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Coil Angle / Bow

notamos

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Fort Collins, CO
I'm running Currie 9132 TJ coils up front. I'm getting about 5 or 5.5" of lift out of these I believe (haven't measured recently).

I recently installed long arms (Synergy) and am adjusting the front end. The problem I'm having is the passenger side coil is bowing - enough that the coil is hitting the swaybar links.

Thoughts on this?

I have the lower arms *almost* as short as they will go currently. I have the axles parallel, toe set, and pinion is about 2.5 lower than the driveshaft at this point.

How would you approach this? I'm thinking it might be because of the coil retaining "slot" on the spring perch? Try swapping the coils side-to-side?

Passenger Side (disregard the UCA that isn't connected, the other side is:
passenger_side.jpg


Driver Side:
driver_side.jpg
 
Extend/lengthen the sway bar links to raise the ends of the sway bar just enough to clear the springs. Similar to what your pictures show, just not so much.
 
I tried that and it STILL hit on compression. I think when the spring compresses it is actually bowing out further toward the swaybar instead of compressing the spring down.
 
you can either cut and rotate the coil bucket or lose some pinion angle.

the passenger and drivers coil buckets are not oriented the same on the axle. unfortunately that lends the passenger side coil to bow, especially with lighter spring coils like the currie coils (I run the same)
 
you can either cut and rotate the coil bucket or lose some pinion angle.

the passenger and drivers coil buckets are not oriented the same on the axle. unfortunately that lends the passenger side coil to bow, especially with lighter spring coils like the currie coils (I run the same)

F'n awesome. Thx for that!
 
I actually improved this when I went to the synergy longarms, because the upper link is shorter than the lowers causing a little bit of pinion dive on which helps keep the coil straighter.
 
I cured the spring bow by making angled spacers, out of plastic cutting board, and installing them at the bottom of each spring and, once adjusted, bolted to the spring buckets.
 
Got any pics or details? How are you retaining your coils (or not).

No photos but there isn't much to see.
The spacers are 3' diameter, 1/2" thick plastic, ground on a belt sander to an angle.
The angled spacers are the same type of spacer used to adjust the bumpstop limits, just cut at an angle.
The hole in the center, left from from the hole saw, is used to bolt the spacer in position, once adjusted to the least amount of spring bow.

The stock spring clips work fine
 
the bowing of the coil is caused by the arch that the axle travels when the suspension cycles. With the addition of the longer coils, you have moved the axle approx 5.5" further away from the upper coil contact point, so the axle has rotated on the arch and the lower coil mounting point is now tilted forward slightly, resulting in coil bow.

Having rotated my knuckles to correct caster, I had the same bowing issue with RE 5.5 coils, so I made a pattern that matched the radius of the coil pocket on the spring perch and then transferred it to some 1/8" steel strap. I then trimmed this to fit and welded it to the perch, providing a level mounting surface for the coil and thus, correcting the bow.
 
Just the front of the coil seat, if you did the whole area then this would defeat the purpose. Let me see if I can find pics of this mod.
 
I may have missed it but perhaps if you assembled the suspension without the spring you may be able view and quantify the issue at hand which is in my estimation, a geometry problem. getting the bump stop to land in the middle of the spring pad at full compression in a good place to start if you want the spring to be straight.
 
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