Quarter Elliptical suspension

Ok so what is it, how does it work, and does anyone have it on ther XJ? So does it offer better flex and articulation? From what ive seen online it looks like it would unload like the revolver shackles on a steep descent.

One of the guys in the Club had it on his XJ.
Flexed like crazy.

He didn't like the handling and he finally gave up on breaking u-joints every few trips and changed it back.

Yeah so crazy flex, trail only use huh?

Pretty much. He wouldn't drive it on the street anymore.

Let's put it this way, he once ended up in a position where the backend was not supported except by the bumper. The axle wrapped under the vehicle up to the front of the wheel well. I was afraid it was broke bad, then we put it back on all 4s and it was right as rain.

Personally, I think it just needed some flavor of limiting device.

The rear eliptical was a single leaf supported by a frame that was bolted in the trunk. Hard to show without a pix, and I don't have a pix of it

I'm building a quarter elliptic setup for my MJ right now. It is basically a set of leaf springs cut in half with the center bolt portion attached to the frame and the end of the main leaf attached to the axle via shackles. The spring is mounted upside down from a normal leaf spring. Bigwoody had this setup on his MJ and Beezil had it on his XJ buggy both previously on here. A search should turn up som results. The mount that atttaches to the frame can be solid or hinged. A solid mount doesn't droop like a hinged mount does. The axle needs to be located by something...usually links like a triangulated four link. The springs only support the weight. The links locate and control the rear axle. There have been a few folks that have run a front quarter elliptic as well. My plan for the frame mount is to put the spring pack into a box that is welded to a Rubicon Express spherical joint that will be bolted to the frame. A short link with heim joints will then run from the top of the box to the back of the cab (cage). This link will adjust ride height in the rear and keep the spring pack from drooping crazily. The RE joints will allow the spring packs to rotate as one side is stuffed and the other side is drooped as well as rotate the spring pack down or up as the link on top is adjusted. I saw pics of a buggy with this system once and liked it, so I plan to use it. The spring will be attached to the axle with stock rubber spring bushings and stock MJ shackles with rubber bushings. The rubber bushings should only see small rotation forward and back as the shackle moves and shouldn't bind or wear prematurely as they do when the spring has to twist longitudinally such as in a standard xj. Jeff

Zuki-Ron said:

Pretty much. He wouldn't drive it on the street anymore.

Let's put it this way, he once ended up in a position where the backend was not supported except by the bumper. The axle wrapped under the vehicle up to the front of the wheel well. I was afraid it was broke bad, then we put it back on all 4s and it was right as rain.

Personally, I think it just needed some flavor of limiting device.

The rear eliptical was a single leaf supported by a frame that was bolted in the trunk. Hard to show without a pix, and I don't have a pix of it

Click to expand...

Ron, that sounds like a 3/4 elliptic. I ran a home made version of this once too and although I don't remember super droop issues, it never worked very well and did act like the revolver shackles. The 3/4 elliptic is where the rear of the spring attaches to another piece of spring (single leaf attaching to the full pack with shackles) that is attached to the frame either by a hinge or bolted. As your full leaf pack gets to it's full droop, the whole thing can then pull away from the frame as the buggy leaf pulls away. It turns out in my opinion that this system doesn't really work all that well in real life situations. Looks good on the ramp though. Jeff

I ran one on my YJ for a while in the front. Worked really well for a few runs them id break something, usually a u-joint but twice I had shackels bend and bind up causing the front axel to twist and damage steering componets. flexed really well even to the point where I felt uncomfortable because it didnt feel stable. Ive since went with a more traditional setup and havent broken anything and still get damn decent flex for having leafsprings

There was a Class 3 XJ (preJeepspeed) that ran a 1/4 elliptical suspension that was featured in one of the 4wd mags I wish I would have kept that magazine.

GO ON........ anyone have pics i am interested in what this looks like