about 6 months ago i got the idea from these to replace the shackle end of my front springs: http://www.speedwaymotors.com/p/2151,157_Leaf-Spring-Sl...mNo=spring%20sliders

but they were too short and light duty for my needs so i came up with my design that used all 1/4" plate and used a longer slot, with it being ~12" in total length.

after searching around the forums i came across this thread which helped immensely in refining my design: http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=652426

heres my fab work as of now, almost done with the other one as well.





what do you guys think of concept and creation?

really cool idea looks like it works good

Neat idea. What keeps that nylon block from wearing down to a nub, especially when you get some gritty dirt or mud between it and the steel?

I wonder if some sort of roller wouldn't work even better.

I would hope those are UHMW and not nylon. UHMW would last quite a while in those conditions, especially if properly lubricated and if the metal its sliding on were polished.

im not using nylon, but the ever popular UHMW thats .75" thick, which in my short experience wears like cast iron. my thought with the roller vs slider dillema was my thought of a roller jamming/seizing up with dirt and crud. ill be sprayin down the UHMW with spray lithium perhaps? ill see how it plays out

hahaha yup there we go you beat me to it!

WOW what a long couple days. finally got springs from the junk yard and bastarded my pack up. the main spring and mil wrap spring with the bottom 4 waggys i had. that and the slider leveled out the pre-runner rake, gave me a better pinion angle and caster, got my wheelbase to 108-9", and most of all pretty much killed my nasty body roll!!!!! im figuring the stability of the system is helping big time. they got pretty flexy on a small wall, and tomorrow ill be makin some spring clamps for the back, as well as welding in a couple reinforment plates on the inner side. next up to finish the front are gonna be a niiiiiiiice pair of bilsteins, maybe even the remote resievour ones (7100s?) :rr:



greased up the rails with white lithium grease, and between the leaf springs, graphite molygrease. im thinkin the uhmw with break in on the rails in a week or so







i plan on flexin it out on the volvo loader at work (i want those portals!!!) in the next few days to measure front d shaft and new shock lengths

im likin my new coat of blue paint too, white just didnt work out like i thought it would.

Looking good. I have a brand new in box set of 14" 5150 bilsteins if you're interested in them, I'm not going to use them.

what are the compressed/extended lengths?

quote:

Originally posted by Spolar:
what are the compressed/extended lengths?

They are 34.9" extended and 20.75 collapsed.

cool, hold onto em for a couple days so i can grab some measurements of my own. pm me a price shipped to Vancouver, Wa 98683

got about 34" of air under the front tire. no binding in the sliders either, so im gonna finish welding and gusseting everything in. measured out for the front drive shaft and picked up some square tube, 1310 u-joint, and a u-bolt kit.

redid the front and rear bump stops, finished the square dshaft, and most importantly.....

ordered up 37x14.00x15 irok bias plys

That's a pretty clever idea. I have never seen that before.

I did notice tho, it looks like your spring packs are interfering with your draglink in the last pic. Are you gonna run a spacer for that hi-steer arm?

its just an optical illusion for the most part, cause i could see daylight while it was on the forklift. plus when i dropped it, there wasnt any black paint on the blue draglink or blue paint on the leaf springs.


it is pretty close, so eventually ill be replacing the sky arm with maybe a tall parts mike one or something later. the front is only 12" travel