Great idea? Safe? Death on wheels? Ghetto coilovers.

[Anton]

I've wanted to do an airshock or coilover conversion for a long time, with triangulated 3 link (wishbone upper link) because leafs suck for people with back issues - my mum for example, who was an offroading nut when I was very, very young.

Now I know you lot are going to try to steer me in the general direction of YJ's, and they're still on the cards (eventually) but before I seriously consider that direction, I'd like to hear people's thoughts on these things. Technically the weight of the vehicle is not on the shock body, but goes from the lower eye/bush, into that lower mount (in pic 5) up the spring and into the upper eye/bush.

So the shock is not under any more stress than it's designed for, or am I missing something?

So any thoughts? If something like this was made/welded *properly* I mean.

[ScottieJ]

no just no

[Edweird]

The ends look flimsy as hell.

[dan_2k_uk]

That would snap very quickly.

[ScottieJ]

For that length travel you could just use coil overs of a road car anyway.

[Anton]

no just no

Yeah, see - that was my initial reaction too, but the guys on the forum where I found this stuff (http://www.killbillet.com/showthread.ph ... -coilovers) were all in agreement that it was a job well done.

So I thought I'd ask you lot.

They did point out that his 4 link setup was death waiting to happen, which suggests to me that this guy is regularly taking shortcuts in his build. Not that there's anything wrong with shortcuts, as long as they aren't "my life is in the hands of something made of cheese" kind of shortcuts.

Not that I'm looking to do coilovers anytime soon (I just can't afford it now, with the new diffs, new rear axle and front birfs having just vampired my wallet) but that doesn't stop me being interested in budget ways to get a set of coilovers into my SJ.

What would you guys do (besides YJ's, that route is still most definitely in the back of my mind)?

I know you can get coilover conversion kits, would something like that be worth considering at some point?

At the moment, my brain is considering a 3-link (with triangulated upper wishbone) type arrangement with the spring saddles on the axles made in such a way that they can still take leafs if I want to fit them, and then make a bolt-on upper saddle with integrated shock tower.

Using Vitara trailing arms would mean I can use the chassis leaf spring mounts as trailing arm mounts. Upper wishbone would need a crossmember welded in, but that's within VOSA's rules.

Front would be the same, but with an integrated panhard rod and a non-triangulated 4 bar design (so I don't get in the way of the driveshafts/sump with the wishbone). Upper pair of trailing arms would be secured to a new crossmember, similar to the rear upper wishbone.



The point of making it bolt on/bolt "around" (as the image above) is that then VOSA can't complain, as it doesn't violate the chassis modification rules.

[Jordi]

YJs the way forward bud.

[ScottieJ]

For starters unless you use oil shocks it's kinda asking for trouble welding to a pressurized gas shock body, it could go boom even if nitrogen is inert.

I really think if you are going to go for coils you need to go the whole hog, do the job properly and get it IVAd. Trying to skirt around the edge will just result in a compromised set up and the results won't be any better than well set up leafs. I don think it's impossible to make a good bolt on kit, I've considered it myself a few times but with the extra effort involved and so many extra possible failure points I don't really think it's worth it. Would be a cool project but it's going to take a shit load of time and effort to design and fabricate it with good geometry.

[suzukisteve]

dont get me wrong, there are some nice coiled sj's out there and they do handle very well. but as scottie pointed out, if you are gonna do it, do it properly mate.

[turbo-tom]

That looks like someone is cutting corners and asking for Shit.