Remodeling the rear suspension.

[mulover]

HI all, i'm about to start remodeling the rear suspension of the mu, new spring packs, and change the shocks so they go into the middle, instead of front and back. but the pads the springs clamp up to are cracked and stuffed.

I was talking to a guy and he said that since i have to weld onto the axle tubes why don't i go spring over.

This has got me thinking real hard.
What would the advantages be??, i mean i only want about a 2" lift, 3" at the most anyways, would the effort be worth it.

it would give me alot more clearance under the axle, but the diff hangs down a bit anyways.

Would it mean i could put a lighter spring pack in and get more flex??

What else would i have to do after the swap?? Eg gearbox/ tranferbox/ drive shaft angles?

All bits of wisdom apperciated!!

John.

[geeves]

A good artical on this is here
www.4x4wire.com/isuzu/tech/SOA/
If your springs are at or above original hight you get 6 inches unless you do other things like resetting or removeing leaves.You tend to get better articulation with spring over but soa tends to be less stable on the road so you might have to fit staberliser bars etc. Also talk to your low volume certifier and pay him $400 for the privilage.
Its a good mod for off road but maybe overboard for day to day use

[geeves]

hes also got a thing about the shock settup you want in the same artical.

[mulover]

Hey geeves, had a look at that article, and i think a soa might be a bad idea for me, i don't want too much more lift, but in saying that my current springs are shagged, and i like his front mount idea.

How he has mounted the shocks is the basically the same as i'm going to do, depending on what i do to the springs. I was going to have the shocks mounted off the spring clamping plates, but i like the idea of having them on the axle like they have done.

I can see i'm not going to get much sleep tonight as i will be thinking about this!!!
Thanks for the advice geeves.

[mulover]

Hi all, am getting closer (so's christmas) to the big shacke up, so am starting to wonder about what all to do. i have to pull the axles out, so it will be new seals and bearings in there, but i'm thinking of putting a torque arm off the diff to hopefully stop my springs from bending. i have to put another cross member in just in front of the fuel tank, so i was thinking about mounting an arm off this to the top of the diff.


Any thoughts???

Also, himuzulux and i have been talking in the mu lift? thread about angling the diff up a little towards the gear box. Any thoughts or ideas would be cool, by the lokks of steves last post it sounds like it could cause vibrations?!!?

[mulover]

Hey all, I finally got the new springs just before christmas and when to put them in, but they are 60mm shorter from eye to eye than the originals!! The people i brought them off said they are for a rodeo but they will fit a mu as they are the same. Is this true?

When i bolted the spring into thefront mount, i had to push it up to the chassis infront of the rear mounts to get the hangers in!!! Should have taken more photos.

So if any one happens to know where a 4wd rodeo is and wouldn't mind getting under and measure from the front mount to the back mount in a straight line, i would really appreciate it.

Thanks to all who impart wisdom to me!!

[geeves]

as far as I know mu is same as jackeroo and I thought rodeo was the same. Your old springs would of been longer due to sag but 60mm is a lot.I think mine were about 30mm longer and that was 35mm sag +30 mm lift. What angle are the hangers on at rest?

[nig]

mulover said:

So if any one happens to know where a 4wd rodeo is and wouldn't mind getting under and measure from the front mount to the back mount in a straight line, i would really appreciate it.

Thanks to all who impart wisdom to me!!

Just ran a tape over my 94 Rodeo - the spring mounts on the chassis are at 115 cm centres, and at rest my spring (an aftermarket Rockcrawler spring) is 118 cm between centres

[Yarno]

They should be the same except for more leaves in the pack, they are around 46" (1168mm) long. I have 99 model Rodeo springs up front and 96 model ones in the shed for the back.
If they had alot more curve in them they would measure less as would be expected....
Did they end up going in??

[justin]

I replaced mine with Rodeo HD springs from Lovells. As you can see by this picture they are shorter and deeper than the originals.

Be careful when using Nolathane bushes as well as the are nowhere near as silent as the standard rubber ones. I have just changed mine back to rubber. J

[Yarno]

Yep thats right Justin, I won't use the Nolathane either, for a start they wont flex as well as rubber, they are noisy, and they will wear out faster because they actually have to rub against the steel to move (and you know who's going to win) the rubber actuall stay still on the surfaces and flexes through the middle, hopefully you get what I mean...

[mulover]

Thanks very much guys! Just had a good measure up and the new springs are just 5mm shorter, at 1200 centres around the spring, but 1065 centres. The old ones are 1205 long and i don't know what they are eye to eye resting. The mounts on the chassis are 1160 centre to centre.

So i guess they should fit and i should allow myself more time to shagg round with these things instead of trying to get it done before the missus wants to go to town!!!!

Thanks very much guys, i'll keep you posted!!

Oh yeah, went into macetown in central otago yesterday and it was a top trip, the rivers are low as if anyone is thinking of going!!

[mulover]

Just and up-date, after a bit of shagging around and a few good yanks the springs are in and the mu is about 40mm higher than before which is about where i wanted it. Photos to come.

Thanks for all the input!!

[mulover]

Hey all, just another question, was having a read of the workshop manual and it says that to change the rear axle bearings you need specialist presses and pulling tools, is this true or can the job be done with a normal gear puller with extended arms?

Also when i weld into the to of the diff housing, is there anything i should be carefull of, i'm going to stich a compensator plate onto it, (preheating of course!!) and arms to mount a toqure arm onto.
Thanks for the advice, am hoping to start and pull the diff out in the next few weeks!!

[geeves]

cant comment on the bearing except dont heat it! someone here had a garage take the bearing off that way about 6 months ago. The axle lasted 2 days before breaking as the hardening was gone.
You can remove the whole axle assembly by just undoing the 4 bolts behind the disc shield and a couple of light taps. This will protect the axles from stray heat.It took us about 40 min to get the whole diff assembly out of a spare caseing at Harrys without rushing and also looking over his massive parts store. This was after tackling Thompsons Track with Harry and Justin. Probably should of fitted it there as well so I didnt have to put up with the pleasent aroma of diff oil all the way from Tirau to Wellington via Rotonrua

[mulover]

deffinately no heat going anywhere near the axles!!! a guy i know had the samething happen to him!! I knew the axles are simple enought to get out and i'm sure the bearings can't be too hard, and i'll just be really carefull taking the diff head out, juts whish i had the money to put an air locker in it before it all goes back together!!!

So i'll take some pics and get sizes and post it all for anyone who is keen, want to get it done but work is flat out again!!!