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Links vs. Leafs

FarmerMatt

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Down on the Farm
Well it looks like I've got a new project coming up ahead of me & I'm trying to figure out how far I want to take it. Some of you have designed & wheeled different types of linked rear suspensions. Bottom line, was the design work / research envolved & fabrication time worth it for the results? What benefits have you found over the leafs? What side effects have you found with what you've built, good & bad.

Matt
 
my suspension is balanced, predictable, and tunable.

it climbs very well, and doesn't unload on downhills.

I can get WAAAAAYYYY of camber without getting out of control.

yeah, go ahead, bring up rollovers, THAT would be predicatble, and irrelavant.
 
Touchy... touchy. Nice little dodge there, but answer the question. Was it worth it? Here's what I'm getting at. I've never been real happy with any set of leafs I've had in the rear. They either are too stiff, too soft, too long, or lean to one side. I bitch about them, but I've never felt that they were the reason that I couldn't make a ledge or rock garden. Is the difference night & day or is it just marginally better?

Matt
 
Farmer Matt?? As in "Farm Jeep" JP magazine? wow Im star-struck. I wish my 94 XJ was good . . . .
 
Personally I think either can be taken just as far as the other one as far as trail rig. Leaves can be tuned just like coils can but coils and coil overs are more "efficent" then leaves. And if your going to build a buggy I wouldn't even use the unibody, just build a tube frame and use the XJ drivetrain and various sheetmetal. Thats what I'm planning.
 
Weez, I think Matt's got his mind made up & some of us actually LIKE building the "impossible" out of a unibody thank you very much.

I like link rears, but I dont like coils in the rear. IMHO leafs just feel right in the rear. :)

1/4 elliptic is my end of year project. Yeah I know, if I ever get it out of the garage again..... The benefits in axle control alone warrant the link suspension, axle wrap ? what axle wrap?

Is the Green Machine becoming too pretty to take out & beat on?

-jb
 
My tractor is a multipurpose rig. It does just about anything decently. I can cruise with the AC on at 85mph down the freeway. It'll run up & down just about any sand hill I point it at. It'll run all, but the most extreme trails that I want it to. The trouble is that I'm always so stressed out about beating it up on the harder trails that it makes it not so fun anymore. I guess the turning point was when I got to drive FlexyJoes rig on the last day of BOTW. His rig is a 98 that's beat to death. You didn't have to worry about body damage because you couldn't hurt it anymore than than it already was. It was so much fun that I couldn't stand it & than this rig came up rolled with some good stuff already in it. I still need my tractor for camping here locally & everything, but I want a rig to push the evelope a little harder & with less sheet metal to worry about. I don't want to build a tube rig from scratch either. I couldn't imagine how much time it'd take me to construct the fire wall, dash, floor board & on & on. It's a toy & I'm sure it will evolve has the build up goes, but the main plan is very little sheet metal & lots of tube.

Matt
 
FarmerMatt said:
I don't want to build a tube rig from scratch either. I couldn't imagine how much time it'd take me to construct the fire wall, dash, floor board & on & on. It's a toy & I'm sure it will evolve has the build up goes, but the main plan is very little sheet metal & lots of tube.

Matt

sounds like you'd be better off starting with a YJ then, course you should throw the XJ hood and grill on so you can still be cool
 
Well, links always get the "cool" factor. I think that's the only reason I did it :roll:

Departure angles are non existent anymore- big plus
Build adjustability into your link mounts- bigger plus, it's nice to be able to play with the kind of traction and stability you want for the particular trail you're running that day.
Axle wrap non existent- already said but still a big big plus
Fabrication time- big minus, but I like building as much as I like wheelin' so it's no minus for me
Materials expense- definately way more expensive to run linked over leaves- still worth it to me, the high school chicks at the mall totally dig it

You've gotta decide how you'd want to suspend the rear, i.e. coils, 1/4 ellip, coilovers. You know what I chose, mainly did it cuz I was running out of time and didn't want to waste days playing with spring packs. I have yet to see a coil sprung rear xj that works well and is stable. I don't think it's so much the coils fault as it is the suspension geometry.

If you link it up, I highly recommend the james link. I've never driven anything so stable in all my life. It climbs like a mutha too, but that's due to the weight being all up front.

This is probably as buggy as you can get without being a buggy:
1078673318_PA080006.jpg
 
I used to hate leaves because could never get mine to work out right. I'm working on them now, and they are starting to work as I want them to.

I moved my shackle outside of the shackle box so there is no real limit to shackle travel. I put a pretty nice angle to it as well. I also removed the smallest leaf out of my RE 4.5" spring pack. It feels much more balanced now, with the rear working almsot equally with the front.

However, now I have no carrying weight, and the shackles bottom out :). I'm still going to tinker a little more, adding some stock XJ leaves and such, and see if I can get a nice set-up.

I say, grab a set of cheap used lift spring for the new jeep, and then some packs from various trucks from a junkyard, and play around for a while. Almost no aftermarket pack is going to give exactly what you want. You'll probabaly spend under $150 for all of it, and you might find exactly what you're looking for for almost no cost and no work.

Now, if you don't like that, then go for the links. You're only out a little bit of money, and a little time, no big deal. Just my thoughts. _nicko_
 
a properly designed link suspension will always outperform a leaf suspension. it's a plain and simple fact, why do you think every high-end rock buggy and desert truck is running links.

but leafs are definitely cheaper, easier, and can work pretty dang well. that's why I threw leafs up front.

it all comes down to time and money
 
gearwhine said:
I moved my shackle outside of the shackle box so there is no real limit to shackle travel. I put a pretty nice angle to it as well. I also removed the smallest leaf out of my RE 4.5" spring pack. It feels much more balanced now, with the rear working almsot equally with the front.

Got any pics of the shackle moved outside the box? You got my intrest peaked.

AARON
 
OneTon,
"I have yet to see a coil sprung rear xj that works well and is stable." This is my exact worry. I haven't either & I feel like I would trade problems from known issues that I have a handle on with my leafs to knew issues I know nothing of with coils. BTY what is a James link?

Matt
 
MrShoeBoy said:
Got any pics of the shackle moved outside the box? You got my intrest peaked.

AARON

Here's mine from a couple of years ago:

DCP00902.JPG


DCP00903.JPG


CRASH
 
mad maXJ said:
a properly designed link suspension will always outperform a leaf suspension. it's a plain and simple fact, why do you think every high-end rock buggy and desert truck is running links.

Trophy trucks run leaves in tha back of their trucks all the time. Part of the reason the buggies run them is cause they are "cool" but yes the do work better if setup right then leaves but only in comps. For a trail rig either one could be made to preform well. The reason you have comments such as Oneton was making is because poeple are just throwing coilovers on but not really figuiring all the needed varibles out and the end result is a suspension that doesn't preform any better then waht they had.
 
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