Coil over leaf conversion.

PK Kitchens

PK Kitchens

Member
Has anyone done a coil over leaf conversion on there truck.

I've got a 99 GU PATROL leaf cab.

Any feed back would be good. Thanks.

PK.
 
BOUNCY HJ61

BOUNCY HJ61

Active Member
Greetings PK,

I Started To Look Into This, From "FRED's CONVERSIONS", But Read The Vehicle Was Returned To Factory Height First? I Never Got Around To Speaking To Them In Person.
Good Luck With It . Keen To Hear What You Find Out.

Cheers Michael
 
joekar

joekar

Active Member
If you do go ahead with this make sure you ask them about chassis bracing. You will be feeding stresses into a part of the chassis that was not designed to cope with them and that can sometimes be a problem.

Patrol chassis are known to be a little weak in that area too - perhaps you could consider fitting the Superior Engineering chassis bracing kit as part of the work, just to be sure.
 
struth

struth

New Member
PK Kitchens said:
Has anyone done a coil over leaf conversion on there truck.

I've got a 99 GU PATROL leaf cab.

Any feed back would be good. Thanks.

PK.
Click to expand...

Did one on a Hi Lux, pretty basic if you understand geometry a bit, hire an engineer for the purpose of telling you where to brace the chassis and some info on preferred methods of attaching things, shouldn't cost too much.

Here's a link to the one we did so you can get an understanding of what's involved.
http://www.vickrawlers.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=511

Alternatively I am happy to quote you for the conversion,

GSE Rig Gear

Cheers
 
PK Kitchens

PK Kitchens

Member
Would it still have the same pressure as a full coil cab give that the leafs are still in place and still taking some of the load, and also the more weight that goes on it the more the leafs take back over. The springs only really useful when there's not much weight in it at all. Giving you a better road feel. ( dirt included ). And will allow it to flex slightly more.

From stuff I've found out so far it is, take out a few leafs, ( bottom ones ) get the truck sitting about 75-80% on the coil when it's unloaded. Or normal amounts of weight anyway. Then if you load it the leafs help disperse the load on 3 points of the chassis. Front hanger. Rear hanger and the spring.

Pk
 
bally

bally

Banned
if your going to take that many leaves out the leaf pack will do bugger all to help when loaded up... just be eaiser to do a coil conversion
 
PK Kitchens

PK Kitchens

Member
Done. :). Really happy with the results too. The ride is soooo much better then before.
As far as the leafs doing nothing goes. There's still 7 leafs left.
I get an extra 40mm clearance on the bottom of the leaf mounts due to the less leafs.

I also gained an extra 50mm lift on the back.
The spring takes about 80% of the weight so it rides just like a coil cab.

I need to raise the front now to suit. So I will end up with a 5" rear lift and 4" front.

I'm heading out this weekend to try it out on the tracks.

PK
 
BOUNCY HJ61

BOUNCY HJ61

Active Member
PK Kitchens said:
Done. :). Really happy with the results too. The ride is soooo much better then before.
As far as the leafs doing nothing goes. There's still 7 leafs left.
I get an extra 40mm clearance on the bottom of the leaf mounts due to the less leafs.

I also gained an extra 50mm lift on the back.
The spring takes about 80% of the weight so it rides just like a coil cab.

I need to raise the front now to suit. So I will end up with a 5" rear lift and 4" front.

I'm heading out this weekend to try it out on the tracks.

PK
Click to expand...

Greetings Les,

Great To Hear.
Who Did The Conversion?
What Was The Cost?

Can You Put Up Photo's?

A Great Lift You Got, But Did You Need An Engineers Cert.?

Cheers Michael
 
bally

bally

Banned
im guessing that in the 7 hours between his posts he did it himself at home.

what coil retaining measures do you have in place?
 
PK Kitchens

PK Kitchens

Member
bally said:
im guessing that in the 7 hours between his posts he did it himself at home.

what coil retaining measures do you have in place?
Click to expand...

Nope.
Outback suspension in croydon done it. No engineers cert but I'm sure I'm meant to have one :). I will try get some photos up later.

PK
 
muc the truck

muc the truck

Well-Known Member
In most states you wil find load assist springs or air bags to not require a engineer certication and this is were the failure is because most people seem to think its ok to remove you vehicles bump stops to fit them .

this means vehicles springs can and do over range when before it used to hit a pump stop , a clear message to the driver to slow tfd when it bottoms out on the bump stop.

now with no bump stops you drive along all merry with no warning until you crack your chassis.
cracks don't happen on every vehicle but every vehicle I have seen with cracks on the rear has had bump stops replaced with air bags or springs.

springs with bump stops mounted inside them or air bags like SLAM are fine because you still get the message in you tailbone to slow tfd when the bump stops hit.


The owner and drivers of the vehicle need to under stand now just because the vehicle hits the bump stops less often due to the now much higher spring rate that he/she doesn't over load or drive too fast for the off road conditions , things can go pear shaped with the car overloaded or even under loaded and driven to fast over dips and bumps.

Suspension is easy to improve but it always has trade offs. soft-flexi awesome off road unloaded hard -stiff - ok loaded , useless off road unloaded.

at least with airbags its variable by air pressure and you can do repairs on them if they get punctured. I drove around for over 12 months with a diy 4x4 tyre plug in the side of mine as a test. replaced the bag only recently because I was sick of it sitting around .
 
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BOUNCY HJ61

BOUNCY HJ61

Active Member
Greetings Les,

Also Curious, With The Coils Now Increasing The Lift, With Standard Length Springs,
I'm Guessing The Shackles Must Be Near On Vertical? With Reduced Down Travel?
But Improved On Road Ride?

Please Help My Brain To Understand Ha Ha Ha.

Cheers Michael
 
PK Kitchens

PK Kitchens

Member
Eddie at outback has set it up with enough up and down travel. I think he said its got about 1/3 down 2/3 up.

As far as driver style goes I'm not a hoon. I drive like a granny because I hate braking stuff. I'm always the last in a convey because I drive to damn slow lol.

image.jpg

PK
 
PK Kitchens

PK Kitchens

Member
BOUNCY HJ61 said:
Greetings Les,

Also Curious, With The Coils Now Increasing The Lift, With Standard Length Springs,
I'm Guessing The Shackles Must Be Near On Vertical? With Reduced Down Travel?
But Improved On Road Ride?

Please Help My Brain To Understand Ha Ha Ha.

Cheers Michael
Click to expand...


The springs are custom to the lift given. It's not like they are a patrol 2" lift spring. They are custom made to suit what I wanted.

PK
 
BOUNCY HJ61

BOUNCY HJ61

Active Member
Greetings Les,

Spoke With Eddie Yesterday, Who Ended Some Of My Concerns, And Gave Great Confidence In Is Product, With An Improved Ride.
Eddie Couldn't Speak Highly Enough Of The Difference With Coil Assistance, And Load Carrying Ability.
Can Your Personal Experience Also Support A Huge Improvement.
Outback Suspensions | Leaf Springs |

Cheers Michael
 
PK Kitchens

PK Kitchens

Member
BOUNCY HJ61 said:
Greetings Les,

Spoke With Eddie Yesterday, Who Ended Some Of My Concerns, And Gave Great Confidence In Is Product, With An Improved Ride.
Eddie Couldn't Speak Highly Enough Of The Difference With Coil Assistance, And Load Carrying Ability.
Can Your Personal Experience Also Support A Huge Improvement.
Outback Suspensions | Leaf Springs |

Cheers Michael
Click to expand...


100% yes. It's made a massive difference in the utes on road feel. I can't say about off road yet as I haven't been off-road with it yet. I'm heading away tomorrow morning on a forum trip so I will be able to comment on Sunday,

I have no doubt that it will feel better on the dirt tracks and over all feel. But my big thing is will it flex at least the same. Or hopefully even better. That's the test I'm looking forward to seeing.

As far as loading it up goes. I haven't really put much weight other then what's normally on there. Which is only a tool box of recovery gear and some tools. A fridge and spare wheel.

I'm heading to tassie in November so I will need to load it up then so we will see how it goes.

PK
 
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