TJ or a CJ8? There's a bit of a difference in the wheelbase of the two and thats a lot of the problem. And two were talking leafs in the front and a tracbar, control arm set up in the front or rear of the coils right? Because anything else will behave differently and potentially better

Thats why I didnt hijack the other thread

application is a long wheel base CJ either CJ6 or CJ8

Open slate design I was always under the impression leaf rear and coil front was the way to go but after reading the TJ thread I saw there is some differences in opinion and want to know what the advantages and disadvantages of the 2 set ups could be The link system would need to be kept pretty simple but effective not realy after too much on that as there is heaps of reading more after why would you choose the front or the rear for the leaf's

 

Leafs front, coils rear...

K.I.S.S. method - Leafs up front are predictible and durable (for the most apart), flex well (depending on springs) and fawking simple!(may have wrap issues though, againg depends on a fe wthings) Coils rear combined with a nice 4 link = No axle wrap, great flex, oh and the CDI factor is the best part... :flipoff2:

Thats my .02 like it or not.

 

i say there are too many fawking variables to debate something so broad. Whatever works best for you is the way you should go.

better question is: What can you afford?

 

My TJ was set-up with coils on the front and leafs on the rear. I liked the way it settled down the rear steer effect - this was before all the long-arm set-ups hit the market. I'm now keeping the TJ with rear leafs and changing the front to coilovers.
My buggy will be leaf front and coil (or coilover) rear because I believe it will work the trails much better and let me feel I'm more in control with the front leafs.

Chuck

 

Well, I can't speak to the leafs in front, but my junk does so well that I don't wanna consider it. I'm totally happy with coils in front/leafs in back. It wheels hardcore, and goes 70mph comfortably down the highway.

Dirk

 

I had coils on the front and leafs in back, with short jeep arms on the front.
When I went full width axles I did leafs front and rear. Im overall happy with leafs in front, but the leafs in the rear dont provide the traction I wanted so Im right now doing a rear 4link and keeping the front leafs for now.

The front leafs are easy, but with 14in shocks i have over flexed them, causing short life..limited travel leafs are simple and reliable. For hill climbs the front does not see the weight that the rear does so it needs less control.
Rear axle control is needed for steep water fall type climbs, but in flat land big rocks rear leafs work well.

Most buggies around here have 4link rears, and shackle in back style front leafs.

 

I had coils on the front and leafs in back, with short jeep arms on the front.
When I went full width axles I did leafs front and rear. Im overall happy with leafs in front, but the leafs in the rear dont provide the traction I wanted so Im right now doing a rear 4link and keeping the front leafs for now.

The front leafs are easy, but with 14in shocks i have over flexed them, causing short life..limited travel leafs are simple and reliable. For hill climbs the front does not see the weight that the rear does so it needs less control.
Rear axle control is needed for steep water fall type climbs, but in flat land big rocks rear leafs work well.

Most buggies around here have 4link rears, and shackle in back style front leafs.

What was it about your rear leaf set-up that lacked control? No traction bar? Spring wrap?
Just trying to figure out what you mean.
I'm not trying to get into yet another coil vs leaf debate, but my junk climbs steep stuff very well.
Dirk

 

dirk, can you post exactly what your rear setup includes? What length and width springs are you using, shackle size? number of leafs? ect... Trying to decide what I want to do in the near future.. My only hesitation is my friends have CJs and they dont flex at all. You jack up the bumper and I swear the axle doesnt drop but 2-3 inches...

 

dirk, can you post exactly what your rear setup includes? What length and width springs are you using, shackle size? number of leafs? ect... Trying to decide what I want to do in the near future.. My only hesitation is my friends have CJs and they dont flex at all. You jack up the bumper and I swear the axle doesnt drop but 2-3 inches...

I'm running Old Man Emu XJ leafs (flipped front to back) with an OME JCXL extra leaf. Just an average length shackle. (Have to measure it to say exactly)
I had to limit strap & bumpstop mine to limit the suspension travel- It was too much and would've greatly shortened the spring life if I hadn't.
Shocks are Bilstein 5150's. I think the 12" travel versions in back. My shackles are kicked back a bit at ride height, so there's a slight bias towards droop. I use all of the rear travel routinely. :grinpimp:

 

I like the idea of linked rear/leaf front for a couple of simple reasons:

1. Axle wrap is a much bigger issue in the rear, and allthough a traction bar can mostly eliminate axle wrap a properly setup 4 link wil put the power down much more effectivly.

2. Most rigs are front heavy so having the leafs on the front will do more to control stability.

3. Linking the front end is much more complicated due to steering components and other clearance issues.

 

Havent had it on the trail yet, but just ditched my rear leafs on my CJ 7 for an 4 Link/ Airshock set up. ....

Reasons:

1. I am fricken sick of wheelhop

2. Body roll, I think the out board spring set up on a CJ w/ full size axles will carry the weight of my front end better and allow the back to do its job w/ mega flex/ solid push.

