[lump_a_charcoal]

So, my plans are to mod the chassis, get it all set up with running gear then graft on a chopped SWB tub, and a tubular style tray.
It will be SPUA - low and flexy, NT chassis with WT diffs.

Initially I will mod the suspension, which leads me to my first question -

Will hilux front leafs be good in the rear, or is there little benefit to be had by using them instead of stocker rears?

I will do a full RUF with the rears I remove, and cut and stretch the chassis just before the steering box as a few of you suggested.
Eventually I will have a power steering of some type too.

[weaves]

there really isnt much weight in zook diffs and i think you will need some weight to get the higher load springs to work well.

If you where to use hilux springs, you would have to bring the pack down to basically 2 or 3 leaves, then you will need some sort of track bar.

Tim ran hilux leaves in his LWB and it looked to work great, but he had the weight of hilux diffs to help.

weaves

[Joe]

Alien runs lux fronts all round on his swb and that seems to flex good

[alien]

yup, works great - but you do need to run just 3 leaves, which does require a track bar.

Also - running 3 leaves makes them pretty much dead flat, lower that standard leaves for sure.

[Fatzook]

alien wrote:

yup, works great - but you do need to run just 3 leaves, which does require a track bar.

Also - running 3 leaves makes them pretty much dead flat, lower that standard leaves for sure.

x Elleventybillion!!

Got the same setup in the rear of my ute. I needed longer shackles (3" extended) on the rear to level it out.

[lump_a_charcoal]

OK, how much longer are the lux fronts than a zook rear?

[Fatzook]

lump_a_charcoal wrote:

OK, how much longer are the lux fronts than a zook rear?

140mm?? eye to eye.

I think from memory my rear diff moved back 75mm

[alien]

i think its 120mm. but thats eye to eye with 4 leaves in the pack, so 140 is prolly more accurate.

dont forget with lux leaves you need new perches and mounts... you can gain some lift by fabbing up some extended mounts and make your perches as tight to the diff tube as possible - this avoids longer shackles.

[Fatzook]

Personally speaking, If I could have found a spring that was 50mm wide and the same length as the lux spring I would have gone that way. I find that the extra width of the spring, even after removing leaves ( running 3 ) is still a bit stiff.

[lump_a_charcoal]

Yeah OK- I guess lux shackles and hangers are the go then.
Fatzook, can you do wider perches?

[Fatzook]

lump_a_charcoal wrote:

Yeah OK- I guess lux shackles and hangers are the go then.
Fatzook, can you do wider perches?

yeah. But you won't need to. Here is a pic of my perches with the lux fronts, U-bolt flip and Lux drop forged U-bolts.



Sorry about the blurry pic. I just took it then

[lump_a_charcoal]

OK cool - easy then.

What is required for the u-bolt flip?

[Red89]

Go custom springs and make them whatever length, width, hieght and thickness you want. Get your measurements and take them to a spring manufacturer and tell them its for a zook. All you will need to do then is move the shackle mount to gain a decent shackle angle. May cost more but is less work I would imagine.

[Fatzook]

Red89 wrote:

Go custom springs and make them whatever length, width, hieght and thickness you want. Get your measurements and take them to a spring manufacturer and tell them its for a zook. All you will need to do then is move the shackle mount to gain a decent shackle angle. May cost more but is less work I would imagine.

Some spring manufacturers aren't worth the paper they print their invoices on. No Idea!

If you do go custom springs, go talk to asmany local, and non-local spring manufacturers as you can.

[lump_a_charcoal]

No, thanks anyway but I want off the shelf parts.

[Fatzook]

lump_a_charcoal wrote:

No.

[alien]

^^ would work for sure - but then what happens if he breaks a leaf etc offroad? would take ages to get a new set made up, and its iffy if they'd get it exactly the same as its a custom job. Using a known leaf pack makes it an off-the-shelf replacement (and cheaper).

my leaves cost me $90 a pack brand new.

[lump_a_charcoal]

alien wrote:

my leaves cost me $90 a pack brand new.

Awesome, I thought they would be heaps!

[Fatzook]

lump_a_charcoal wrote:

alien wrote:

my leaves cost me $90 a pack brand new.

Awesome, I thought they would be heaps!

Yeah I paid $120 each. Make sure you buy 2" lifted ones though. The standards will be WAY too low.

[lump_a_charcoal]

Yeah wonder if 3 inch would be better seeing as i'm staying SPUA?
Probably too stiff...

[Fatzook]

lump_a_charcoal wrote:

Yeah wonder if 3 inch would be better seeing as i'm staying SPUA?
Probably too stiff...

No idea.

[royce]

I paid $100 for 2 main leafs made to my measurements in 48 hours, most $2 ebay 4x4 shops cant get you off the shelf stuff that fast

I reckon your average spring maker with a line up of trucks outside would have forgotten more about them then all the rocket surgeons here

[alien]

haha yeah mine are standard height.

be careful though, cos when you chuck the load leaf on a lifted pack its going to sag FAST!

[eldo]

my old galant 76 model had really long leaf springs in the rear and from memory they were only about 50 mm wide. i had alot of axle tramp with them but i was running approx 220 hp through em. just another option.. im sure there are other options out there.

[lump_a_charcoal]

I reckon 2-3 inch springs, with a 2 inch BL might be the ticket -

[stockman]

From the research I have done, 3" are very stiff.

[zukmeista]

What about a YJ kit from the states?

[zooker]

zukmeista wrote:

What about a YJ kit from the states?

lux front springs are apparently the same length as YJ's, and a hell of alot easier to find in australia

[Brett]

look for a spring with a big ark, the bigger the ark the more flex it will have. lux front springs are very flat and that is why the lux guys do ruf's on their cars

60 springs have a huge ark but are 70mm wide

[zooker]

Brett wrote:

look for a spring with a big ark, the bigger the ark the more flex it will have. lux front springs are very flat and that is why the lux guys do ruf's on their cars

60 springs have a huge ark but are 70mm wide

I disagree. Its not the arc that give flex its the length of the spring. A long flat spring will flex like crazy.

A RUF is always an improvement because rear springs are longer than front springs