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Peterson's new long travel leaf article, read this?

sled_dog

sled_dog

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Peterson\'s new long travel leaf article, read this?

Read it today finally. Seems like a large waste of time to me, should have moved the front mount forward instead of moving the rear mount back and lower.
 
Re: Peterson\'s new long travel leaf article, read this?

At least they used ORD parts /forums/images/graemlins/thumb.gif
 
Re: Peterson\'s new long travel leaf article, read this?

Yeah it didnt look like a well thought out modification. Help me figure out what they did with the rear bushing. They didnt say what they used, beside a 1 3/4 inch hole saw to support the in frame bushing? Seems to me that they must've welded in a piece of tubing or boxed that area of the frame. Also wouldnt front shackles that long be awfully week, even at a good thickness. If I recall the author said they were 8 inches long! Just my thoughts, should have just linked it up and run coilovers.
 
Re: Peterson\'s new long travel leaf article, read this?

I guess they never want to replace the engine. It looks to me like they welded the shock hoops to the frame and the support to the hoops. Do they plan on dropping it out the bottom? It seems to me the spring packs were awfully thick too.
The thicker the pack the stiffer right? or wrong? It seems to me a guy would want to go with as little and as long as possible.
 
Re: Peterson\'s new long travel leaf article, read this?

Those spring packs are thick, very thick, but look at the leaves, look how short and thin they are compared to say a 1 ton pack. The deavers they used flex like no other spring ive seen. They are simply the best leaf spring I have ever seen and plan on purchasing a set soon. Yeah they go against what everyone seems to think works on this website but i bet the deavers work a helluva lot better than whatever anyone on this site would say to run instead of the deavers.
 
Re: Peterson\'s new long travel leaf article, read this?

To captialize on what zcar said, a thicker spring pack doesn't always equal higher spring rate. Take a close look at the leaves, Deaver uses a leaf that is approximately 50% the thickness of the thinnest leaf avalaible from the mass producing spring companies. Deaver has built their reputation from building springs for desert racers, they filled a void that National Spring created by offering a great product with great service. In the last year or so, they have branched off and done some springs for rockcrawlers and the results have been excellent. I've heard said that a National spring pack will go maybe a season before they start to sag, whereas there's racers that have been running a Deaver set for for race seasons with no problems.

As for price, they are expensive, cause they don't mass produce packs, except for a couple of niche markets (Rangers and zcar, correct me if I'm wrong, Toyotas) and these packs still carry a hefty price tag, but from everything I've seen and heard, well worth the price.
 
Re: Peterson\'s new long travel leaf article, read this?

I haven't seen the article yet, but the springs you described sounds like my Alcans. It has about 10 thin leafs, but equates to one thick ass pack.
Flexes extremely well. You definately need some type of traction bar setup in the rear...
Boss
 
Re: Peterson\'s new long travel leaf article, read this?

"Read it today finally. Seems like a large waste of time to me, should have moved the front mount forward instead of moving the rear mount back and lower."

It seems like an aweful lot of custom fab work for leaf springs. I wonder how much better the long springs work than a set of normal Deavers would have.
 
Re: Peterson\'s new long travel leaf article, read this?

[ QUOTE ]
I wonder how much better the long springs work than a set of normal Deavers would have.


[/ QUOTE ]

If the long springs are stock, or a mass produced spring, the Deavers will beat it no problemo.
 
Re: Peterson\'s new long travel leaf article, read this?

OK quick question for you suspension. Why did they run dual shocks on something designed to be flexy? Were they just really soft shocks or....? Where can you buy the deaver springs at?


Do you think we should write to petersons and tell them the easier wayy to do this swap? /forums/images/graemlins/rotfl.gif
 
Re: Peterson\'s new long travel leaf article, read this?

[ QUOTE ]
OK quick question for you suspension. Why did they run dual shocks on something designed to be flexy? Were they just really soft shocks or....?

[/ QUOTE ]

Dual shocks should not effect how "flexy" the suspension is. I run a single but I realy need to run a dual set up so I can try to control the body frommovingsom much. I am just lazy andnever really gotten aroundto that fix.
 
Re: Peterson\'s new long travel leaf article, read this?

what he said.
all a shock is supposed to do is slow down the up and down movement of an axle it does not change how much movement is there.

I run king 2 1/2 inch w/remote resorvoir shocks and each one probably equals to about 3 regular shocks because of the dampening.
someone posted up about the deavers having more flex than anything that someone has on this site. that is not true they do work very well and flex extremely well but they are still a leaf spring. they didnt reinvent the wheel they just made them last longer and not fatigue as quickly as others.
no matter what you do you will find the limitation of a leaf spring. they can only flex so far and still hold the vehile up.
 
Re: Peterson\'s new long travel leaf article, read this?

[ QUOTE ]
If the long springs are stock, or a mass produced spring, the Deavers will beat it no problemo.

[/ QUOTE ]

It would be interesting to see a comparison between different lifts. I'd like to see tests of:

1. TC EZ Rides
2. TC HD springs
3. Stock length Deavers
4. Longer Deaver spings.
5. Longer "stock" springs, e.g 57" Fords.
 
Re: Peterson\'s new long travel leaf article, read this?

Cool thanks. /forums/images/graemlins/waytogo.gif
 
Re: Peterson\'s new long travel leaf article, read this?

If I were to keep the K5 I would go with custom springs over say 52s. But I wouldn't do this. The center pin is moved forward form stock on the springs they used, and they are longer than the Alcans I know Pete(Yunit) runs. What is the purpose to that much extra spring material behind the center pin? Yes they didn't describe how they fixed the shackle mount to the frame and I found that very stupid, and yes they welded the shock hoops together preventing you from ever removing the engine without starting over as far as those go. These things are why I say its not a well thought out mod. I agree custom springs are the [darn], they just didn't do a great job of it.
 
Re: Peterson\'s new long travel leaf article, read this?

Deaver doesn't make a lift persay. They mostly custom build the spring packs to the vehicle. The only thing that I know that they have somewhat massed produced has been packs for Rangers and Toyotas, and probably F-150s.
 
Re: Peterson\'s new long travel leaf article, read this?

Deaver only mass produces springs for yota's, super duty's, a couple 63" chevy's, rangers and f-150's

I like how they did the setups on that truck, sleddog, there are a lot of problems associated with moving the front mounts forward like I did. So far my frame has cracked again, i had to redo my front bumper and have more frame flex.

They run the dual shocks for more dampening ability and less fade, not for a stiffer suspension because the springs were designed right. The deavers and shocks are setup as a complete package, not as a bolt on unit like mass produced after market springs.
 
Re: Peterson\'s new long travel leaf article, read this?

Long tail springs are not an uncommon thing. I can't remember exactly why they are good to have. I think it might have something to do with Pinion angle throughout the travel.

I welded the cross bar in over my motor in the buggy. The plan with this stuff is usually to just get it done the first time then sawzall it out leaving enough material to add bolt plates to the ends. This way you get the cross bar put in fast the first time since it is probably the 12th hour of the build and you can easiely reverse it.
 
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