TSCB - lotta pix

[TWINSET]

Torsion Sprung Clod Buster []

Had this rolling about in the space between me ears for a fair while now.

It has most of the mods I've been working on - Behind the axle steering, cheap, easy chassis and the aforementioned torsion spring suspension.

Springs came from a company we used to deal with at work, they're 10lb springs, which once you do all the leverage calculations, work out about the same rating as 3lb truck springs further down the links.

Even with the 10mm of travel on the shocks, there's 45° of artic on the axle - not something I planned, but there ya go.

I still need to find a tidier way of securing the ends of the springs, but a clamp doesn't work as the force from the springs twists the links waaaaay too much - Any ideas welcome

Chassis needs bringing down a bit - with no wheels there's 3'' of clearance!

Big thanks to Wijnand (alu cutter) for the chassis, top plate and axle braces, and Dave (fastboy) for the shock mounts, spring bosses, and little turned bits - CHEERS GUYS

[fastboy]

so are the springs actually bending the rods or trying to turn them round and undoing the rod ends?

just wondering if we could bend the end of the spring tail and point it directly at the rod from the side and fasten it to the rod with a bracket or with a thru hole in the rod,that should eliminate the twisting of a rod as the wire would have to try and twist itself thru 90 degrees to turn the rod.

dave

[fastboy]

if the rod is bending before the spring is moving then its because of the spring being so close to the pivot point and the leverage being applied so far away..if the tail of the spring was much longer and located on the far side it wouldnt bend,but i spose your limited by spring strength then because of a greater levearge,then the tail spring would bend rather than the coil..rather like a leaf spring.

dave

[TWINSET]

Yup, spring force is rated 1'' from centre of spring, so I'm past limits now.

These were the longest springs they made

One thing I had thought of, was a ring of alu, with a 1/4'' centre hole and a 2mm hole drilled at the edge of that, which would hold the end fine, but not clamp it.

It's not bending the link, just deforming the ball joint a helluva lot, a free floating fixture would be fine methinks

I tried bending the springs, but a 90° has varying results - I've snapped two springs trying to cold bend them, and deformed a set of crimps []

Not sure if stainless springs would bend better, but then the same spring only has 90% force in stainless (these are music wire)

Need a vice and a hammer really

[fastboy]

alloy balljoint?

[TWINSET]

lol, then summat else would go!

Solve, not hide (pious background music)

4 of them I reckon, up against the shock clamp

[fastboy]

but i thought you said it was the plastic balljoint thats bending because of the levearge from the spring?

[TWINSET]

It doesn't bend with those cable ties there, only when I clamp the spring with those extra shock mounts

Whatever holds the spring needs to rotate freely around the link

[fastboy]

sooo....an alloy block with a 1/4 small walled bearing in it then,i notice the spring doesnt run parallel with the rod a normal bushing would possibly jam as the arm is raised

[fastboy]

or(your prolly doing this now lol) get a 1/4 bearing and just tiewrap the spring tail to it

[Cul-Tech]

Cool Concept, I especially like the behind the axle steering.

Is there any way you can connect the spring with a short link like you see on torsion bars on the cars? Like on the rear swaybar of the Avante 2001 maybe.

[TWINSET]

Hey Mike

That might be an idea, it needs that, or a Z bend in the spring, to crank it over towards the link a bit more, on full artic, the sring is bent off line a good 15-20 degrees.

Trouble is, these springs don't bend well, they're 2mm diameter wire, and snap easy

As for the bearing Dave, I was toying with those brass 'headed' tubes I keep not using, one of them in a bit of alu would probly work.

One of the old shops also used hard stainless, so may try that too........

[phiber_optik]

Twinset you have some serious creative going on there, not sure how to solve your problem though. BTW the behind the axle steering looks great.

[Backlash]

I think Cul-Tech has the right idea. Remove the shock all together. Remove the spring from its current location, but replace the arm (rod), keeping the ball end close to the chassis. Now bolt the spring to the chassis where the top of the shock was bolted, with the piece to be joined to the arm close to the chassis and the tail away from the chassis, and facing down. Place a ball end on the end of the spring, either a sway bar end like on the Hotshot, or use a normal ball end and a collar either side to hold the ball end in place.Then run a short link down to the shock bracket on the arm. This would allow you to adjust the trucks ride height easily, by changing the length of the link.

Effectively this should work like a cantilever on the TXT without having to have the shocks. The only problem I can see is fastening the other end of the spring to something. If the springs work the same either being "wound up" (as you have them fitted) and "unwound", a solution may be to leave the long bolt in place when you initially move the spring from where the lower arm bolts on, then have the "tail" of the spring press against that.

Just an idea......

[DJTheo]

Andy, nice one as always [8D]. One question though, how do you define your spring ratings? How much do the springs deform at that force, 1 inch, 50%, fully??? Afaik linear springs are defined by generated force per deformation (N/m or lb/inch?) and torsion springs by generated torque per angle (Nm/° or Nm/radiant or poundinch/°).

Cheers

[TWINSET]

Hey Theo

I got no idea at all chap!

1'' along tail, from centre of spring is where the rating is achieved, but after that, I'm flyin' blind []

[fastboy]

hey ive done your other bits..jump on msn fool!

[MadMax]

quote:hey ive done your other bits..jump on msn fool!

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Could'nt have put it better myself N1 Dave [}][}]

[TWINSET]

Jeez, spend the day away from a PC and it all goes to pot []