Aww, I was gonna post that exact meme.
Anyway, all I can thing of is how often are those springs gonna slap the frame and whatever ends up above them. Those pushrods are imparting a vertical force and a horizontal one. Leafs don't exactly have the most robust resistance to side loads.
Neat as hell, stupid as berkeley.
Designed by a Corvette engineer, perhaps, but he would use plastic springs.
Cooter (Back In Blank) said:
Where was this meme when we had the lawnmower engined Honda thread?
In reply to ShawnG :
Not much can top a Jeff Goldblum meme.
However, the primary influence for this build coming together was cost. He paid $1,100 for the truck, $600 for the Lexus, and so far $800 dollars on parts and consumables. He tells me he sold the Ford's engine, transmission and wheels to make around $500 back, so clearly, he wasn't going to go out and drop a huge amount of money on suspension for what he calls his "Rat Luxe" pickup.
I mean, it sounds challenge eligible... and I'd love to see it!
thatsnowinnebago (Forum Supporter) said:Aww, I was gonna post that exact meme.
Anyway, all I can thing of is how often are those springs gonna slap the frame and whatever ends up above them. Those pushrods are imparting a vertical force and a horizontal one. Leafs don't exactly have the most robust resistance to side loads.
Aren't there a ton of cars and trucks out there running around for nearly a century with the rear axle located side to side by nothing more than the leaf spring's resistance to horizontal loading?
I won't say it isn't creative, but seems like there were better options with the parts he had on hand.
I'm just wondering why he didn't use the Lexus springs and struts in a pushrod configuration instead of the truck leafs?
The bell crank geometry could be used to adjust the spring rate by changing the motion ratio between the suspension and the coil if necessary.
No Time said:I'm just wondering why he didn't use the Lexus springs and struts in a pushrod configuration instead of the truck leafs?
Because the linked article and this thread wouldn't exist if he had.
In reply to gumby (Forum Supporter) :
Got it...
Built for publicity, not performance.
Robbie (Forum Supporter) said:thatsnowinnebago (Forum Supporter) said:Aww, I was gonna post that exact meme.
Anyway, all I can thing of is how often are those springs gonna slap the frame and whatever ends up above them. Those pushrods are imparting a vertical force and a horizontal one. Leafs don't exactly have the most robust resistance to side loads.
Aren't there a ton of cars and trucks out there running around for nearly a century with the rear axle located side to side by nothing more than the leaf spring's resistance to horizontal loading?
Yes, and it's sucked the entire time. It's why Panhard bar retrofit kits exist.
Honestly, I like it a lot more than I probably should.
I see no reason that the minor 'side' loading of the springs should be a problem. Just like any other spring, the deflection will follow a certain path as it's loaded in a certain way. Even if that path isn't exactly the same as it was in the original application, it will be entirely predictable, and should be well within the limits of the spring steel to accommodate. As long as there is a couple inch gap below them, it seems like a complete non-issue to me.
The problem I see with the Lexus springs and shocks is that if they're too soft at 1:1 ratio, then by stiffening it up through the rocker ratio means you'll also need correspondingly more travel from them...Likely more than they have to offer.
Where are the dampers?
Yea kinda of a waste. Stiction and geometry changes and leaf springs are heavy as Berkeley.
Jeff said it best.
David S. Wallens said:In reply to ShawnG :
Not much can top a Jeff Goldblum meme.
Honestly, I'm surprised no one has mentioned the thin wall box tube uprights scab-welded to the top of the "frame rails" without any gusseting.
Not that it would matter with welds like those.
The story notes at the end:
The result of this creativity is the "cantileafer," however, this isn't the design's final form. Heavy-duty, high-quality hardware is on the way to ensure that the system holds up under load.
but, yeah... I’m no engineer but I’m pretty sure “high quality hardware” wont address the effects that shear will have on some of those joints.
That said, I appreciate it from a Jerry-rigging standpoint I guess. It’s very interesting as a thought exercise and might play better if we were talking about 30’s era rat rod and not a 70’s era pickup. But personally it’s a no from me dog.
He must have thought up the design while spending some time at the archery range.
The execution is ghastly. I think the tubes holding the rocker-arm bearings might be Unistrut. The push rods look like aircraft surplus cut and scabbed onto conduit.
In reply to TVR Scott (Forum Supporter) :
I thought they were Unistrut when I first wrote my comment. There certainly is enough of it in the rest of th "build". But it is really difficult to tell with the photo blown up; the telltale shape of the open side of the strut isn't there. Though that might have just been blown away when he welded(!) the bolts that hold the pillow blocks in place.
~EDIT~ After finding an earlier photo, they appear to just be rusty box tube scraps-
The tubing appears to be welded to an adjusting link that was cut in half so that he could lengthen the links.
The single shear on the leaf spring side of the linkage warrants a whole 'nother discussion itself...
If his goal was outright performance, he wouldn't be using and F-100.
If outright performance was his goal, he wouldn't be using a IS400.
If easy hotrod was his goal, he would have bought a TCI kit and been done in a week.
Sometimes the fun is figuring out a way to implement a concept.
Remember fun?
Cooter (Dicaprio and Goldblum's LoveChild) said:
Appleseed said:If his goal was outright performance, he wouldn't be using and F-100.
If outright performance was his goal, he wouldn't be using a IS400.
If easy hotrod was his goal, he would have bought a TCI kit and been done in a week.
Sometimes the fun is figuring out a way to implement a concept.
Remember fun?
I like fun.
Spending a lot of time and effort to build something that you -know- is only going to come out E36 M3ty isn't what I would call fun.
Where's the Go3Wheeler guy when you need him?
you do have admit. Up until it breaks, it's going to be fun watching all those parts move back there where the bed used to be
If I look at it as an art project then it's fun!
Suspension fails without lever friction shocks. Hell, they could have been used as part of the bellcrank.
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