Buggy spring

[nudewheeler]

Howdy Folks -

Curious if anyone has implemented any variation of a buggy spring on the M1009 or M1008. Chatted with a guy yesterday who build a few dedicated crawler rigs (that still ran on the street). He introduced me to the idea of a buggy spring.

Anyone fabbed together an interpretation of a buggy spring on a CUCV?

From my reading, seems as though this is a but more common in lighter weight vehicles. I feel safety may be a bit jeopardized by running this setup. I don't believe there is really anything left in place to positively locate the axle laterally under the vehicle.

I couldn't find many setups or reading about buggy-springs online. I did find this picture that somewhat demonstrates the concept. Basically, mount the upper shackle bolt to a spring eye of another spring. This other spring is cut ~ 12 inches long, and fastened to the frame. This allows for mass articulation. When the axle droops and the shackle reaches a vertical state, it then begins to flex the spring that is attached to the top of shackle downward allowing for even more droop.

Anyways, anyone thrown this idea on a CUCV?

 

[Firejareen]

I have seen that on Jeeps and older broncos, the norm on the rocks. It might work on an 09, having the lighter components. It might be pushing the upper springs strength on an 08/28. You would deffinately need some way to lock the side to side movement down. Maybe like a pin that is in the frame that slides through a hole in the upper spring that you could lock while driving on the road. Somewhat like the front swaybar dis-connects for jeeps. When you hit the dirt pull the pins. If you end up doing it make sure to take pics. Good luck.

 

[gimpyrobb]

It has been done for a long time. It helps with axle droop, just make sure you don't droop enough to fall off the driveshaft slip yolk. I think the Terraflex shackles do the same thing.

 

[wkbrdngsnw]

That looks scary in terms of lateral support. It looks like it is adding twice the normal sideways spring flex so good luck on the highway.

I personally like the revolver shackles since they are usually pretty strong and can be locked for highway use. Any large droop suspention in the rear has the problem of nosediving under breaking. Some can be eliminated with good shocks but its still there.