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Class C 4x4 Converstion

Java230 said:
Maybe I need to add more leaves.... Never fucked with leaf springs (as to making DIY packs) but mine rides poopy and has sagged a bit it seems.

44558995601_78654da825_b.jpg
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Leafs are stupid simple to get 90%. The other 10% is trial and error tuning. Thicker is higher rate. The longer the spring is the earlier in the travel range it will matter. The difference in arch between leafs is effectively pre-load between the different spring rates. A thick leaf is a coarse adjustment. A thin leaf is a fine adjustment. Friction between the leaves is like a damper. More leafs is like more discs in your clutch. Not nearly as stupid proof as coils but for packaging they're worth it IMO.
 
And your poor airbag is about to give up the ghost.
 
bdkw1 said:
And your poor airbag is about to give up the ghost.
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That was all wonky dropped out when I was installing the leafs....

Thanks for the explanation. I have no idea what leaves I would add, but I may look into some more thinner ones to get rid of that stupid OE one on the bottom.
 
I know nothing about tuning leaves either but stengel bro.s truck has catalogs you can look through that list the leaves in stock packs by rate and add a lift kits to add capacity listed to same way.
 
instead of stupid lift blocks i weld 1" plate to to the spring perches until i get my desired height
 
rockyota83 said:
instead of stupid lift blocks i weld 1" plate to to the spring perches until i get my desired height
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You Toyota people make the Chevy crowd look like intellectuals. :laughing:

That 1" plate is geometrically equivalent to the same height block and is going to cause all the same axle wrap problems that the lift block would. The only problem that welding plate solves is it makes it harder to spit out a block if your U-bolts are loose. But your U bolts shouldn't be loose in the first place so that doesn't really solve any problems. Maybe it's not the lift blocks that are stupid.
 
The lift block is a solid chunk of 6061, I have drilled it as well so it bolts in with the spring center pin, that is also 1/2", I really don't see it being an issue.
It would be nice to get a custom leaf pack, but that's out of the budget.
 
arse_sidewards said:
You Toyota people make the Chevy crowd look like intellectuals. :laughing:

That 1" plate is geometrically equivalent to the same height block and is going to cause all the same axle wrap problems that the lift block would. The only problem that welding plate solves is it makes it harder to spit out a block if your U-bolts are loose. But your U bolts shouldn't be loose in the first place so that doesn't really solve any problems. Maybe it's not the lift blocks that are stupid.
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the problem is you have no clue what youre talking about
 
Lol. arse_sidewards is a dick, but he's 100% correct. Lift blocks (welded or not, aluminum or not) increase leverage of the axle on the spring and increase the affect of axle wrap. For that matter, a welded spring perch that's 1" off of the surface of the axle housing will tend to wrap springs more than a perch that's 1/2" off the surface of the axle housing.

Source: I'm a toyota guy 😋
 
You just need to make the blocks longer as they get taller to help the spring fight wrapping up. Make them about a foot long and it will solve all your problems:stirthepot:
 
bdkw1 said:
You just need to make the blocks longer as they get taller to help the spring fight wrapping up. Make them about a foot long and it will solve all your problems:stirthepot:
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If that's your goal then trailer leaf springs will accomplish the same thing more cheaply. :flipoff2:
 
arse_sidewards said:
Well enlighten me then. How is welding plate gonna be different than a block of the same dimensions?
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longer perches slightly help reduce spring wrap, pretty simple physics

you should tell ruff stuff to stop with their false advertising
https://www.ruffstuffspecialties.com...hantiwrap.html
https://www.ruffstuffspecialties.com/14PERCH.html
Length is 7.75" to help control axle wrap
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but yea lets keep arguing about it and cluttering up this thread with stupid bullshit :rolleyes:
 
rockyota83 said:
longer perches slightly help reduce spring wrap, pretty simple physics
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They reduce spring wrap by effectively shortening the spring. All that spring that the pad is under isn't gonna be doing springy things. That's a pretty fucking big price to pay to fix a problem that you can fix with some poo pipe, three bushings and a shackle.
 
arse_sidewards said:
They reduce spring wrap by effectively shortening the spring. All that spring that the pad is under isn't gonna be doing springy things. That's a pretty fucking big price to pay to fix a problem that you can fix with some poo pipe, three bushings and a shackle.
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Whoa, whoa, whoa. Don't go fucking up my troll with your common sense.
 
welndmn said:
On the road, took it for a drive and it handles great! It's a little stiffer than stock, but I wanted that too.
I am thinking about adding a rear trac bar as well as a lot of RV people seem to like them
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Looks awesome, we need more pics.
 
Looks great man! congrats on getting it on its feet so quick. Are you going to get any flak for tire stickout up front? I know I have seen some E450 shuttle bus's with flares on front but not sure if they were a factory thing or put on when made into the bus.
 
