coil springs and leaf springs ?

[randall555]

this is a dumb ideal but here it goes . if i took out several leaf springs and put in some coil springs with the left in leaf springs would this give the truck a softer ride and a more flexible suspension to go through tuffer trails and rutts . would this work or is this totally a dumb ideal ? or should i just convert to full coil spring set up ? any ideal on how to get some good flex out of my truck.

[Doug]

I took all leaves out of the rear packs with the exception of the top two, then swapped in all but the top two from the front of a 1988 wagoneer. Nice soft ride and without snubbers, the tires will get into the body (my box isn't really a box, I have dummy box sides on it with more clearance than stockers would have). Plenty of droop compared to stock also. No engineering, no complicated fab work on links, no trial and error...plain and simple and very durable. I had thought about four linking mine myself, but in all reality it would have been for the cool factor as I honestly don't believe there are huge gains to be made over how mine works without a bunch of hassle.

The big benefit of what I did over a coil leaf combo is that the springs I have are dramatically softer than stock, but still all fighting axle wrap. The coil/leaf combo would only have the two leaves left to fight axle wrap while the coils were just along for the ride. I'd guarantee that you'd have to add some sort of traction/anti wrap bar set up to combat axle wrap and wheel hop.

I'm very happy with how mine works, it is a big improvement, but nothing percentage wise compared to adding front and rear lockers and beadlocks (I can run 14 PSI). That stuff alone is the biggest bang for you buck IMO.

But hey, we'd love to see you four link it!!! It certainly is cool.

Also note that I shortened the wheelbase to 115". Obviously, my rear drive shaft is much shorter than stock. Issues from steep driveline angles and wheel hop would be exaggerated in my truck. No breakages that I would attribute to the spring set up.

I did break my first rear yoke and drive shaft after those mods... but I was begging for that to happen when it did. Wide open throttle hill assault that threw the truck up in the air. I landed on the rear tires only with my foot glued to the floor. It would have been unbelievable for something not to break. Oh, it also sheared off the spring centering pins. Must have been some stressful things happening there for a split second.

[moosejr]

One thing to expand on, ..spring wrap equals wheel hop, equals broken u-joints or axle shafts. If you look at coil spring suspension, the locating arms are rigid. Running soft leaf springs with coils, I would think would be hazardous, prone to breaking things, and not really gain much. If you don't need load capacity, I would lean more toward taking a leaf or two out, and use REALLY GOOD off-road shocks, .. .like rancho 5000 or 9000. This would soften the ride some, but still give you some control, and minimize hop.