Leaf springs

[joshz18]

Hey guys, I have a ke70 wagon now, I really want to drop it, also keep the diff from moving around so much.
Has any one had any experience with the leaf spring setup, I.e can I just weld some mounts on and mount a panhard rod and a sway bar out of a sedan, Would it work well or just be a waste of time.

Cheers Josh

[Gilly]

i'm pretty sure the layout of the leaf springs means you don't need to use a panhard rod as the diff just moves straight up and down the way they are set up. you can get places to flatten them and add one or two mre leafs to bump up the spring rate and lower it at the same time or you can just add a leaf and use lowering blocks. i don't know about sway bars though you might be able to adapt one easy enough.

[rthy]

check rollaclub.com, there was one guy who lowered a leaf spring suspension with out lowering blocks

[ae86levint]

a leaf setup will move quite a bit under hard cornering so a panhard would be beneficial.

[ToySprinta]

Lol, thats geoff on rollaclub, he just flips a leaf over. Not really safe...
Leaf sprung diff's move heaps, just watch any old falcon/commodore, even Hiaces go around corners and the diff moves so much you can see the wheels come out of the inside arches by up to an inch...
Cheap and easy option, put extra clamps around the leafs, stops a bit of movement
Harder options:
Panhard rod, good idea would work
2 link setup... much more money and work but i dunno how much better then a panhard it would be. Its 2 trailing arms mounted in a triangular shape. Also stops diff wind up up too.

Also if you do decide to do this, be careful not to overheat shafts when welding, as this can critically weaken them...

[joshz18]

yeah cheers guys appreciate the info, the reason i want to go through the efforet is because if it works well enough i'll hit the drift track in it, Something a bit more unique being the wagon, Fair enough there is a bit more effort involved to set up the rear, But I have alway wanted something practical during the week that i can ake to the track on the weekends and flog the guts out of]

cheers Josh

[Dems]

Ive had two car leaf sprung cars, the first was a datto 1200, I took one of the small leafs out and replaced it with an upside down 120y item, made it heaps stiffer and only slightly lowered it.
The second was a datto 1000, which I took one of the small leafs out and flipped the main one, it slammed the car on its arse and was heaps stiff, but I kept busting shocks.
I drove around and thrashed the cars quite hard for a long time and I never had a problem with flipped leafs.

[dori_86]

yeah i think 1 of my bro's mate did this which his datto ute (1300?) and later on to his ford panel van, just flipping the top leaf lookd 2 work ok didnt / havnt askd him tho

[klusio]

Hey josh

Jonny has all the info you need hes done it in the KE55, pretty sure he added a heavier leaf and had the eyes rolled down.