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ShadowsPapa

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The Gladiators rear coil springs and D44 axle are sufficient for the masses,
You forget who this is aimed at - not the full-size or even heavy-hauler market. It's a light truck that can do a whale of a job off-road.
Change to leaf springs - may as well give it a different name, take it out of the hard-core off-road market.
A V8 is one thing, but now trying to reinvent the thing? Why not go Dakota or just by a Ram truck.
These were never intended to "compete" with heavier trucks.
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houseofdiesel

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No offense but I hate leaf springs . Rough as a cob. Wear the bearings out in your back with rear leafs. Just simply hate them .
These are F150 Q80 Deavers. The ride is the exact same except far more stable. Articulation is the exact same as factory as well. Zero reason for coils on a pickup anymore with modern tech.
 

ShadowsPapa

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These are F150 Q80 Deavers. The ride is the exact same except far more stable. Articulation is the exact same as factory as well. Zero reason for coils on a pickup anymore with modern tech.
Seems to me to be the other way around. Leaf springs were the thing "way back" then the move to coils - which is more modern.

Show me an SUV or truck with leaf springs that can articulate as much as with coils - I'd like to see one that does that.

Leaf springs are for heavy trucks that don't need the articulation. Good for payload but these aren't made for that.

Here's a really good summary, and since these Jeeps are aimed at those who off-road and need articulation (thus the solid front axle setup), leaf springs on these would be a step back by decades.

1754796998292-vd.png


I've had both. I don't mind the leaf springs for the cars I have, but I'm done with leaf spring trucks.
(also tired of the leaf spring sag and axle wrap)

So - who here would buy a Gladiator with LEAF SPRINGS.
Be honest.
 
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Hootbro

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The Ranger Heavy Duty is an interesting truck that I'd consider buying for use on our farm if available in the U.S.
Reminded me of the "1 Ton" rated compact Toyota trucks sold in the 1980's.
 

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houseofdiesel

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Until you've riden in a proper leaf spring setup you'd never understand. Ive been building trucks exclusively with leafs for over 30 years and only things im running coilovers on are strictly crazy articulation rock crawlers. Anything that travels at speed absolutely sucks with coils. The body roll when driving back road twisties or while towing is an absolute joke. Stellantis couldn't even do the airbag 3500 system properly to where it rode like a bag system should. My modified Kelderman '75 F350 however rides like a dream. I can build/design roll resistance into a coilover, you can't with a coil. I'd be more than happy to do a video with anyone to prove its hands down better in ever way. And as you can see it cleared out tons of room under the bed. Lb for lb the weight is about the same.

Have you ever ridden in a Deaver sprung rig?
 

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Lol, leaf springs 🤣 really you would actually pay hard earned cash for old tech😂 okay here I go...

Its a JEEP it goes off road .
Leafs hold the axles from dropping the capabilities of the Jeep would go out of the window. There would be no more rolling up over huge uneven obstacles without lots of rollovers. Leaf springs are for blacktop on road heavy hauler.
This is a Jeep an OFF-ROAD capable vehicle . 😂 I cant believe what I am reading .
 

RodRecket

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Lol, leaf springs 🤣 really you would actually pay hard earned cash for old tech😂 okay here I go...

Its a JEEP it goes off road .
Leafs hold the axles from dropping the capabilities of the Jeep would go out of the window. There would be no more rolling up over huge uneven obstacles without lots of rollovers. Leaf springs are for blacktop on road heavy hauler.
This is a Jeep an OFF-ROAD capable vehicle . 😂 I cant believe what I am reading .
Cmon... the reason these threads go 13 pages deep because of outlandish statements like that!

How we went from celebrating the seeming prospect of a V8 JT to talking leaf springs in them is mind blowing and expected at the same time. People love saying shit to get others going. Rage bait.
 

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Show me an SUV or truck with leaf springs that can articulate as much as with coils - I'd like to see one that does that.
My old F & R leaf suspension flexed all day
-Front: sprung over W/ 2 inch CJ Front springs with a leaf removed from main pack , missing link drop shackles and a panhard bar
-Rear: Sprung over W/ 2 inch Front YJ springs

I reached possibly the end tuning wise between the balance of flex, articulation and fighting wheel hop. Hence, why I ended up linking it and moving over to Nitrogen charged struts .. completely skipping over coils

1754817975315-yc.jpg
 
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rubicon4wheeler

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There's more to offroad capability than just extreme articulation. At a certain point, more is not better. Leafs have proven to be able to provide more than enough articulation, as seen above.

One of the benefits of leaf springs which I haven't seen mentioned yet is their design spreads payload and towing loads over a large section of the vehicle's frame, whereas the vehicle's load is concentrated on the upper coil spring perches in an application like the Gladiator or Ram 1500/2500. The additional leverage can create a weak point in the frame.

As a multi-purpose Jeep truck, I would honestly prefer that my Gladiator be equipped with leaf springs in back, but the coil setup hasn't failed me after I got it dialed in.
 

Zachanadandy

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Until you've riden in a proper leaf spring setup you'd never understand. Ive been building trucks exclusively with leafs for over 30 years and only things im running coilovers on are strictly crazy articulation rock crawlers. Anything that travels at speed absolutely sucks with coils. The body roll when driving back road twisties or while towing is an absolute joke. Stellantis couldn't even do the airbag 3500 system properly to where it rode like a bag system should. My modified Kelderman '75 F350 however rides like a dream. I can build/design roll resistance into a coilover, you can't with a coil. I'd be more than happy to do a video with anyone to prove its hands down better in ever way. And as you can see it cleared out tons of room under the bed. Lb for lb the weight is about the same.

Have you ever ridden in a Deaver sprung rig?
Look at all the trophy trucks and ultra 4 cars running leaf springs...oh wait there aren't any. Deavers are great, for leaf springs. I'm sure your trucks are faster than pro4 trucks though? Deavers are as good as it gets with leaf springs, comparing them to a stock gladiator is just silly. The other drawback of leaves, especially flexible ones, is axle wrap. I ran deavers in the back of my xj. Bound up in the rocks with enough traction in the rear they would wrap enough to grenade the rear drive shaft. Looked into building an anti wrap bar after the 2nd time, but figured if I was going to run any links there was no need for leaf springs. Triangulated 4 link and air shocks. Way more flex and 0 axle wrap. Never broke another rear driveshaft. As far as for hauling you can run into the same issue. Trying to pull a 10k pounds trailer from a stop up a loose hill can quickly turn to axle wrap, wheel hop, and broken parts. 4 links practically eliminate that altogether (the bushings flex enough to allow a very tiny amount but nothing like leaf springs). My ram 1500 with air suspension didn't care if I overloaded the bed with a 2700lb pallet of bird seed or drug an 8500lb trailer with the JLUR in it through the trail looking for a camping spot.
 
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Chasm

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Sorry, but correct answer for Jeep suspension is hydraulics!

 
 







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