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Anyone running spring under on a "hardcore" rig?

YotaAtieToo said:
I've done 2 FJ80 fronts with leafs. First one I set with toyota pin spacing and was a huge pain. Second one I did Chevy 60 pin spacing and was a little easier, then when I went to a 60 it bolted in.
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I do not plan on using the factory 29” spring spacing.
 
So what are some good leafs for using spua?

I liked my bds YJ leafs, ran them spoa in the front of my 4runner. I'm sure you could get a higher lift version and run spua with them. Mil wrap on both ends.

Aftermarket Toyota springs seem to be good for the money as well. That's what in the rear of the rig I'm building now. I'm thinking about using the front version in the samurai with a few leafs removed.

I'm a fan of leafs, but I've always had mostly bad luck with junk yard springs, and most of the donors are getting older and older. I prefer a leaf that was built for wheelin in mind. I also like something with decent arch, that isn't stiff.

Old man emu has a great reputation also.

Any others? Besides obvious deaver/Alcan custom stuff.
 
I would be tempted to try Rubicon Express 2.5. It’s the same as their spring over leaves without the reversed spring eyes. At least it was originally.

assuming those are tall enough. 🤷‍♂️
 
YotaAtieToo said:
So what are some good leafs for using spua?

I liked my bds YJ leafs, ran them spoa in the front of my 4runner. I'm sure you could get a higher lift version and run spua with them. Mil wrap on both ends.

Aftermarket Toyota springs seem to be good for the money as well. That's what in the rear of the rig I'm building now. I'm thinking about using the front version in the samurai with a few leafs removed.

I'm a fan of leafs, but I've always had mostly bad luck with junk yard springs, and most of the donors are getting older and older. I prefer a leaf that was built for wheelin in mind. I also like something with decent arch, that isn't stiff.

Old man emu has a great reputation also.

Any others? Besides obvious deaver/Alcan custom stuff.
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I’ll be running a set of OME 2.5” lift rears up front with a set of 6” TG leaves in the back.
 
I made a move on my Samurai to Isuzu rear leafs, SPUA. They ride nice, have a ton of arch to them. Close to the same length as Toyota rear springs, offset center pin, but more arch.
 
My experience is that SUA and a good anti-wrap bar work in the rear up to about 36" tires. After that anti-squat takes over and you will hop on steep climbs no matter what. I am currently running 43's with a linked rear and SUA up front. Very pleased.
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One of the challenges I ran into is that kingpin Dana 60's are set up for SOA. I fabbed a perch that is welded to the tube, not the cast, and extends under the center section.
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I started with Holbrook Long Leaf springs which are 10" longer inboard than the stockers and provided like 2-1/2" of lift. The additional length helps flex and moves the axle up on the arch so you get plenty of caster, which equals good on-road manners. You do want the front section as short as possible to minimize approach angle. There are times when they get buried in the mud...

During this last build I moved the mounting points up and switched from a Dana 44 to a Dana 60 (which moved the perches down) so I needed something with more arch. Deaver helped me out with these.
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I am using these cute little orbit eyes. They don't really help flex, but they do help the springs hold up better by greatly reducing the amount of twist in the spring when flexed.
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I frenched the spring mount into the frame so I don't get hung up on rocks.
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Damnit, now you have me thinking about using the leafs I have in the front and the links in the rear :flipoff2:​​​​​​

I even have an artec truss I can use in the rear...... :laughing:
 
It's mocked up with 42s, which is what I'd like to run.

I'm going to just run with it as is. I'm not going to be constantly climbing shit with it anyway.
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Since we're talking leaf springs.

The rear leafs are at kind of a steep angle. Ie: the front eye is much lower than the rear eye. Just worked out that way with how the frame is. I'm trying not to overthink this build, but at the same time I don't want it to work like shit.

Should I try to raise the front eye and lower the shackle hanger? Or maybe this could help with climbing? I'm trying to think of what negative characteristics it could have, but I'm not coming up with anything.
 
YotaAtieToo said:
Since we're talking leaf springs.

The rear leafs are at kind of a steep angle. Ie: the front eye is much lower than the rear eye. Just worked out that way with how the frame is. I'm trying not to overthink this build, but at the same time I don't want it to work like shit.

Should I try to raise the front eye and lower the shackle hanger? Or maybe this could help with climbing? I'm trying to think of what negative characteristics it could have, but I'm not coming up with anything.
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The only downside is catching rocks on the spring hanger. I believe the advantage is lower anti-squat, which will help with climbing and hopping. My understanding is you can approximate the anti-squat by drawing a line from the tire's contact patch through the spring eye. The height where this line intersects a vertical line from the front axle divided by the height of your COG is your anti-squat. It will always be high for leaf spring suspension.
 
Kreep said:
The only downside is catching rocks on the spring hanger. I believe the advantage is lower anti-squat, which will help with climbing and hopping. My understanding is you can approximate the anti-squat by drawing a line from the tire's contact patch through the spring eye. The height where this line intersects a vertical line from the front axle divided by the height of your COG is your anti-squat. It will always be high for leaf spring suspension.
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It's a little bit of a rock catcher, but not too bad. My old 4runner had frenched hangers. But if I had sprung it under it would have literally been lower than stock.

The frame on this suzuki is super flat all the way to about the wheel well then makes a 90* up. So frenching it in would require modifying like 14" of frame, not just a neat little pocket for the eye :laughing:
 
Isn't Clamply sprung under, at least in the rear?
 
This thread makes me want to go spua on the 4runner and tub it so the tires still fit.
 
I'm going sprung under on my latest project mainly due to height. I'm going ~2-3" of lift to fit 35" tires vs 5-6" I used on similar rig for 35". I'll be using the Ruff Stuff spring under plates that are shown... I'll also be using the RuffStuff spring under perches(super short) I'll be using 99 Tahoe rear spring perches(54") I expect that I will need to have a traction bar because of how soft they are.

In my experience, spring perch plays a very large role in axle wrap assuming same springs. My old FJ40 was sprung over using stock springs and had virtually zero axle wrap... I attribute this to the ~10" long spring perches it used. Others with similar setup had loads of axle wrap because they used super short ~4" spring perches(ie Dodge perches)
 
Lil'John said:
I'm going sprung under on my latest project mainly due to height. I'm going ~2-3" of lift to fit 35" tires vs 5-6" I used on similar rig for 35". I'll be using the Ruff Stuff spring under plates that are shown... I'll also be using the RuffStuff spring under perches(super short) I'll be using 99 Tahoe rear spring perches(54") I expect that I will need to have a traction bar because of how soft they are.

In my experience, spring perch plays a very large role in axle wrap assuming same springs. My old FJ40 was sprung over using stock springs and had virtually zero axle wrap... I attribute this to the ~10" long spring perches it used. Others with similar setup had loads of axle wrap because they used super short ~4" spring perches(ie Dodge perches)
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I think so too, the long spring perches seem to help.
 
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