1/4 elliptical suspensions

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03-26-2006, 02:27 AM
CRaSHnBuRN

1/4 elliptical suspensions

I was looking at a buildup over on pirate, and the guy is putting a 1/4 eliptic suspension in the back of his cruiser. I've always kinda liked this setup, but I've always been cuious about one thing. How do figure out how much the spring will compress so that you don't end up with the back end really high or low? With coils I know you can get a rough estimate depending on wieght, and even set the vehicle's weight down on the suspension with everything tacked in place to make sure you're right. You can also build adjustablity into the coil mounts which helps. But what do you do with a 1/4 elip? Just remove or add leafs to the spring pack? Change the shackle length?
03-26-2006, 02:34 AM
Sharpe

Eyeball that ****. With the two ghetto shackle flips I've set up I just eyeballed and guestimated and they both came out good.

Quote:

Originally Posted by CRaSHnBuRN

I was looking at a buildup over on pirate, and the guy is putting a 1/4 eliptic suspension in the back of his cruiser. I've always kinda liked this setup, but I've always been cuious about one thing. How do figure out how much the spring will compress so that you don't end up with the back end really high or low? With coils I know you can get a rough estimate depending on wieght, and even set the vehicle's weight down on the suspension with everything tacked in place to make sure you're right. You can also build adjustablity into the coil mounts which helps. But what do you do with a 1/4 elip? Just remove or add leafs to the spring pack? Change the shackle length?
03-26-2006, 02:38 AM
CRaSHnBuRN

1/4 elip, not 3/4 elip, or buggy springs, which is what I think you are thinking of. What I'm talking about is a linked suspension with a half a leaf pack used in place of a coil spring or airshock
03-26-2006, 03:19 AM
BMFScout

it's ghetto, 1/4 ellip is a ghetto way to do coils. why wouldn't you just do coils?
03-26-2006, 03:34 AM
CRaSHnBuRN

why is it ghetto? And really what does it matter? I'm not questioning which is better, I just want to answer some questions that I've had for a while concerning that kind of suspension.
03-26-2006, 09:53 AM
eight

You can change the length on the shackle, and change the angle the spring is mounted to the frame, point it more up or down.
03-27-2006, 01:15 PM
uglyota

I think F350 rears (well, halves of rears) have been made to work pretty well on yota-based rigs
03-27-2006, 02:08 PM
bburris

I think one of the big reasons against is the extreme amount of rear steer you get with a 1/4 elliptical setup. Matt Hodges used to run one that looked like it worked really well, but it had a whole lot of rear steer that I assume is the reason he changed his setup to coils.
03-27-2006, 02:57 PM
uglyota

In 1/4 ellips that I've seen, the links locate the axle...rear steer can only be caused by poor link geometry
03-27-2006, 03:47 PM
Sharpe

You could do it in true uglyfab fashion and use the springs as the top links...
03-27-2006, 03:49 PM
uglyota

yup, straight booty. Everything I do is half-assed ;)
03-27-2006, 05:37 PM
agjohn02

Quote:

Originally Posted by uglyota

yup, straight booty. Everything I do is half-assed ;)

Quote:

Originally Posted by uglyota

I think you and "Bandit" would get along really well

you should probably listen to whatever it is this guy is telling you then. :flipoff2:
03-27-2006, 06:51 PM
Doug Krebs

I just happen to have a set of f350 springs in my driveway...
03-28-2006, 10:42 PM
TxCruzr

Quote:

Originally Posted by bburris

I think one of the big reasons against is the extreme amount of rear steer you get with a 1/4 elliptical setup. Matt Hodges used to run one that looked like it worked really well, but it had a whole lot of rear steer that I assume is the reason he changed his setup to coils.

I think his big problem was how soft the rear was. His jeep would always squat down on the rear and pickup a front tire. That along with links didn't help him. I've seen a cruiser with 1/4 elliptical and a buggy and they worked great. Neither looked like they had rear steer, but they also limited their flex more than Matt did.
03-28-2006, 10:55 PM
TxCruzr

3 Attachment(s)

First two are of Matts when he first did the 1/4 elliptical. Second one is a very well setup one using f350 spring I think. You can see how Matt used way soft springs and with a lt1 and auto, the torque just makes it squat every time. The cruiser does squat some but hardly noticable at all. Its just like any other 4-link, you can make it work great and you can really fubar it.
04-25-2006, 12:38 PM
agjohn02

comment on this one. its on a jeep my dad is looking at...

http://i7.ebayimg.com/02/i/06/75/c7/a0_1.JPG
04-25-2006, 12:50 PM
eight

The spring part looks decent but I'd make sure to weld that stock hanger on better. With the bump stop thing being that far out you get less stress on the frame than most systems, but the top 3 leafs aren't doing anything more than adding weight.

And what kind of suspension is the rest of it? That lower link looks awefully close to the diff putting alot of stress on it when that side's tire catches. And I don't see a panhard so guess that's got triangulated uppers but it doesn't look like they could be much, so again a whole lot more stress. The lower link material's too small. I forsee you having to redo alot about that suspension. Did somebody actually wheel that or is it a show jeep?
04-25-2006, 12:56 PM
uglyota

I bet that's got some sweet limiting chains