new suspension

[whatcharterboat]

Thomas were normally a really high quality commercial grade item. First choice I suppose. Sorry , Tony. Maybe you got a one off dud as you say. This pneumatic install on a 4x4 bus for the auto door and steps is now about 5 or 6 years old. The compressor ran everyday at reasonably high duty cycles. They're well sealed so they will run a bit hot. This one is 24 volts so that's always better for any thing that's going to pull a few amps. Not having the pressure cutout/in switch on the storage tank (if you've got one) set ridiculously high will help drop current and therefore heat, increase longevity, etc too.

Hey Tony>>Any pics of your Simpson trip?

 

[whatcharterboat]

That's just a HAS set up John, they're pretty good.

Yeah. Pretty sure it was a Hendrickson. Mate , how old is that pic?

 

[engineer]

2001 John, she's an old one now mate...

 

[Amesz00]

Chocko,
i had a quick geez at the hendrickson website, at the HAS setup.
i like the principle, but i think for any real articulation it would have to be re-thought a bit. with that setup of axle locating, i cant see much room for axle twist/articulation, as the main radius arms would have to twist and flex alot to allow articulation.

oh yeah and that one of ours with the HAS setup, i think was the first one we did. we have seen what was done on it, looked like it came straight off a 15 tonne highway truck...

edit:
almost forgot, we took the truck out 4wding last sunday, up the powerline track near perth (yes i know it hasnt got shock absorbers, but i couldnt resist...). i performed quite admirably, ride is already much better than stock, and articulation is quite impressive.
as a side note, a mate of mine picked up an old subaru sportswagon, licensed + running for $50, so we took that up, totally expecting to have to skull-drag it most of the way up this track. turns out, a $50, 25 yr old subaru is better offroad with a decent driver than a $60-odd-grand double diff-locked 100 series cruiser (part of a group behind us). pretty funny actually.

 

[whatcharterboat]

turns out, a $50, 25 yr old subaru is better offroad with a decent driver than a $60-odd-grand double diff-locked 100 series cruiser (part of a group behind us). pretty funny actually.

Andrew, I couldn't agree more. Hahaha.

 

[Amesz00]

Man that old suby looks sick! ill send that to him, he'll love it.
yeah mate (with the big 80) then me went up this fairly tricky section, pretty undulating i spose youd call it. then tim (in the suby) tried to come up, almost but not quite. so we told him to take a slightly different line, probly not usually taken, and with a few extra berries made it up. next was the afore-mentioned 100, tried the same line and dropped the thing straight on its side-steps... hahaha fail.

Got the canter literally a bee's cock from falling over (a big bloke couldve pushed it over), slid into a big rut, then couldnt reverse, so had to keep going forwards as the angle got worse, only juuuuust made it out on all fours... so a good day out by all.

 

[Amesz00]

Just havin a poke round the net about suspension linkages and setups, if i was going down that road of ditching the rear leaves in favor of airbags (which i may well do if its feasable), it would probly be just as easy to build a 3-link setup for the rear-end, with a tri-angulated A-frame. seems to works pretty well for guys in the states.

 

[whatcharterboat]

Man that old suby looks sick! ill send that to him, he'll love it.

haha. Yeah. My wife's car. Check this thread out if you're interested http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=34941&highlight=lifted+subaru

With the A frame for a 3 link, the top bracket on the diff would be really tricky, heh?

 

[Amesz00]

it would probly be just as easy to build a 3-link setup for the rear

yeah i dont really think that was the right wording.

With the A frame for a 3 link, the top bracket on the diff would be really tricky, heh?

why particularly the top bracket do you think?
could also do a triangulated 4-link, pretty much the same but with 2 separate arms instead of an A-frame.
having a look at a model of an MAN KAT1 that i have, that has a triangulated 4-link all round (6x6), but the upper arms are opposite direction (to the axle) to the lower arms, which i think is beneficial for articulation. thier lower arms are about 4.5" long as well.
probly wouldnt be doing this at least until mid next year, but the rear suspension does need changing at some point, and i may look into doing this.

 

[whatcharterboat]

why particularly the top bracket do you think?

Just the connection to the diff might be a little tricky.

could also do a triangulated 4-link, pretty much the same but with 2 separate arms instead of an A-frame.

Yep sounds good too.

 

[Amesz00]

We just (finally) got the truck flexed up with a forklift to measure for the new shock absorbers. thing has a fair whack of flex aye. Dad got a bunch of pics, so ill stick them up here this arvo hopefully.

 

[Amesz00]

pics of it all flexed up. as you can see, the front does most of the work, ill have to do something with the rears in future, but possibly a 4-link is a little over the top, since its not a rally truck- yet...

 

[PKDreamers]

pics of it all flexed up. as you can see, the front does most of the work,


Nice pics mate ,looks great well done.
So you made the front springs longer and higher but did you move the spring hangers at all?

 

[Amesz00]

So you made the front springs longer and higher but did you move the spring hangers at all?

Yeah mate both hangars and shackles have been moved to accommodate the longer springs. around 100mm each way.

 

[engineer]

Very nice, lovin the green too Andrew!!!!!!