Leaf spring ride quality

rockcity

rockcity

everyday is a chance to get better
Joined
Apr 10, 2005
Location
Greenville, NC
As I'm planning on Land Rover build, I'm gathering parts, etc. for it.

One part that I'm not too familiar with are leaf springs. Done right, they can give a great ride quality. Done wrong, they wobble, have bad ride quality, and sag over time...

My goal is to find a good quality leaf spring that will yield the best ride quality.

Vehicle: 1967 Land Rover series IIa, 102" wheelbase.
I'm putting in a LM7/700r4/D300 with D44 axles. so, it will be somewhat modern and I want a somewhat modern ride.

The current springs are really short and stiff and I bet have a poor ride quality. they need to be gone through at the very least but while I'm making upgrades and outboarding the springs, might as well do it with the right springs.

I'm looking for a set of leaf springs that has a good ride quality to them, easy to find, and offer the support for the vehicle.

I'm not looking for any major lift springs, just factory springs.

What would everyone suggest and why? I've been considering either Toyota springs for the rear and YJ springs up front, but mostly because of availability and reasonable ride quality.

thoughts?
 
i had a yj for 4 months and bent 3 sets of front springs from axle wrap.

sprung over on 33s
seemed like a very weak spring

the rover will weight more and put out more torque to axle.

four link or custom made front springs will be best bet imo.

rode like a turd with 46mm bilsteins offroad
rode like a caddy on pavent
 
If you're up for spending a little money, Alcan spring will make you an awesome set of leaf springs. They're tailored to the weight over the axle and how you'll be using the rig. I love the ones I have in the front of my Silverado and they flex very, very well.
 
I'm already into the Land Rover for more than I wanted, so I'm going to try to use a donor vehicle(s) for the springs right now.

The intended use of the Land Rover will be 75% pavement, 25% very VERY light trail use (mostly sand at the beach and gravel roads) as it is mostly intended to be a fun toy vehicle for the kids to introduce them to camping and off roading.


Still leaning towards the YJ/Toyota spring combo unless anyone else has any other thoughts on springs
 
Hi, I understand that you are looking for donor springs. If you come across some made by "Betts" I would recommend them. I have them on my Toyota from a suspension lift I bought 4 years ago from Marlin Crawler and I am very happy with them. I have run them hard with zero issues and no sag. The ride quality is very stable on the pavement especially for a vehicle built for mostly off road use. Marlin doesn't sell springs anymore but Betts is still in business if you decide to go that route.
 
I built my own pack out of dakota and wranglers. Best mod for me was running a plastic strip between each leaf. Nylon is best to use, it wont compress when tightening the u-bolts. Make sure you run a leaf under your main leaf full length eye to eye if you can't get military wrap.
 
Last vehicle built on leaf springs I used the Rancho 44044's. I loved the ride I got out of them. This was a v8 YJ so it was a little on the heavy side. What I learned about leafs was flat is good, and a good shock goes a long way. An XJ spring is also a good option.
 
I'd find a scale and weight vehicle to start. Put front wheels on the scale, take weight, put rear wheels on and weight. then find a comparable weighted vehicle.

I'd also do like Jeff said and line each leaf with nylon. Try a plastics supplier like Piedmont Plastics in Greensboro. You can buy a sheet and cut it to size with an exacto/utility knife. I'm sure there's a supplier somewhere closer to you though.
 
I'm thinking about the Toyota leafs for the rear. the body is aluminum, so there isn't much weight; I'd compare the weight in the rear to a Toyota pickup.
The front is where I'm mostly concerned. While the body is aluminum, the LM7 is not light. I may look at XJ leafs up front and play with the leafs to get what I need.

Main goal is to find something as affordable as possible with a decent ride on the street. Because the wife and kids are going to ride/drive it, I want it to be as comfortable as possible. 4 link is out of the question as I don't want to get that involved on this; I already have my work cut out for me with the drivetrain swap and getting it put together.

Shock recommendations? Looking at some Bilsteins 5150s or whatever I can find cheap that's comparable
 
I'd go with a bilstein for something with similar weights. They will work great but only if they are designed for what your using them on.

An adjustable shock like Rancho 9000 might not be bad either
 
Croatan_Kid said:
If you're up for spending a little money, Alcan spring will make you an awesome set of leaf springs. They're tailored to the weight over the axle and how you'll be using the rig. I love the ones I have in the front of my Silverado and they flex very, very well.
Click to expand...

This is where my vote is. I am ten years on my set of Alcans (just recently sent back for a blast/paint/bushings) and they still work fantastic. Yes, they are not cheap, but if you purchase and play around with a couple sets of springs trying to find "the right set" you will probably end up with as much money it in.

I have no idea what is out there for Rover forums, but I would be certain this has been covered before. Not much for vintage rovers around these parts. I am assuming half the reason they are stiff is because they are really short and narrow, so if you move to longer and wider spring leaves it would probably soften out.

The hard part is you really need the weights to start figuring it out but for now it is all guesses. When I ordered my Alcans I took it to the scales and got the total and front/back weights with normal loading so the springs could be built accordingly.
 
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