buggy springs

L

lankchevy

New member
well im wanting to get some more flex out of my cj5 and was wanting to do buggy springs front and rear. it has a shackle reversal in the front and is normal in the rear. ive seen on the web where people have done SRs and buggys on the front, or just buggys on the rear. but i havent seen anyone that had them front and rear. so does anyone run buggy springs? if u do what do u think about them. i was thinking about the handling characteristics on road and figured it would be simple to rig an extra u bolt to the frame to keep the buggy leaf from moving then when i go wheeling just take them off or loosen them up and move the extra u bolt back to where it doesnt interfer with the buggy leaf. so what does everyone think about this? i need some more flex since i cant afford lockers yet and i like playin in the rocks. ill try to get some pics of my jeep up before to long since ive but the 35s on and painted it.

kolby
 

enlighten us (me) what buggy springs are, ive never heard of them that i remember
 

I was thinking about getting buggy springs on my YJ until I did a lot of asking around about it at our local 4 wheel drive shops. According to these guys, buggy springs will greatly reduce your leaf spring life because they are moving all that much more but if you can rig up a u-bolt to stop this when on road, I don't see why not. They also say it creates a very bouncy ride and you can hear them slapping against the frame. I ended up getting TeraFlex Revolver Shackles instead. Drives exactly the same on the street and when fully opened, I get almost 9 extra inches of wheel travel. For those of you who don't know what buggy springs are, they are like little leaf springs that attach to the ends of your main leaf springs and bolt to the frame. It's hard to explain so I'll try and find a link to a picture.

http://www.undrground.org:8000/jeep/tech/buggy/images/P1010019s.jpg
http://www.undrground.org:8000/jeep/tech/buggy/images/P1010020s.jpg
http://www.undrground.org:8000/jeep/tech/buggy/images/P1010021s.JPG
http://www.undrground.org:8000/jeep/tech/buggy/images/P1010023s.jpg
http://www.jpmagazine.com/jpmag/featuredvehicles/p58590_image_large.jpg
 
i dont understand why it would reduce the life of ur spring packs tho? it does pretty much the same thing as a revolver shackle cause the extra droop is only coming from the buggy spring not the main spring pack.
 

Craig said:
I ended up getting TeraFlex Revolver Shackles instead. Drives exactly the same on the street
Click to expand...

I was going to get those and was talked out of it. I was told they make for shaky street manners. You say they're ok on the street? Wow, 9 extra inches of wheel travel is a lot!!! I guess new brake lines are a must when you put them on!
 
TwistedCopper said:
Craig said:
I ended up getting TeraFlex Revolver Shackles instead. Drives exactly the same on the street
Click to expand...

I was going to get those and was talked out of it. I was told they make for shaky street manners. You say they're ok on the street? Wow, 9 extra inches of wheel travel is a lot!!! I guess new brake lines are a must when you put them on!
Click to expand...
I didn't even notice they're on there. It's not shakey at all, drives exactly the same as if there were normal shackles on there. The only thing I was concerned about was the revolvers opening up around a corner but with the front sway bar attached, it's never been a problem. Even when I had my front sway bar out, I could never get the revolvers to open up around a corner. Of course with the revolvers or buggy springs, they're usless unless you have some kind of sway bar disconnect. The trac bars also limit the shackles. A lot of guys that have coupled the revolvers with the z-boxes end up having to use limiting straps or they will pull their drive shafts out or bind up the joints. As for the buggy springs reducing the life of your main leaf springs, that's just what I was told by 4 different shops I went into to ask about them.
 
jeepin916 said:
Snitty said:
anything that allows more easy compression of the springs will reduce life
Click to expand...

true true i agree with Snitty
Click to expand...

umm why would buggy springs make it easier for the spring to compress tha normal? it only helps with droop. or am i messing something big here? cause unless its drooped then the buggy spring stays against the frame and acts like a normal shackle mount. someone please explain this to me.

kolby
 

I think the reason buggy springs will reduce the life of your main leaf springs because the buggy's move much easier. The buggy springs aren't nearly as strong or stiff as the main leaf springs and as soon as the buggy spring moves, it causes the main leaf to move also. Since it takes less force to make the buggies move, you're suspension will be working all that much more. From what I've been told is that if you go over a bump which would cause a normal leaf spring to move mabye 1 inch, with buggy springs, the buggy will move first and a greater distance since it has less tension if you know what I mean...kinda hard to explain. Also from what I've been told, you can hear the slapping of the buggies against the frame. If the buggies are slapping against the frame, then every time they hit the frame and come to an abrupt stop, it'll cause your main leafs to take up the rest of the force....again kinda hard to explain.
 
it wasn't a bad explaination....

the spring you will use as your "shackle" will provide much much less resistance to compression than a normal shackle will, and not only for droop.
 
Sounds to me like leaf springs are for Jeeps, and buggy springs may very well best be left for the Amish!

Hey Craig, do you have revolvers front and back???
 

Yep, I've got them front and back. Had em nearly 3 years now and they've taken a beating with no problems at all. They're greasable too. The only problem I've encountered is getting full use of them in the front because of my front trac bar. I've tried taking off the front trac bar but my front axles shift too much from side to side throwing off my steering. Trying to come up with a way to keep my front axle centered yet still get full articulation of my suspension.
 

Not exactly sure what military wraps are but I know that my Old Man Emu springs are supposed to have them. The revolvers fit just fine.
 
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