3. This is my 1st link suspension and i only wanted to do one end.

 

dirk, no traction bars or anything? you are SOA right

 

dirk, no traction bars or anything? you are SOA right

I am SOA, so of course, I am running a traction bar.

I went with someone elses advice at first and utilized a MORE traction bar. It was easy to do, since I only had to fab rear axle brackets and the crossmember to mount it to in front.

I was told (in an old traction bar post on pirate) that the front mount of the traction bar should be in line with the front leaf spring mounts, so there would be no bind.
This was wrong. Also, the only way to do that and maintain proper geometry was to go shackle down from the crossmember. The shackle took a beating and bent the crossmember and shackle mount.

My new traction bar goes all the way to my RE belly skid and is mounted with 2 joints. (1 JJ and 1 RE) It's shackle up now, which makes for a smooth transition for rocks to slide on, and the longer bar allows for less bind. Also, running 2 joints eliminates any possibility of maxing out a single joint while flexing.

NE-Roktoy:
I've always heard that coils plant the rear tires better. I'm not sure why that is. My rear suspension isn't stiff or bouncy, and has a good deal more travel than many leaf suspensions I hear about. The traction bar design/leaf combo I'm running seems to plant the tires very well. Again, I've seen a number of coil set-ups that didn't seem to hook up as well as mine. I know there's other factors to consider, such as weight distribution, wheelbase, etc.
Do you think a lack of traction in many leaf set-ups is due to the progressive stiffness of most leafs (and limited travel) as opposed to the more linear compression of coils?
Not trying to be combative here- I'm just not sure I understand this issue of rear coils making more traction. What's the general principle(s) at work that make this true? Somebody school me on this!
It seems like it goes back to each individual suspension being designed efficiently though, whether it's leafs or coils.

 

We have Leafs out back and the stock style coils up front on our TJ's.
Disadvantage in my experiience with rear leafs they tend to hop sometimes and don't soak up the bumps as much as a soft coil sprung rig. On the plus side leafs in the rear are way predictable and they just push you forward without too much fuss.
A good link setup will do the same thing but sometimes they throw a rig to the left or right cus they flex out so much.Overall I'd say a coil F&R is probably the best bet but other factors have to be considered like cost and wear of componets etc...
I'd have to say one of the major factors in converting our TJ's (his and hers) to leafs was it got silly having to deal with maintaning the rear links I just got sick of it.


Good luck

 

IMO:
small brain = leaf springs
big brain = coils

Leaf springs are cool and super easy... not a whole lot of tech in them so you kinda slap them on and go.. coils on the other hand have ALOT more tech and can do more things, however coils do require alot of thought to be done right

 

I've got waggy leafs up front and a 4 link with air shocks in the rear of my YJ. I love this set up. The front is very stable with the leafs and doesn't stress my steering to much. The rear 4 link lays power to the ground much better than the waggy leafs I used to have on there.
My old leafs in the back used to drag everything. With the offset pin, there is a whole lot of spring in front of the tire to catch rocks. The lower links slide a lot easier than leafs and a spring hanger.

 

You are asking a way broad question here, so teh answer is depending of what you want to do with your rig, otherwise there are several threads here about the eternal battle of leafs vs springs.

I have run a few differnet setups including coilover$ and coils are not alwasy the best way to go. leafs are simpler to setup, and more predictable than coils, with way less adjustments. Your wquestions is broad, it depends of whta you want to do with your rig. You can get very close leaf and coil setup flex, so again, your call.

This is my old Yj with Coilovers on. Did great, but the coils on front, even very well though through, and professionally setup made the rig way slinky on the front, feeling like the rig would almost roll sometimes as the weight shifts. For the rear worked great. The new owner ended up chnaging the front back to leafs.,a nd runs way better. I also had a nicely setup Tj with long arm setup, and honestly prefer my current YJ setup leafed all around.


Again, this is a way broad question, like which lft works best for your setup, unless you can say specifically what your suspension goal is. I.e. more rockcrawling, longer wheelbase, more mud, dirt road, more ramping crap, etc.

Gui

 

application would be a CJ6 or bobbed CJ8

Lucky you....
I ran my Scrambler as a factory leaf sprung vehicle thru three lifts and a final tire size of 38.5"
Back in 1992, I'd had it with the wandering, the slop and the harsh ride. (no.....REALLY harsh ride)

I swapped in a 1979 Ford Dana 44, and kept the radius arms and coil towers as well as the Ford Coils. I adapted everything to the Jeep chassis.


I have never been so impressed with the difference in a vehicle.
Gone was the side to side wandering on the highway (you could get the same results from adding a panhard bar to your leafsprung ride)

But the ride!!. The handling. The traction. The stability .(to be fair, the axles were a good 10" wider than the stock D30 and Jeep 20 that I removed.)

I mudded it. I swear it came thru the pits straighter and it kinda "floated" across the mud.
I crawled it. I really didn't lose traction on the very places that lifted a tire in the past.

It was like it was a different truck.
I think you'll be very impressed with the coils. Of course....you will need that 104" wheelbase to actually wheel it. 94" wheel bases are for mall jeeps.

:flipoff2: :flipoff2: