Yeah, obviously. If anything it would limit the up travel, because the shackle would bind on the far side of the hangar, down travel wouldn't be affected hardly at any because the leaves could still swing downward.

 

No, that's backwards. The shackle swings IN for downtravel and OUT for uptravel. If you arch your existing spring that's like you've made "downtravel" from the git-go -- it brings the shackle IN and down travel is minimized.

Joke again?

 

Think (and go look at) the REAR suspension. That's what I'm talking about here. Long flat bars of metal of different length are stacked to make those springs.

4x2 1998+, and older Rangers of all types, have coils in the front and leaves in the back. 1998+ 4x4 Rangers have torsion bars in the front and leaves in the back.

 

Rangers have always had leaves in the back, I'm pretty sure, it's no new thing. I wonder if they'll start the coils in the rear like the Exploders one day. That would ruin a good set up, haha. You don't see any rear a-arm trucks running the races, that was sort of a crappy move made by Ford in my opinion.

Here's a picture to see what John and I are talking about...

Off the truck . . .



On the truck (ours are spring on top of the axle, or spring over, but here's the main point) . . .

 

I knew there were leaves back there but whats the difference between aal and that deevers stuff yall were talkin about thats so costly. you made it sound like some new magic suspension that gives an awesome ride and lifts significantly. I'm just confused at this point.

 

Well, I'll post some diagrams later. Sadly, I have to go into work today. I'll try a text explanation, and maybe Trent has something to put up before I get to it.

AAL's are fine to provide an inch or two of lift -- but after that it brings your spring eyes (where the springs attach on the ends) so close together the shackle points FORWARD. When that begins to happen the ride gets VERY rough on a trailing shackle.

The reason is that as you hit bumps the spring tries to straighten while being pushed up at the same time. The forward pointing shackle wants to go MORE forward from the upward push, but is being pushed backwards by the spring flattening out. This "stalemate" makes the spring seem much stiffer as the shackle "binds".

What Deavers are is a spring that is longer to begin with. That way when you "arch" or "curve" it a lot more than the stock spring, the eyes are the right distance apart to make the shackle be at the correct angle.

The extra arch in the spring lifts your vehicle, and the fact that your shackle geometry is right, and the spring rate is correct, means you get a factory like ride or even smoother. Deavers are not magic -- but they are a CORRECTLY DESIGNED leaf spring to lift the truck.

Our factory springs can be used to get lift but it's pushing the design to the point where problems occur. The two problems are that the spring rate increases from the very stiff extra leaf, and the shackle angle changes to where it can also add harshness. Our factory springs are fine -- for what they were designed for.

So, with the Deavers you can get 3 or 4 inches of lift easy, have no blocks to act like a lever to bend the spring, and get a smooth and comfortable rear suspension response. The downside is you have to PAY a lot more for that than the other methods of lifting -- but it could be considered the "best" way to lift in terms of overall result.

 

sounds like magic to me lol, ok I get it now for the most part. my remaining questions will be cleared up by the diagram

also I'm at work right now so i cant go look, but do our leafs mount on top of the axle or underneath like trents pic he posted?

 

John pretty much summed it up, I'll try to find some pics to help reiterate his point as well.

Our leaves are spring over axle.

 

ok thought so, cool man