school me on leaf spring slider box's

[locked 4x4]

Just interested if anyone has been running leaf spring slider box's instead of shackles.  Ive been looking into them for my current project.  I like the idea of them because they keep the vehicle nice and low and seem pretty easy to make.  My worries are that they might not be smooth as shackles and they might be noisy.  Most of what I have found when looking them up though is just peoples opinions and theories on them and not a lot of input from people actually running them.  So if anyone is running them let me know the pro's and con's 

[suprawheeler]

I have never seen anything like that. Its kinda cool idea though.

[Nimyad]

I'd like to know people's experiences as well, I've been thinking about doing those more and more up front on my truck. Who sells them?

[locked 4x4]

liquid iron industries sells them but I feel like it would be pretty easy and cheap to make your own. 
http://www.liquidironindustries.com/product.php?productid=17611

[88_Pathy]

On a bumpy fire road to the trail head I have a feeling that they will not offer the smoothest ride.

[mudaddict]

I have never seen anything like that. Its kinda cool idea though.

i agree. pretty cool idea though i would like to know what you find out if anyone is running them. just looks like the movement is very limited though unlike a shackle.

[emsvitil]

For smoothness, the bolt would need rollers so it would roll through the slot..............

[Nimyad]

Not necessarily, uhmw is so hard and slick. I can't imagine there'd be a problem with it sliding.

[zembalayan]

I have a set of LLI slider boxes that I have not yet applied/used with a project yet.  Some of the main criticisms that I have heard for them are:  they will need to be protected to a certain extent because if the are warped, bent or damaged they could bind up; also, in a front application, the spring pack could face more stress just like a shackle forward set up does. 

I like the idea a lot though.  Wilson has posted up good info and experiences on ih8mud and pirate, too.  I will post a link.

[zembalayan]

Here it is:

http://forum.ih8mud.com/hardcore-corner/525852-leaf-sliders-3.html

[H8PVMNT]

Willy Worthey from 4 Wheeler used these on a jeep he built back in the day.  I saw the jeep in his garage but not in action. They worked all right as far as he said and I saw pics of it flexing well.

[4-lo]

i'd say its good if you trailer your rig to the trail.  i'd wouldn't use it on my dd.

[H8PVMNT]

From what I was told they handle better on the road than shackles if set up right. I have wrote them off because they look weird, seem like they have more wear parts and they wouldn't allow things to deflect as much while articulating...

On a go fast/fire roader truck I think they would be a good choice though.

[Jr0mer0]

For smoothness, the bolt would need rollers so it would roll through the slot..............

where is your logic sir

[Yotaleigheehoo]

Looks like it acts similar to a "slipper spring" setup used on equipment trailers. It's used because shackles tend to break under heavy loads whereas the "slipper" absorbs the heavy load better during harsh impacts.

I too think its a bad idea for a DD.

[Wainiha]

Interesting.  Let's hear more.  Anyone?

[3toys]

I would think articulation would be limited a bit since there would be no shackles to be leveraged out away from the centerline of the spring.  I know the leafs separate, and twist a bit, but with the sliders they couldn't as if there were a shackle.  So possibly more stress of the springs (read: breakage) if articulation were repetitive and excessive.

[locked 4x4]

Since I started this thread I went ahead and put slider boxs on my 53 willys for both the front and rear.  I made the boxes out of 3x3 box tubing 1/4 wall i believe.  I did all my cutting with a torch and welded 1/2" X 3/4" flat bar for the derlum to ride on.  So far they work great.  I have not been able to put them to the test yet because I am still tuning the suspension.  I have been playing with adding and subtracting leaf springs.  I also need to add bump stops and shocks.  Due to work my project has slowed to a crawl but in a few months or so I plan to be mashing on them pretty hard. 







 

[yotacrawler1]

excited to hear feed back 

[IronClad]

looks like you dont have enough compression travel.. looks like your spring is bending weird on the front end of the spring (right rear spring) from being bottomed out in the slider.

[Wainiha]

This is a good thread.

