quarter elliptic front end heavy truck

[oelbrenner]

building up a rig and wanted to tap into the knowledge here to get some advice.

its a truck frame with a parallel leaf front axle, and was thinking of going with a quarter elliptical spring setup.

either equal length spring and control arm setup, like a 4 bar where one "bar" is the spring (without a shackle)

( first two pictures )

-or-

spring on the top, and longer radius rod on the bottom with a bridged shackle on the spring

( third picture )

-or-

spring roughly in the middle of the axle ( with bridged shackle ) and long control arm attaching above and below axle

( fourth double picture )



the last two pics are the axle im dealing with.

this is a heavy truck and the engine/transmission weight will be several thousand pounds ( Continental LDS-465-1A + Spicer 6453 )


would love some feedback!

 

[Kurtm333]

Springy

I'd go with the something like the first pick. Should be easy to make brakets to fit that axle and that time setup. All will work fine though, all depends on what you want it to look like.

Kurt

 

[Dirtyrat]

I'll give you one other option, where you trangulate the axle with angled upper arms,
have a look at my build, just another option.

 

[oelbrenner]

I'll give you one other option, where you trangulate the axle with angled upper arms,
have a look at my build, just another option.

wow! an 86 page thread.

have a link to the page your front end starts at ?

 

[Dr Crankenstein]

Welcome to RRR.

That's some serious weight.

Check out The Blastolene Special...

 

[oelbrenner]

Welcome to RRR.

That's some serious weight.

Check out The Blastolene Special...

does not look like they are using a shackle ?

seems like that setup would bind, but maybe there is not much suspension travel.

best alternate angle I could find:

 

[Dirtyrat]

wow! an 86 page thread.

have a link to the page your front end starts at ?

I think it starts on page 59.

 

[oelbrenner]

I think it starts on page 59.

ah yes I see it now..

saw something like that here:

does the angled arms help with lateral loads ?

also: your project looks awesome

 

[Dirtyrat]

It locates the axle right to left, yes.
Thanks!

 

[oelbrenner]

update

starting to mock some things up, before and after

small notch in the frame to get rough placement of things.

axle back underneath

moved the axle from below the spring to above the spring

and the start on the frame Z

another view.

connecting the stacked frame sections together, was thinking about a large plate bolted to both sections, or should I weld this plate ( and the channel portion of the frame together as well ?

was also thinking about fully boxing in this section where these two sections meet.

I also plan to put another section ( probably heavy wall 2x6 square tube )
on top of the upper section, as I plan to cut more away for axle movement.


feedback / suggestions ?