C9 - When I got the rear suspension measurements from you here and here , I failed to ask how many leaves you had in the 40 rear spring. My other question is about rear suspension travel. I am mocking up ride height and it looks like I will end up with about 2" of suspension travel. This is on the rear of a 32 p/u. Is that enough? BTW, that 2" includes a 1-1/2" C-notch in the frame... Neal...inCA
I like to give it a lot more travel than that. If the axle bottoms out against the frame, that is one thing. But make absolutly sure you give it enough travel in droop. If you dont you could be building a nasty handeling bastard of a car that will come around on you so hard it will make your neck hurt... ( I've been in one that had that, and yes, I did crash... )
Nealin, I have 2" and its not enough,on a hard bump it will hit.I'm going to c notch the frame and work to get 4". I drove it with a stiffer spring and had no hitting problems, but it would launch itself on a good bump.To get the ride right I had to fine tune the spring and that caused it to bump.I think I could get buy with 3" but,I'm trying for 4".--TV PS mine is a PU
Hmmm. I guess I need to rethink this. I hate to redo work, but stance is important, so maybe I need a bigger kick-up in the frame. C9 you out there? I tried to count the leaves in the pics, but my eyes aren't that good. Anybody else? Thoughts/ideas? Neal
TVs on the right track. I got 3" now but I never haul anything. 4" would be better. My truck is probably a little heavier than the '32.
If you had 2" clearance between the axle and a tapered rubber bumper,you might be OK. 2" steel to steel,not enough unless your springs are way too stiff.And that would crate other problems.
Neal, there are seven leaves in the 31's rear spring as you see it in the pic. That includes the SoCal main leaf. If I remember right, the missing springs - besides the original main - are the original 2nd and the two top short ones. It's possible there are three of the short top springs missing. Right now, the car is unable to be accessed for a count. There is about 2" travel to bottom-out in my 32. The axle bottoms onto a re-pro 32 rubber bump stop which would make a good bump stop for any fairly low car. The rubber piece is by Drake and about a 1/2" thick. It works well. The 32 really would be better with 3" of travel, but it does ok as it is. I've mentioned it many times before, but I'm sorry I didn't notch the front frame and C the rear in the 32. The thinking at the time was that a lot of these cars were built in the past without notching and C'ing. The 32 has coilovers and you run into a total travel limit problem with them. As the 32 is now, the coilover is just about out of travel when the axle is on the bump stop and the bump stop rubber compressed to about half thickness. In other words, once the coilover is loaded statically there's roughly 2 1/4" travel left. And as nice as coilovers are, those are my last set. The transverse spring has a lot of advantages as far as tuning for load, height and ride. Not to mention lots of travel available. You definitely do want a bump stop on your frame. The 32 style will fit into an elongated C, but the C I have on the 31 is too short and round for the 32 style bumpstop. That's the reason for the Energy Suspension poly - height adjustable - bumpstop on the 31. Far as the 31 goes, the body/frame rear is coming up an inch or so. The way it sits now, there's about 2" travel and the tires are way up in the fenders. Cool for the lakes, but like Doc J pointed out, having the tire fit in the half circle described by the bobbed rear fender would look better. That's probably his artistic eye that sees the conflict with what should perhaps be concentric circles, but he is right. I mean ... he is the Doctor. Right?
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