I wonder if maybe anyone in this TTORA thread is here and has a thought?  Maybe there are more crawlers here than desert guys, but I am interested if they have a comment.

http://www.ttora.com/forum/showthread.php?t=186334

[pumkin toy]

From what I was told they handle better on the road than shackles if set up right. 

I would think articulation would be limited a bit since there would be no shackles to be leveraged out away from the centerline of the spring.  I know the leafs separate, and twist a bit, but with the sliders they couldn't as if there were a shackle.  So possibly more stress of the springs (read: breakage) if articulation were repetitive and excessive.

I too think its a bad idea for a DD.

A guy i did some fab work for made a set for his cj.  He loves them.  He says they flex better, and handle much better on the road.  I guess after installing them it took away alot of the "body roll" feeling when driving on the highway. So he actually prefers them for a DD.  Probably because a shackle allows the vehicle to lean away from the spring and the slider boxes do not.  As far as flex goes, the springs seem to move more freely and not bind up as bad. 
The main thing he does not like is the fact that they are so damn big and clunky.  Thats the first thing i noticed and thought of right away.  They look like they will get hung up on alot of stuff pretty easily.

So all in all it sounds like a great mod (if you can figure out a way to streamline the design and make them as small as possible so they dont hang up on everything)

[pumkin toy]

also everyone seems to be concered about the srping not being able to twist and just binding up inside the slider.  The leaf spring still uses the stock bushing so it can squish and flex in there like normal. you can see in the pic that Locked 4x4 posted, that the spring is still twisting inside the box like it should.

[86bobbedtoy]

to get it out of the way why not build them in the frame and have a 2-3" bracket  through the frame, if you can keep up with my words-writing

[pumkin toy]

to get it out of the way why not build them in the frame and have a 2-3" bracket  through the frame, if you can keep up with my words-writing

sounds like a good idea, but that would take away a lot of lift without having the height of the box just like a shackle.  It would also change the caster a lot on the front axle

[zembalayan]

sounds like a good idea, but that would take away a lot of lift without having the height of the box just like a shackle.  It would also change the caster a lot on the front axle

I think running the boxes up front within an integrated frame set up would be great but for sure you would want to optimize rear fixxed mount locations as well to determine how angles/numbers would change through the entire suspension cycle.  What is ideal about this type of set up is that with droop you will see less pinion angle changes and less need for an extending drive line up front as you do with the typical Toy mini setup with the fixed point up front and shackles at the firewall.  I also think about running a traction bar up front if room permits to handle axle wrap and protect the drive line too.  Will the truck have some weird skateboard affect at speed?  I dunno.  If I built one, it would be plain slow crawler though.

[locked 4x4]

to get it out of the way why not build them in the frame and have a 2-3" bracket  through the frame, if you can keep up with my words-writing

I thought about this but the problem is that I ran out of room on the front end.  If I sunk the slider boxes into the frame I would be forced to run low steer which I didn't want to go that route.  Other peoples circumstances might be different but for my application there was just barley enough room and I still need to add bump stops so my steering wont smash into the frame at full compression. 

looks like you dont have enough compression travel.. looks like your spring is bending weird on the front end of the spring (right rear spring) from being bottomed out in the slider.

Looks are deceiving.  I set it up so that the slider box is about an 1" longer than the spring.  So the springs can become inverted and not touch the end of the box.  Right now the springs run pretty flat and that is why it looks like it may hit. 

[BigMike]

I have not been able to put them to the test yet because I am still tuning the suspension
...
in a few months or so I plan to be mashing on them pretty hard

locked 4x4: Any update on this? Have you finished tuning and done any mashing yet? Thanks

BigMike

[locked 4x4]

locked 4x4: Any update on this? Have you finished tuning and done any mashing yet? Thanks

BigMike

I had the willys all put together and driving.  The front in is dialed but the rear end I was having trouble with drive line angles so I cut the back of the frame off and am extending it out a bit to try and lessen the angle.  Works been slow though because my new job keeps me pretty busy. 

[locked 4x4]