I drove 250 miles up to Fernely NV for the Nor Cal rock races.
It needs more caster as it did wonder a little bit, but that could also be the new tires.
Anyway, I'll stab some caster bushing in it.
It didn't need 4x4 anywhere there, but the added height really helped, I watch a lot of other RV's bottom out on the washes and going up the hill.

Click image for larger version Name: RV_in_NV.jpg Views: 0 Size: 638.1 KB ID: 153380
 
Just to dumb it down for me. So you went from a reverse-arched E450 to a positive-arched F450 spring, and it didn't give you any grief? That's pretty wild to me. I guess I just assumed that all the mounting perches would be in the wrong place. And did you say that this F450 spring actually rides in a negative arch?

This thing looks 10x manlier than my mighty Minnie Winnie. I'd be figuring something out for front-wheel fender flares, though, since the front wall of the house catches crazy amounts of stuff, anyway.

Oh, and just to be that guy--what fuel economy impact did you see?
 
That is one of the fastest and coolest builds I have seen in a while.

When you are sleeping, can you feel the coach shift whenever anyone moves around? I noticed you don't have leveling jacks, and they probably wouldn't work for you since you wanted more ground clearance, not less, but they sure take away all the movement while parked.
 
OHV Wildcat said:
Just to dumb it down for me. So you went from a reverse-arched E450 to a positive-arched F450 spring, and it didn't give you any grief? That's pretty wild to me. I guess I just assumed that all the mounting perches would be in the wrong place. And did you say that this F450 spring actually rides in a negative arch?

This thing looks 10x manlier than my mighty Minnie Winnie. I'd be figuring something out for front-wheel fender flares, though, since the front wall of the house catches crazy amounts of stuff, anyway.

Oh, and just to be that guy--what fuel economy impact did you see?
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No, I used 3 leaf's from around the middle of the F450 pack, sticking them in the Van pack, that really only got me 1" of lift.
It did take the negative arch (factory) to a little more neutral flat spring.
It does need something for the front flare, That little running board has little built in mud flap, but yes the "House" part gets covered normally.

Fuel is hard to tell, I've not done anything consistent enough to see if there was a difference.
When I drove from CA to WA, stock, it got 8-10, when I towed a jeep up to the hills, it got 8.5.
When I went to Reno (a lot of up hill), it got 8. something there too
 
BDK said:
That is one of the fastest and coolest builds I have seen in a while.

When you are sleeping, can you feel the coach shift whenever anyone moves around? I noticed you don't have leveling jacks, and they probably wouldn't work for you since you wanted more ground clearance, not less, but they sure take away all the movement while parked.
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Thanks, it's been years in the making and I prepped a lot of parts before I started.
You can feel it move. Before this I had a cabover camper, that moved a lot more than these do. It's just 2 of us in there, so it's really not that bad.
When I was buying the motorhome I did not want leveling jacks, well automatic jacks that all these seem to come with. Those all hang down really far and seem to suffer a lot of reliability issues.
I am going to add some manual stablaizing jacks, something that just slides into the side of the receiver hitch on the back, that way I can remove them. I am hoping to only need some in the back
 
welndmn said:
I am going to add some manual stablaizing jacks, something that just slides into the side of the receiver hitch on the back, that way I can remove them. I am hoping to only need some in the back
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Air suspension and cribbing.
 
A few small boring updates.
I added a 2 degree caster bushing in the ball joint and it was exactly what I needed, it took the little bit of wondering out of it.
If I did it again, I'd redrill the lower radius arm bolt to get more caster out of it.

The shifter boot finally came in, it's just a normal Lokar boot with trim ring, I ended up using the newer SuperDuty shifter as well.

shifter.jpg


Some of the RV people talked me into this steering stablizer, I guess they are a big deal for RV's.
It was $140.
The coil is captured on both ends, so really it's just a REALLY stiff stabilizer.
I didn't have death wobble before it, so it was not a "fix" for that, what it did is this seemed to really help me from being blown over on high wind areas or when other cars are passing.
I have no idea how it works or why it works, but I did notice when a semi passes me now, I'm not forced into the other lane.

steering_Stbz.jpg
 
welndmn said:
A few small boring updates.
I added a 2 degree caster bushing in the ball joint and it was exactly what I needed, it took the little bit of wondering out of it.
If I did it again, I'd redrill the lower radius arm bolt to get more caster out of it.

The shifter boot finally came in, it's just a normal Lokar boot with trim ring, I ended up using the newer SuperDuty shifter as well.



Some of the RV people talked me into this steering stablizer, I guess they are a big deal for RV's.
It was $140.
The coil is captured on both ends, so really it's just a REALLY stiff stabilizer.
I didn't have death wobble before it, so it was not a "fix" for that, what it did is this seemed to really help me from being blown over on high wind areas or when other cars are passing.
I have no idea how it works or why it works, but I did notice when a semi passes me now, I'm not forced into the other lane.

Click to expand...

Interesting stabilizer. When the steering is centered, is the spring relaxed? Does it provide compression in one direction and tension in the other? Or is it always in compression?
 
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