Lamar said:
Dear JEEPFREEK;
OK, here is the lowdown on Revolvers. First, the flex they provide is pretty much useless because it's unsupported. In other words, it's unsprung weight, which doesn't to ANYTHING to aid traction. To clarify this statement, imagine a front tire that is 12" off of the ground. It's not doing any good because it's not biting into anything, right? It's not providing any traction whatsoever because it's just hanging in space. Now, take that same tire that was 12" off of the ground, only now rest it on the ground by only it's own weight. You still won't achieve any usable traction because at this point the tire on the opposite side of the axle isn't providing enough upwards force to it's opposite mate. So the tire that is just resting on the ground will only spin and burn rubber a bit since it's not getting any downward force applied to it. That being stated, there REALLY IS a GREAT benefit to Revolvers, but NOBODY seems to realize it.
Revolvers greatly reduce or eliminate torsional(twisting) loads on the shackle ends of the leafsprings. This benefit alone will help to extend the life of the mainleaves. This does not mean very much to a stock height or nearly stock height rig, but once it starts getting taller, the leafpacks suffer exponentially from torsional loads. Once you are in the neighborhood of 5" to 6" of lift then you can reasonably expect spring life to be reduced by 50% to 75% over stock height springs. Revolvers are excellent products for reducing this and they can keep your leafpacks healthy for years to come. Why nobody EVER mentions this little fact is a mystery to me.
Your leaf loving friend;
LAMAR
Hmmm.. well I can definatly relate the relate to wanting to have my leafs last a bit longer.. mine are only about 5 years old and already all sorts of bent to interesting curves. I think the only reason i've gotten by on them this long is that for 2 years the jeep was mainly on a Daily driver.. and 2, I have 6 leafs in the pack and they are stock height packs. I'm also running with out a traction bar.. (which i've begun to notice my rear hopping on certain obstacles).
So.. the debate continues.. is the loss of positive pressure on the drooping tire worth the benefit of having the lives of your springs increased?
My thought is that if the tire droops say 6" with the revolvers to just barely touch the ground.. wouldn't the tire then just be 3+ inches above the ground with a normal shackle? At that stage, the drooping tire would still have no traction whilst the other side would continue to have all the traction in both instances.
I probably shouldn't have pulled the rest of my suspension issues into this question as it seems to have detracted away from the main issue at hand that the revolvers may help or not.
I only wanted to share as much info as possible to accomodate a more informed answer.
Currently, my suspension is setup like below.. (yes, i know I'm a tard when it comes to MS paint. I didn't feel like going out and taking a picture of my jeep while I was in my joe boxers.. people would stare funny at me.)
the problem is that the shackls (at least in front). I think are too long as the shackle already seems extended and therefore all articulation comes from the springs.. (and coincedentally, most off road bumps are absorbed by my passengers and me instead of the suspension). while I wheeled like this for a while blissfully unaware, my fiancee has a TJ and whilst driving said TJ.. I started to realise the allure of the coils.. (please help me lamar).
I would just like my suspension to work well offroad (articulation) but still be able to drive it on road as my daily driver..
It's also appearant in these two pics as you can there isn't much difference in movement between full droop and compression.
