I am rebuilding and changing my rear suspension to coil over dampers and need to know the rear ride height. This is for a LCV pickup but the van would be the same. Measurement from ground to top of opening in rear wheel arch and diameter of rear wheel and tyre. With the axle position sorted I can then check clearances and work out the best positions for the radius arms and mounting positions.
Thank you for any help.
John of Abingdon
Pickup rear ride height?
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JohnofAbingdon
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MarkyB
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Re: Pickup rear ride height?
Both vans and pick-ups are designed to work best when loaded, I guess this isn't your plan so it's doubtful that keeping the original rear height is going to be ideal.
All Minors are a bit tail happy, pick-ups most of all.
All Minors are a bit tail happy, pick-ups most of all.
"Once you break something you will see how it was put together"
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JohnofAbingdon
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Re: Pickup rear ride height?
Marky B,
Thank you for your reply. The tail happiness (sounds like a puppy) is one of the reasons I will need to nail the rear down a bit. The coil overs are adjustable for height as will be (within limits) the various axle locating arms. Rear springs are obviously interchangeable and from the various axle loadings need to be from 2 X 280 lbs for a 5 cwt equivalence. They are cheap enough to have some different ones and experiment. The dampers are adjustable as well.
It is not being built as a load-hauler but some ball park figure for the ride height would be helpful as a starter.
yours,
John of Abingdon
Thank you for your reply. The tail happiness (sounds like a puppy) is one of the reasons I will need to nail the rear down a bit. The coil overs are adjustable for height as will be (within limits) the various axle locating arms. Rear springs are obviously interchangeable and from the various axle loadings need to be from 2 X 280 lbs for a 5 cwt equivalence. They are cheap enough to have some different ones and experiment. The dampers are adjustable as well.
It is not being built as a load-hauler but some ball park figure for the ride height would be helpful as a starter.
yours,
John of Abingdon
Re: Pickup rear ride height?
27&1/4 inches from floor to centre of wheel arch. Tyre diameter 23&1/2 inches. Taken from pickup with no load.
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JohnofAbingdon
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Re: Pickup rear ride height?
Les,
just what I wanted. Now to work out the geometry and lengths.
Thank you,
John of Abingdon
just what I wanted. Now to work out the geometry and lengths.
Thank you,
John of Abingdon
Re: Pickup rear ride height?
You may wish to take a look at this Pick Up on the other website.
Coil Overs fitted, Panhard Rod and Link suspension....
http://www.morrisminorowners.co.uk/view ... 0&start=15
Coil Overs fitted, Panhard Rod and Link suspension....
http://www.morrisminorowners.co.uk/view ... 0&start=15
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JohnofAbingdon
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Re: Pickup rear ride height?
Thank you for pointing that out.
A bugbear of mine is suspension articulation. All the bits that should move should and the springing and damping is done by the springs and dampers, not by the joints binding. That puts twisting and bending loads on parts that should not be twisted or bent.
In my opinion, for a live rear axle, a four bar linkage with watts location designed with adjustability so it can be set up is the way to go. Admittedly there is a bit of compromise as the outer axle end of the four bars will have a bushed bearing as opposed to a spherical rod end bearing as noise transmission may be a nuisance. I did some serious research into angled four bars but it was difficult to design in the adjustability that I want. I think if you are going to the trouble and departure from originality in your suspension, keeping the heavy rear leaf is not the best one can do, but each to their own. These is lots of space under a LCV so there is no need to compromise.
John of Abingdon
A bugbear of mine is suspension articulation. All the bits that should move should and the springing and damping is done by the springs and dampers, not by the joints binding. That puts twisting and bending loads on parts that should not be twisted or bent.
In my opinion, for a live rear axle, a four bar linkage with watts location designed with adjustability so it can be set up is the way to go. Admittedly there is a bit of compromise as the outer axle end of the four bars will have a bushed bearing as opposed to a spherical rod end bearing as noise transmission may be a nuisance. I did some serious research into angled four bars but it was difficult to design in the adjustability that I want. I think if you are going to the trouble and departure from originality in your suspension, keeping the heavy rear leaf is not the best one can do, but each to their own. These is lots of space under a LCV so there is no need to compromise.
John of Abingdon
Re: Pickup rear ride height?
Let's see some pictures of the finished job please... Are you going to tackle the very poor geometry of the front suspension??
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JohnofAbingdon
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Re: Pickup rear ride height?
Though easy to do putting spacers behind the eye bolts causes misalignment problems with the torsion bar and tie rod bushes. Pulling the suspension outer end forward to its correct position puts extra load on the tie rod bushes and eye bolt bushes. Stronger tie rod bushes reduce suspension movement and cause bending of the tie rod and chassis bracket.
My chassis legs needed replacing so the opportunity was taken to modify them as in the picture. Apart from a small amount of movement allowed by the eye bolt bush there is zero movement foreword or backward in the outer end of the suspension arm. The spherical rod end bearing is aligned on the torsion bar/ eye bolt axis. The frame is boxed and the securing bolts go through. Positive location and smooth movement throughout the suspension range with no binding. More noise but I will be insulating so that will help.
More modifications to follow....
John of Abingdon[frame]
[/frame]
My chassis legs needed replacing so the opportunity was taken to modify them as in the picture. Apart from a small amount of movement allowed by the eye bolt bush there is zero movement foreword or backward in the outer end of the suspension arm. The spherical rod end bearing is aligned on the torsion bar/ eye bolt axis. The frame is boxed and the securing bolts go through. Positive location and smooth movement throughout the suspension range with no binding. More noise but I will be insulating so that will help.
More modifications to follow....
John of Abingdon[frame]
Re: Pickup rear ride height?
I admire your efforts... Spherical eye bolts (Rose joints we used to call them -although that is only one manufacturer) wear like mad in 'road' use (due to dirt/dust/water) unless you can encase them with a rubber boot. I don't think the T bar is too stressed with a few washers behind the eye bolt. I always use one poly bush (outside) and one rubber bush (inside) on the tiebar which allows the necessary articulation ok, and still steadies the suspension nicely when braking. Adjustable tiebars can be made if necessary (one way is to use parts from Mini tiebars) but generally the extra caster when keeping the standard length bar is very welcome. If not - additional spacers can be used where the bar attaches to the bottom arm.
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JohnofAbingdon
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Re: Pickup rear ride height?
I have the rubber boots for the end bearings, but have not fitted them for the set up or pictures. They look more trick without. These parts are not very expensive and can be quickly replaced if they get clonkey. I have used the biggest that will fit and keep the correct torsion bar axis, so that should help them last.
What I wanted to do was get the bottom end as good as I could within my own parameters. It will be interesting to see how well it works, or not, when the vehicle is on the road. The top adjustable are done but not fitted yet.
At the moment I am working on the rear suspension brackets that fit to the body/chassis. Once done I will make up the back axle mounts, so exciting times ahead!
Thank you for your comments.
JohnofAbingdon
What I wanted to do was get the bottom end as good as I could within my own parameters. It will be interesting to see how well it works, or not, when the vehicle is on the road. The top adjustable are done but not fitted yet.
At the moment I am working on the rear suspension brackets that fit to the body/chassis. Once done I will make up the back axle mounts, so exciting times ahead!
Thank you for your comments.
JohnofAbingdon