Re:Are heavy duty rear springs available or are......

Scimike wrote:

I don't know if they make Jimny springs or if they will make you a one off set. They are here just in case nothing else pops up.

www.jones-springs.co.uk/off-road-suv-springs

They may just make cart springs, but could be worth a call.

I can vouch for Jones' springs being exxcellent - they made the springs for my vintage MG - they were very easy to deal with and the turn around time was very reasonable

I think first of all I'll try and fit a set of standard front springs that I have spare on the rear and take it from there. The standard brake hose at the back will be a bit tight though during fitting (it was a squeeze fitting a standard rear spring in) so ill need to investigate if i can create a bit of slack on the brake line or if i can get in with spring compressors.

that might be enough to support the rear better. and so long as the car looks and feels level then that might be it, if not i'll look into upgrading the front with diesel springs.

I do remember reading one of Dave's daily drive builds on here where he fitted front springs to the rear i think (standard shocks with shock re-locators) and different stuff to the front (vitara rear shocks on the front with springs and spacers?) but id need to go for a search, It peeked my interest when he posted it a while back.

Thanks again folks
T

Just remove the clips that hold your brake pipes
One on the axle and other on chassis rail up the side of petrol tank
I fitted +2" springs this way

Well, I gave fitting a spare set of front springs I have to the rear of my Jimny a go.

Here is a bit of a break down on what I found/done.

To start with,
Standard spring lengths, by my unscientific measure methods.

Fronts 340mm
Rear right 290mm
Rear left 273mm







The car still has all my usual stuff in the boot, and a 2nd battery behind the drivers seat to power my Yaesu 2m radio, tow bar is fitted along with my full steel JimnyBits roof rack and is on 205/75/15 general grabbers.

Before heights from ground to top of arch
Rear right 715mm
Rear left 735mm
Front left 745mm
Front right 740mm
Ground to bottom of towbar hitch 265mm












I then jacked up the car via the tow bar to have the suspension at full length with the tyres still on the ground, 395mm




Front spring remain unchanged,
Rear springs swapped out for a 2nd sets of fronts.


After heights from ground to top of arch
Rear right 755mm
Rear left 775mm
Front left 760mm
Front right 740mm
Ground to bottom of towbar hitch 310mm












And an after measurement where I jacked up the car again via the tow bar to have the suspension at full length with the tyres still on the ground, 395mm



If I get a chance I’ll remeasure tomorrow to see if the after measurements have settled any after driving and I’ll update them. First impressions are positive, car now sits better at the rear, there is space between the rear bump stops and the axle (before it was a finger width away, but I forgot to take this measurement).
There still is room for the suspension to extend.


All measurements are indicators and are a few mm’s out going by the photos but this info might be of use to someone.

Thanks for the help and info that you guys provided, if this doesn’t work out in the longer term then I’ll look into the other springs suggested.

Thanks again for all the info.

Tony.




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Good bit of information this and results look promising.

Also be wary of flexing out the suspension fully as the shock absorber is still the standard length. It may bottom out, possibly damaging it or one of its mounting points. The little shock relocator things that Dave sells are an easy solution.

Looks a positive result otherwise

@Lambert 4 equal length springs, yeah even with standard spring I had a bit of lean, my B4 figures showed that, but I think that’s more to do with what I’m carrying. A wee spacer might be worthwhile in the future.

@riccy would it? Shock is the still the same length, I still have the same amout of droop as before, no? My reckoning is the Max height before tyres lift of the ground is the same B4 and after, so on full compression the coils of the spring would close (or be very close) together before the shock reaches max compression as there is now physically more spring in there, the shock should be ok but poss a slightly longer bump stop is needed as now the bump stop might not be physically able to touch the axle and that can’t be good for the springs. At max extension the shock, in my head anyway, is still the limiting factor and it doesn’t matter what spring if fitted, at full droop the shock is maxed out either way. If I had fitted a longer shock but left the same original spring to try and improve articulation then my understanding is yes the shock could be fully compressed before the bump stop hits, and yeah that could wreck a shock.


I’ll need to get some paper and a pencil looked out and test my theory though

My aim isn’t to gain any extra suspension travel but more to try and regain the lost height/travel from having a heavier load on board all the time (towbar, steel roofrack, sun, amp are all in/on the car 100% of the time, with a toolbox, recovery gear, and a second battery on board 99% of the time too). When I have my little trailer hitched, before it almost sat on the bump stops at the back. With out the trailer hitched, there was only about 15/20mm between the bumpstop and the axle. I had previously stuck my hand in and could only freely pass 1 finger in the gap.

All good points though and worth thinking about. Thanks

T


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Im sorry, I was thinking of a different shock, yes it will work fine, ignore me