question about assembling leaf packs for 1/4 elips.....

[Beezil]

question:

in talking with other naxja-people about swingin' a quarter-elip for the xj, it seems to be mentioned how nice it would be to find some springs that are close to 36" in length from eye to center pin.........

earlier in the day, Tim "beef flavor" Flowers drove up from "the ham" with a bunch of donor springs from various vehicles.....
none of the springs were longer than 30" from eye to center pin, however, one of the packs had a spring that had a long flat area around the center pin. Immediately I was thinking this would be the pack to build on.......and it had me thinking.....

Why do I need to be concerned were the existing center pin is? can't I just drill new holes where I want the mounting point to be?

does the unused hole become a problem in the pack?
what if just the main leaf has an unused hole "downstream" and the rest do not?

Because, it looks like I have nice pack to build with, I could have a main leaf near 36-38" from eye to a NEW SET of holes.....

[Goatman]

Later model Chevy 1/2 ton springs are 64" long. Since one side is always longer than the other, odds are good that you would have one close to 36".

I don't know what to think about the old center hole being down the spring a ways. It seems it could be more critical in the main leaf, at least in the other leaves they would be sandwiched between two leaves. Looks like a judgement call to me, Beez, and you're the one looking at how it would be set up. With the four link

Why don't you just weld up the hole?;) :eek:

[Beezil]

yeah, I can't tell if having a hole in the spring somewhere would be a big deal......

lets you use shorter springs (measured eye-to-eye) but you actually use say, 60-percent of it.....

[C-ROK]

No need to worry about where the existing center pin hole is at all. Mine are secured with two bolts and only about half hit the existing center hole with one of the holes.
I used the same method to get a longer "half" of a spring.

Oh and BTW.... Plan on spending a small fortune on drill bits; masonry work ok, so do cobalt, so do titanium. I think I went through around $70 in bits.

An end mill would make short work of those holes too if you have access to one.

[Beezil]

good tip, I'll just plunge holes with an endmill.......

[4ward]

That's gonna be one expensive endmill. Better buy a cobalt one for the lovely characteristics of spring steel and make sure that it has the proper design for plunging.

[Beezil]

I think YOU need the proper design for plunging.


see? you no longer need to whine about finding the right leaf length OneRub.....its all a matter of where you cut!

I think I'm gonna use those BOR's in spite of you.....

[4ward]

I don't think there will be any spite heading in my direction. It'll be your own noobesque mistake.

What's the eye to pin length on them? Don't they also have a military wrap.

[Beezil]

What's the eye to pin length on them?


THE WHOLE POINT OF THIS THREAD was to investigate wether or not this question really mattered......

my answer is, "should i care"?

the main leaf is around 56" or so, meaning, there's plenty of spring to use....

i'll drill my own bolt holes.

[4ward]

Alright, here's my theory on the whole " I wanna drill new holes" discussion. Yes it can be done, how far down the pack do you want to go? I think that going more than 4-5" past the original center is starting to ask for peculiarities when putting in your springs. If you go much past that, your springs are going to run in an up and down arc. I don't think this is going to be ideal. I prefer to have a constant arc, rather than an arc- a flat- then an arc heading in the opposite direction. In my head this doesn't make for good spring use.

What's your take on this or have you thought about it? I hope I explained my position correctly and coherently enough. I kinda poisoned myself last night with the plasma, head hasn't been working too well today.

[Beezil]

yeah, i know whatchoo talking about.....

I want to have 30-32" of pure leaf, not counting the "meat" I need that is sandwhiched in my bracket.....I was thinking about 6-8" worth of leaf in the sandwhich, so that would be a leaf that is 36-40" long all told.......

and I'm trying not to care where the existing hole is.

[Flowers]

Turn to Jesus. He will show you the way.

[zjmikey]

Have you checked out the new 1/4 ellips and frame brackets from RE?..

Iknow you want to fab it yourself, but their new stuff is pretty cool..

[FarmerMatt]

This may be a stupid question, but I've never understood why someone would want to go with a 1/4 elip spring. You're going to have to design the 4 or 3 link anyway so why not pass go & collect the coilovers now. I realize that the intitial expense is greater than building a spring with junk yard leafs, but you'll probably end up with coilovers eventually anyway. If you figure the time it will take to build the springs & brackets you probably could pay for the coils many times over. As for adjustibility in spring rates & cost, the springs for coils are relatively cheap & availible everywhere. Just curious in why you're leaning this direction.

Matt

[ashmanjeepxj]

yea just drill the hole, dont worry about it..

DONT weld up the hole, I wouldent want all that heat on the spring, could change the "spring" in the metal.

My cheep home depo drill bit (skill brand) drillied the main leaf on a toyota pack. Even if it can't drill wood now, it worked...:D

I tried to drill my pittman arm with a GOOD (by my standards) $32 bit, I got like 1/8in and smoked the bit. I have a masonry bit I need to try next..

1/4elips are suposed to be cheep so buying pricy bits kinda sucks...

The though on the chevy leafs, those would work, but they might be too soft as a 1/4elip, it all depends on if you mount them out board of the frame or not. Then Id say do it.

[4ward]

Let's see, my set of junkyard leaves= $60
I want some decent shocks but they are on national backorder so I'm gonna have to make the step up one notch probably, they should be in the $200/ pr. range.

ONE coilover shock is $240ish, coil kit is $50, dual coils $200.

So, for $500 per side or $160 per side which way would you go? Apparently the farm industry must be doing well these days to think that $300 +(per side) is just a drop in the bucket. Besides, wait till you see the untold millions he's dumped into this thing just to step up to the plate.