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Just got the new rag and there was a writeup on fiberglass springs for a YJ. Just curious if YJ springs would work on the back of an XJ? Those springs seem to flex great. Probably can't afford them anyway, but with the orbit eye bushings, it seems like it would be pretty sweet!
it's not that fg springs are a bad idea. it's just that it's a fairly expensive way to save a couple pounds. if we cared that much about sprung/unsprung weight we'd have a different hobby.
any other of the claimed benefits of fg springs can be done by having custom springs made out of steel. here in western new york we have a couple spring shops to choose from. i would hope that most other reasonably populated places would too.
Have yall read that article. They say the guy went out and hammered on them, using them to slide up on rocks and then back off, slamming them down on a rock when coming off of it. They claim the only problem was the paint chipped off. They also said they flex alot better then regular steel springs
I would think they would look and feel fine after a good bashing on rocks... once twice maybe three or more times. But after a while they would start coming apart. Fibreglass can take a good shock, look at hockey goalie helmets and such, but they don't wear them forever because they get weak after a while. If RE springs are gonna break on some rocks after a good beatin I think fibreglass would too in a much shorter time.
fiberglass and similar composites can be engineered and made every bit as tough as steel springs. the only real benefit over steel is going to be mass. and not very much difference in mass at that. you can get just as much flex from well engineered and made steel leafs, for a geat deel less money.
if the few pounds matters more to you than money then by all means enjoy the fg leaves, but understand that the great performance flexwise is not a virtue of the material but instead of the design.
well i have fiberglass leaves orginal equipment on a chevy astro van, they blow, i am swapping them out for steel and chevy went to steel in 1995 on the astro and safari. Just road work has they fraying and sagging and lost all arch.
I also know a thing about fiberglass ladders as i am on the all the time every day at work. They definately can be damaged, and stresss cracks or wear marks really really effect the integrity of them.
I know not exactly rock crawling but from my perspective for a non race team wheeler, it doesnt make a lick of sense.
i have seen a set of leafs (either alcan or deavers, i forget) that my friend had custom made for his desert runner taco that had amazing arch, but you could stand on them and compress them, they had 17" of travel and they were the flexiest leafs i have EVER seen.
At work we have fg springs in our tractor trailers. We had a problem with them when we first got them 5 years ago. The metal set pins were shering off and letting the axels move. The replacment springs have a fg set pin and with over 400,000 miles on them no problem's at all. We were repacing the steel springs around 300,000 miles.
steel will work harden. the more you bang on a piece of metal the more brittle it gets. fiberglass will chip and wear on rocks, but the material straight through will not be affected nearly as easily as steel, when one side of steel weakens so does the other side. fiberglass remains solid until it is completely broken through
This thread is young enough to bring back. It looks like they run about $200 per spring, which isnt that much more than a RE spring. Does anyone know what the breaking point is on these springs?
MFGs use leaf springs like these to hold grape harvester heads in a free floating stance, and they take the abuse of a 1/2 ton picking head at 400 rpms in a vertical shake, all while scraping debris and stakes. I definately think that fiberglass leaf under a jeep will hold up to the abuse of rock crawling.
The real question is how much will these flex, and how much does it change the ride/jounce while wheeling?
Anyone know a friend with a YJ that is running these?
Nope, but I got a few buds that use them in drag and SCCA 1st gen cameros, and they flog the crap out of them. The biggest beef i would have with a monoleaf polycarbonite or fiberglass spring is the non-adjustability of it. You get what you get!
