coils to an sj

[voodoo beast]

anyone changed their sj onto coil springs? i don't want to use land rover axles to do it as i would loose my spartan locker. thinking maybe jimny gear but could do with a few ideas from someone who's done it or knows how to. welding and fabrication isn't a problem but don't want to spend a small fortune or i might as well buy a jimny! cheers.

[ScottieJ]

Main problem is the legality of it. In the eyes of Vosa it would need an IVA test to be fully legal and they are around £450 and not easy to pass.

What's the main reason that you want to go coil? It's possible to build a leaf spring set up that drives well on road, is comfortable and flexes well.

[d_r_1989]

Please do tell about this comfortable suspension! Mines like driving a brick
Wouldn't mind something that will give comfort and take the weight of my derv if it exists!

To the op
Although coils seem better, there's some good shackles and springs out there that will give awesome articulation. Sj's should be kept as leaf sprung and jimnys as coils in my opinion. Takes away the character.

[voodoo beast]

hi scottie. just want a decent ride and assumed coils were the way to go. would be glad of your opinions of a decent leaf set-up.got a 2" body lift,calmini shackles and leaves,full high steer and riding on 31-10.50-15's.

[Jordi]

YJs, Scotties is way smoother to drive than mine and flexes up a lot more.

[ScottieJ]

There's part of your issue...calmini springs are notorious for being firm and giving quite a harsh ride.

My current set up is YJ springs front and rear and it rides and flexes very well however being spua still the approach angle does suffer.

On my next SJ I'm going to go standard rear sprigs up front and either YJs or hilux (front) springs on the rear. Longer springs flex better and generally ride softer.



Many things can help soften the ride of leaf spring, eve the shackle angle plays quite a roll, if they are vertical or even past vertical at ride height it can stiffen the ride a lot, I like to run quite a flat shackle angle (but not so much that the shackles invert at full bump travel) as the flatter shackle effectively lower the spring rate and allow the springs to absorb bumps easier, also allows more droop travel as the shackles have further to swing down during droop travel.

[twiss]

Ive seen people adapt vitara rear axle setups to fit the back of an SJ... lot of fabrication involved though
Some people attach the vitara suspension arms into the leaf spring mounts but I wouldn't fancy doing that!!!
if you did it you would have to weld decent mounts on

[ScottieJ]

Ive seen people adapt vitara rear axle setups to fit the back of an SJ... lot of fabrication involved though
Some people attach the vitara suspension arms into the leaf spring mounts but I wouldn't fancy doing that!!!
if you did it you would have to weld decent mounts on

Problem is the vitara axle has a pretty much centred rear diff causin issues with propshaft angles, it's also quite a bit wider than a samurai axle.

[twiss]

Yeah people seem to run spacers on the front sammy axle to make up for the width difference

[ScottieJ]

the width difference isn't the main issue its the propshaft alignment at road speeds.