[matt.scorgie]

hey guys sorry this has come up a long long time finally got the convidence today to have a go but relized my spring mount arnt attached to chasis, they are sttached to a bar that come just off chasis mine is a wide track modle is this gonna be a problem and what should i do ?? thanks

[boostedbrick]

This is just down the page atm mate, mite have some usefull info for you. Also check out JrZooks RUF in his build thread


http://www.auszookers.com/index.php?nam ... ic&t=21915

[Gwagensteve]

Now is really the right time to narrow track the spring spacing to bring the spring hangers under the chassis like a NT sierra.

There's two advantages in doing this.

A)Improved tyre clearance - it's easier to maintain full steering lock with big tyres, and use rims with more moderate offset to prevent the car becoming excessively wide once the springs are under the chassis.

B) Reduced front roll stiffness - this helps to make the front flex more freely.

It's a bit more work, but the advantages make it worthwhile in my opinion. It's what I would be doing.

Steve.

[matt.scorgie]

yeah mate thanks alot are you able to maybe point me in the direction of a thread that someone has done this cause from thinking there would be a fair bit more involved like shock mounts and stuff ??

[Gwagensteve]

You're going to have to build new shock mounts anyway because with the axle 40mm forward and the added travel, stock mounts don't work.

You're going to have to build new bumpstop mounts anyway because they won't work with the new axle position either.

The added work is in moving the spring plates on the axle inboard, and cutting the spring hanger off the chassis and sliding it inboard. You'll also need a longer U bolt for the driver's side because the WT one will be too short.

Basically it's chop everything off the chassis and move it inboard. It adds about 4 hours to the job.

The end result looks a lot neater too.

This is a WT RUF - the old crossmember was cut out, the new one welded in on the chassis extension, and the spring hangers replaced to WT width. It's OK, and has been on this car for years, but it's messy looking and resulted in this car needing more rim offset to allow steering lock.





(Incomplete in this photo)



Here's a WT that's had the front springs narrow tracked, and vitara power steer added.





And here's another WT car with narrow tracked front spring spacing.

This car was actually built with WT spacing but we found the steering was too compromised so we swapped it to NT spacing in an afternoon. This car as a new large diameter crossmember under the radiator and we brought the steering box a long way forward, over where the stock tube crossmember would normally be. This was done for speed really, but allows a vitara drop pitman arm to work quite well in this very low application.




Steve.

[JrZook]

Mr G-banger!

For a DD is there a noticeable increase in body roll on road between RUF with WT and NT spacings? I my self found quite a large increase with the WT RUF even with the swaybar stiffening up the front for road use.

Dan

[Gwagensteve]

I can't really comment - the cars I've been involved with have all had different setups really, it's hard to isolate just the singular roll stiffness effect.

As an example, the white car is WT/WT front/rear, but the hardtop is NT front/WT rear and the black softop is NT/NT, but they all sit at different heights, run different offset, caster, and steering.

Steve.

[JrZook]

Gwagensteve wrote:

This car was actually built with WT spacing but we found the steering was too compromised so we swapped it to NT spacing in an afternoon.
Steve.

How about this one for comparison? Or was there more to the story then just from WT to NT spacing with teh RUF?

[Gwagensteve]

It never went on the road with the WT front.

I really don't think it's a huge effect compared to the huge effect of Ruf. Bear in mind that the rear isn't changing, so whilst roll stiffness is being lowered in the front, it's consistent in the rear.

Maybe there's an increase in body roll.... I just can't isolate it to spring spacing with the cars I've been involved with.

Steve.

[Highway-Star]

Dan I NT'd the front on both of mine (LJ and Sierra). The Sierra didn't seem to mind so much (coming from the immeditly previous setup with long shackles it actually handled better); It did adversely effect the road handling of the LJ though (understeers allot when pushed hard into a bend). You can have a drive of mine if you want to.

For future reference I won't be doing it to the road going 81, but will be doing it to the offroad going 81; the couple of benefits it has yielded are way way to good to not use again.