I have 4 inch Allpro spings on my 87 toyota pickup and i would like to get more articulation out of them.........any ideas?

 

Bumpstops too low..?

Shocks too stiff..?
Shocks too short...?

 

No, the bump stops are good....they rarely hit.
It might be the shocks though, they might be too long?

What about taking a few leaves out? Would that help?

 

Might try some simple ramps and see if you can find out what is hanging up the suspension:
- http://www.4crawler.com/4x4/CheapTri...l#Applications

 

add a set of orbit eyes front and rear that should do it

 

no

This is a VERY common problem with allpros and light assed pickups, either add weight or remove leafs.

BTW if your bumpstops hit, your shocks arent too long.

 

TAke the shocks off and measure your travel, place the proper length shocks accordingly you will have to buy or build shock hoops and mounts

 

the above are good solutions but down the road your limited with leaf springs.
Long arms and coils. That will fix ya. Check out http://www.trail-gear.com/vbulletin/...ead.php?t=6545 3 link front that might make you think about ditching leaf's.

 

I dont agree with 934rnr - leaves will flex as much or more as you want - they will not be the limit in your quest for articulation when done properly.

The big advantage with links is the control of the axle, and never having to worry about axle wrap, wheel hop, etc.

 

Yeah leaves will flex good.. heres my buddy rob, he's running a basic TG setup with creeper joints in the rear


I dont know why people hunt for so much flex, locked front and rear will get you anywhere and having flex like that ^^ will keep you stable in almost any situation unless your a hardcore rock crawler on a 4 link setup you wont need more than that

 

i agree with tc, although a good 4link suspension will outflex a good spring setup. will it not?

i agree with 4rnr also. before i mounted my tool box and my HD rear bumper my allpro's didn't flex all that great(to stiff). but with the added weight they work awesome.

edit.. i agree with al too! and as a bonus leaves are easier to setup

 

Not necessarily - all depends on setup, spring rate, spring length, etc.

 

i believe you. its just that in my head, i cant picture a leave setup flexing like a linked setup

shows what i know

 

TC's right... a spring is a spring no mater what shape it's in and it has a rate.

Problem with most leaf set-up's is that they have to heavy a set of leaf-packs in order to still be usable at highway speeds without swaying out of control, hauling loads and botoming out on everything.

That's the only issue I have with my leaves, they have to be heacy to haul the kind of loads I haul on teh way out to rafting trips. They flex pretty good considering they hold up my heavy rear shell, Marlin Bumper, tools and other junk and still don't sag... but in your lighter P/U there's not enough down force to force the spring to flex.

Imagine puting a 4-link on some unbelivably stiff coils, for sake of argument, let's say 1,000,000 lbs/in... now would that 4 link flex all that well??? No, same thing as puting heavy, leaf-packs with un-needed leafs under your truck. BUT, if you intend to use your truck as, well, a TRUCK, meaning to haul things, you'll want to find a good balance of flex to load capacity because it's a massive balancing act...

Or you could get good at pulling to overload and other leafs real quick

Cheers

Dave

 

i know about spring rate

my questioning is not about the springs themselves or the rate for that matter, but how the springs are mounted. ie coils springs just compress and extend, where as leaves have to do that plus twist and get bound up in a stressful manner becouse of how the leaves are mounted. i also figured the geometry of a linked setup provided more articulation. plus the added twist benefit of hiem joints vs bushings.

i have to question people, thats how i learn things

 

Ah, I see, I got lost in the general conversation of the thread... sorry mate.

Well, you're right, leafs have a larger job then coils, and from what I' ve seen the Orbital spring eyes are a great idea to get more "twist" as someone else said, but simply taking a leaf out of your springs should soften up the pack just a little and maybe you'll be lucky and be right there flex/sp[ring-rate wise eh. Sometimes it's just that LITTLE bit you need to get the suspension cycling and get the weight in the right place etc.

For MY type of wheelign and typical use of my 4Runner, I like leafs and will most likely run a leaf front set-up when/if I SAS the thing. I have thrashed on leaf sprung and coil sprung rig out in the bush both in Australia and here in Oregon and whiule the coiler rigs ride smooth, I've seen more failures of TRE's, link mount points etc that have led to bad days on the trail and in general just not getting home at night. Being more into the Expedition aspect of my 4wd, I like leafs because they simplify the suspension system IMO and that's a good thing. an on-board welder and a few pieces of scrap metal and you can get home on a messed up leaf spring(if you even need that...)...little more complicated if you total you links and assosciated parts (you'll need AT LEAST a welder)...

So after all that balh blah blah... just take a leaf and see what happens

Cheers

Dave

 

Yes, the torque on leaves can result in binding, but it really only matters at pretty extreme amounts of articulation and Orbiteyes, Bajabushings, or Creeper Joints will greatly reduce that.