Lowest Leaf Sprung Wrangler

DutchVDub said:

A lot of truth there, and a badass looking rig for sure. Leafsprings can flex though, I use up every bit of the 12" travel my shocks have.

One thing I like about leafsprings though is that you are always on your springs. No worries of coils dropping out etc. No need for limit straps, almost no need for bump stops, built in progressive rating, and simple. My neighbor has schooled many a linked rig with his SOA YJ. He knows how to work it too, so thats a lot of it.

Click to expand...

Thanks!

Leaf springs can and do flex, but they flex way differently. The weight of a tire is usually enough to pull down a coil spring axle, but you really need to add the weight of the rig to get a leaf spring suspension to flex.

Lets say you are going up a steep hill, and you are sitting almost on your rear bumper, so all the weight is back. If there is a hole under one of the front tires, it will probably not fell into it, it will continue to have the wheel lifted, because all of the weight is on the rear axle. The rig will continue climbing and "carry" the wheel over it, like my Jeep did in golden crack. Just not enough force on the front suspension to let it flex.

No problem with this, and it is still stable, it just looks a little funny. A coil spring jeep would drop the tire in the hole, no problems.

Here is a friend of mine going through the same crack with a nicely put together long arm link suspension.

Ian crossing Golden Crack - Moab, UT - YouTube

You can see that the axles articulate much more than the leaf sprung jeep because the weight of the tires is pulling them down much more than they do on a leaf spring vehicle.

Both Jeeps might ramp the same, or have nearly the same numbers if you pick up a wheel with a fork lift, but the real world application of said articulation is much, much different.

I spent a lot of time spotting a leaf spring stock class rig and a linked unlimited rig. If you put both on the same obstacle, they would both get through just fine... but look completely different doing it.