Jeep question for my Land Rover...looking for springs

[Michael Slade]

Ok, so I have this odd-duck Land Rover that I built from scratch. It's a '53, that I have converted to coil-springs, it has a Chev 283, 33's, lockers, etc...

I have never been able to settle on which front springs to use, either they're the right height but too stiff, or they are too soft and short.

So...since I have these really neat ACOS Pro units I thought I'd try to use them on my Land Rover.

Even though it's on a short-wheelbase truck, it weighs about 4500 lbs...so the trick is which Jeep springs do I use? I can adjust the ride height with the ACOS, but I guess what I'm looking for is a good general, not-too-stiff, 2-3 inch lift spring for the front of a TJ, ZJ or XJ.

The ACOS will bolt right up to my spring perches that I made to fit the stock LR coil springs. Fabbing up a lower spring perch shouldn't be that hard.

Oh, the other issue I guess would be spring diameter. How wide across are the Jeep coils? I seem to recall that they are wider than the stock LR coils (I can measure some if it helps...).

Thanks!!!! I really don't know where to start with this other than the parts I have, and explaining what I want to do.

Oh, here is a pic of the '53

 

[CRD4Liberty]

Mike,
You're a bit all over the place. There is a bunch of LR knowledge out there and if you stay with a known values and work from there I think it will go far easier.
If the ACOS springs are the right size but not the right length or power than find out what the power, number of coils, coil dia. and length you have and call a spring company to come up with a fix. If you know what is too soft and what is too hard and their powers, and dimensions listed above, than coming up with something in the range you need isn't particularly difficult. They will ask all kinds of questions about front and rear weight, etc. to help dial you in.
King Spring in Australia makes spring for their customers and for companies like OME. Eibach also makes springs. There are others out there also.
This isn't a particularly hard problem but you may go through a prototype of two to dial it in correctly.

 

[OverlandZJ]

Michael.. just measured my XJ's coil. OD looks to be right at 5 1/8".

Do you have an unloaded length on the current spring?

Love that Rover! :bowdown:

 

[stevenmd]

that second pic looks familiar... perhaps something from the original "Lazy Buggers"... was your truck from California before you bought it?

 

[Michael Slade]

that second pic looks familiar... perhaps something from the original "Lazy Buggers"... was your truck from California before you bought it?

I am one of the original 'Lazy Buggers'...even have my badge to prove it.

I bought that '53 from Granville Pool in Eureka for $500. It was missing a lot of parts so I 'upgraded'.

 

[stevenmd]

I am one of the original 'Lazy Buggers'...even have my badge to prove it.

I bought that '53 from Granville Pool in Eureka for $500. It was missing a lot of parts so I 'upgraded'.

Ah, yes, I know Granny. I see him every year at Mendo. I love the stories he has. I was hoping to get him and TeriAnn together at Mendo a few months ago but TeriAnn couldn't make it.

 

[ntsqd]

This caught my eye. I'm totally ignorant of what an "ACOS" is. Can you enlighten?

Assuming that we're talking about some sort of coil-over type unit, coils should be fairly easy to find.

Eibach has an excellent page on one method of figuring out what the spring rate should be. http://eibach.com/cgi-bin/htmlos.exe/08519.3.3178408459700020948
From looking at this page it appears that they offer spring ID's of either 2.5" or 3" for coil-over applications. http://eibach.com/cgi-bin/htmlos.exe/08519.7.2249848628100020948
If this isn't a coil-over it may be that you can still use a coil-over spring. Just have to be careful about getting a spring with too tall of free length and buckling it under load.