Spring choice. Varying loads.

[Rabbid-chop]

Hi, sorry for adding another one of these spring questions to the mountain -

My leaf springs are a bit tired and droopy, wondering what would be a good choice for a single cab steel tray that from day to day can go from empty tray, to light loads to over capacity, but for the most part maybe less than 300kg? but often more, lol. Basically anything from 0 to 1000kg+ and everything in between.

And which brands offer the best quality?

 

[tweak'e]

all of ours have a single extra leaf added, but also springs reworked back into shape.
a few guys i know have two extra springs. i personally like it on the softer side so its more flexi offroad.
(they are all single cab and regularly do 1000kg for half the year).

sorry can't comment on replacement spring packs.

 

[Rabbid-chop]

I agree with you on keeping it on the softer side. The OME's I have are i think 300kg? but when i took one heavy leaf out and inverted another one it was a definite improvement. They are 11 years old however and cop a beating and are sagging a fair bit, also i am led to believe OME stuff leaves a bit to be desired compared to other brands?
As to resetting the springs, generally how much does that cost?
I was also looking into adding one extra soft leaf to the pack, but due to laziness never got around to sourcing one and starting to like the idea of eliminating the stuff around and buying a new pack. Its tax-deductable anyway.

 

[tweak'e]

no idea on price. boss sorted (company utes). they all went to a spring specialist.

 

[04HUG]

g'day

Sounds like a good application for air bags. Pump them up & down on the fly to suit the road/load. Try "The Air Bag Man". A friend of mine has them on his BT50 and swears by them.

 

[tweak'e]

air bags are pointless if the springs are sagging. you have to be careful that the bags don't end up taking all the weight.

 

[Rabbid-chop]

Yeah im reluctant to go that route, sounds over complicated and expensive.

Im more wondering now what the difference is between say a pair of $350 tough dog springs and a pair of $800 lovells and if the cheaper ones are ok?

 

[happy john]

How often do you haul a tonne r/c ?, just go with constant load springs. I had 800kg of concrete and the comfort EFS still had about 20mm to go.

 

[Rabbid-chop]

^every other day. I was finding with my OME which i think are 300kg that with large loads thesprings would go down to the load leaves and there would be virtually zero travel from there rendering the arse end completely solid, the bumpstops being nowhere in sight and never touched so i eventually took out one of the load leaves and inverted another one, which was much better, but she was already sagging a bit by that point and is even lower now. The bumpstops are still completely virginal.
I might try my luck with a new set of constants. So the EFS are good?

 

[Rabbid-chop]

Its just kind of pi55ing me off that none of the manufacturers or sellers show the relevant pictures of their products so i can get an idea of how many leaves and what thickness and curve and whatnot.

 

[Rabbid-chop]

Actually EFS does provide tech specs on their site. Ill try and get a price off them this week.

 

[Rabbid-chop]

Ok took today off and got myself a pair of EFS 300kg leaves, bushes, greasable front pins, but he didnt have shackles so reused mine, they're not too bad but will change them out when i find a good deal on a pair.
They look a much better design than the OME. Here's a pic of the OME the way i had them in the car, canniballised one of the leaves to give it a bit more height and strength once the loads start going on and things sag.
All up, ended up 30mm higher with a light load, went for a quick spin to get booze and petrol for my Baum-r genny which arrived today (see other thread) drives like a car, and my headlight aim is correct again!. Cant wait to load the shit out of it.

 

[Rabbid-chop]

Also if anyone has it at their fingertips, whats the torque spec for the u-bolts again?

 

[ShortyNavros]

Always apply the correct FT (****ing tight) haha

 

[Rabbid-chop]

^ haha, yeah i used what i thought was "reasonable force" with a breaker bar and plenty of lube doing them up, but they make a big deal about the u-bolts voiding the warranty if you dont do them right, and also your s'posed to re-torque them a couple hundred k's down the track so there must be something in it. I'll look it up..

 

[ShortyNavros]

I never re-torqued mine, but I did them to the correct Nm with a torque wrench and it was super tight, none have fallen off