Solid Axle Swap BS Thread

Plasma is awesome,

 

Should have swapped one in when you did your links

 

If I won the lottery then, hell yeah!

 

So I'm seriously thinking about inboarding my springs. What are the con's besides more body roll? I'm only gonna do like 3" per side (the width of the perch).

 

I'd be somewhat concerned about them twisting too much. I suppose you could add JJ's to the shackle hangers. Some stiffer shock valving should help with the body roll.

 

Front or rear? Front you will have to notch the housing for that 60 axle. The reaf shackles will be fun. Other than that you should be right around what a mini truck width is. Why do you want to inboard, tires rubbing too much?

 

Nah just the rear for more travel. I was lifting tires way too much at Gulches this weekend and for some reason my truck feels sketchy as fuck the second a tire comes an inch off the ground. I could carry a tire in the 82 if I needed to and I never felt tipsy at all.

 

Hmmm I would try lowering it first if you can. More droop may not do anything for you since that tires dangling with no weight on it even of its touching the ground. Your making aking me nervous for when I swap mine since I'll have almost the same setup! My truck wheels like a skateboard now as snowy puts it, and that's my fear of destabilizing it when I swap it.

 

I really can't afford to lower it much at my 127" wheelbase. I drug my belly quite a few times in the rock gardens and steeper ledges

 

It feels like that because leaf springs in the front... they fucking suck. I never feel unstable anymore with links... FUCK LEAFS!

 

you can make a stable leaf setup. I wheel with 6 guys with leafs and one with links, and guess whos truck is the most unstable, the guy running links. The guys have gotten their leaf setups nice and stable by lowering their trucks, running limited uptravel and super soft leafs. There's a real good leaf spring tech post on pirate that will help you out, tons of info. Chop it all off and put on links may not be the right answer.

 

I don't feel unstable with my leafs at all. But it's a well massaged setup that is 24.5" frame height on 37's and still 5 inches of up travel. I think a big factor is getting the spring rate correct both front and rear. Sure having massive flex in the front looks cool, but if the back isn't doing anything then it's still going to lift wheels and feel tippy.

Either setup when done well works well and is comfortable, either setup done poorly will perform poorly. Blanket statements one way or the other don't really work.

 

Everyone wheels with someone who has the best setup in the world and works great never any problems... Of course. I ran leafs for 5 years constantly changing shit and trying to figure them out... Never once was I happy with them. Always ran softer Springs with low up travel and ride height. Of course the guys running links suck, probably gay fucking jeeps running 24" links. Going to links is the answer, so much smoother, more tuning, better ride, more stable, better flex, no axle wrap etc. Love it! Should of done it from the start.

I think your shit looks good Jacob... I know your truck is low with minimal up travel. I think you're fine and inboard isn't necessary... Infinite flex isn't the answer.

 

Softer springs with low uptravel? IIRC, your truck was really tall for a truck on leafs. Flat leafs work well because they are more neutral and stable than smiley face lift springs. Shocks make a big difference too because they are ultimately what controls the leafs in any given situation, less rebound dampening makes a rig feel more unstable on sidehills. My old truck was leaf spring front and rear basically the whole time I owned it and had zero issues besides bending one or 2 main leafs. Coilovers can be just as unstable too if you have light rebound dampening and all of your bleed holes open. Maybe what homie is talking about is his butthole is puckering because a tire is off the ground and to him it might feel like he's gonna roll but really he's far from it

 

I ran arched leafs 30" frame height for awhile 8" up travel then I removed a leaf and Springs settled to 27" frame height. A year after that leafs started flattening due to no bumps... I sat at 25" with 3" up travel for almost 2 years. After that new leafs and I was at 29" again with the obvious up travel and 5 months after I took a leaf out and the height settled to 27". After a year it came down to 26" and in my final voyage it stayed there. For 4.5 years I ran 36" perch width and then switched to 31.5" I noticed more body roll but slightly better flex. Also 2 years after swap I switched to 63 Chevys... Helped alot. My rear leafs I love, they work great!

I wouldn't say my truck was always high for a leaf rig, typically 25" frame is the normal. Unless you French everything... But, there's a fine line about being low, out east you need more height.

 

My truck is definitely not low.. 28" frame height. It's not that I'm just a pussy and am getting scared when I lift a tire either. This is my second leaf sprung rig and compared to my 82 the tacoma just does not feel stable when 3 wheeling. In my 82 I could carry tires and not even realize I was. How big of a role would different axle widths play in the tippy feeling? My front is much wider than my rear.

On another note, I think I'm going to move the rear axle 7"-10" forward since I'll have all the spring mounts off anyways.

 

Maybe you feel tippy because you have more flex and in order to lift a tire it takes a lot more.

 

Or 3 including mine

All of which drive to any trailhead anywhere. The second gen mini was an 86 4Runner that was cut up and cab swapped. Has about $4.5k into the rig including the purchase price for both donor trucks

 

That's your problem! You kept changing shit around and using Trail Gear springs didn't help either My old truck had 44044s and I played with shackle lengths numerous times trying to perfect the length, also removed one leaf from them and they were great! Had I put nice shocks in I would have seen no need to do links. But one thing leads to another and I end up linking this truck because well, one must one-up oneself?