Transverse Leaf Springs ???

[MobilOne]

On that Miller Special pictured above, notice the inboard drum brakes. Neat!

[freebeard]

This is still just an idea floating around in the back of my warped mind though. Will probably never see the light of day.

I've got one of those too. It also contains an idea.



That model was made in 1995. Six inches narrower in the rear with 'cantilevered' airfoil front torsion bars. Narrowing a Beetle rear end involves cutting and narrowing the rear torsion bar tube. I'd thought about a traverse spring above or below the transaxle.

[hat_man]

OK. So the pipe dream may have just turned into a hypothetical situation after seeing freebeard's bug.

First a couple of questions for freebeard. First, how hard is that to align with the offset rear wheels? Second, how does it track down the road? Third, how does it handle (in general and in a cross wind)?

Oilpan4...a couple for you. First, I can see with a Suburban how having multiple points to support the body weight is a good thing. But with my Ranger we're talking a fraction of that weight. The step-side, with the narrower metal bed/tub and fiberglass body sides, probably weighs less than 150 pounds. Factor out towing or load in the bed. I don't tow anything and even if I did it would be a 4x6 trailer with a riding mower in it. And if I were to actually build this truck it wouldn't be for load hauling anyhow. Highway transportation to work and back. No real load other than clothes and stuff if I have to stay in a hotel for an extended job. I would probably be OK with only 2 points (mono leaf attached to each side of the frame) supporting such a light load? Second, the Corvette mono leaf is made of a reinforced fiberglass of some kind. I think the article says it's something like 4 times stronger than steel. I don't think I would have to add any extra leafs. At 4 times stronger 2 points should be OK. Imagine the pic of the mono leaf mounted on the ends directly to the axle with something similar to the pic of the brackets welded to the axle and where the 2 "blocks" are mounted to the frame or a fabbed attachment point. Being a mono leaf the "blocks" aren't clamps that sandwich the leafs together and maybe can be moved? I've never seen one in person only in pictures.

Another thought that occurred to me is that when I hit a bump or corner hard and there is body roll, do the leafs make up for this keeping both rear wheels in contact with the pavement? This concerned me so I started looking on the Web and found the pic below. (Great, I forgot to save the pic and now I can't find it. I'll keep looking and edit for it.) If the mono leaf works like this wouldn't it work like the stock leaf springs I have now and compensate for body roll? The stock shock and spring set up in the front would take care of the front.

In searching the Web I did find this pic and it only opened up more thoughts. I was actually looking for a pic of how the rear shocks attach to the frame and the axle and found this one. It looks like they relocated the leafs to the underside of the frame. You can see the holes where the front shackle was removed and the rear attachment point. I think this would raise the bed though, and I would have to attach the leafs under the axle instead of over it. I don't think it would lower the bed any, and that is something else that I would want if I ever followed through on this grand idea.

The search also lead to pictures of these coil-over shocks. Is this something that could be substituted for my regular shocks and still support the weight of the bed with the steel leafs removed? The shocks in the pic with the bed removed (NOT MY TRUCK) have been relocated. The stock rear shock set up is like the close up pic of the black shocks. The shocks mount at an angle of about 60° in each direction towards the front and rear and attach to the frame and tabs welded onto the axle.

Any new thoughts?

[hat_man]

In looking closer at the pics I can see that a Corvette mono leaf can not possibly attach to the axle and frame at the same time so that particular mounting option is out. That does leave attaching to the axle and a fabbed up mounting bracket welded into the frame though.

[freebeard]

First a couple of questions for freebeard. First, how hard is that to align with the offset rear wheels? Second, how does it track down the road? Third, how does it handle (in general and in a cross wind)?

Hypothetically? It's 1/25th scale plastic, currently in parts in a box. The tires are off a model AA Fuel dragster. Without a massive rear weight bias it wouldn't corner well.

• Align the inset rear wheels? Same as it ever was.
• OK except with snow on the road, but better than a tricycle
• Like an Isetta

Rather than centrally mounting the transverse leaf spring and thus isolating the left and right sides of the springs, some manufacturers, starting with Fiat used two widely spaced spring mounts. This was first used on the front of the 1955 Fiat 600 and later at the rear on the Fiat 128. The spring is allowed to pivot inside of the mounts which allows the displacement of the spring on one side affect the other side. This mechanical communication between the left and right sides of the suspension results in an effect similar to that of an anti-roll bar.[1][2] Chevrolet Corvettes, starting with the 4th generation in 1984 have combined the dual pivot mounts with FRP leaf springs.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Independent_suspension#Transverse_leaf-spring

The picture of the bed-less Ranger is helpful. Are your rear tires that wide? You can only use about half of that gap to the frame to allow for body roll and bumps. If you put the axle between the frame and spring you'd have to C- or Z- the frame (not finding pics). Traverse leaf springs also require a high kick-up (Model Ts had the spring on top of the axle, Model As have it behind the axle)

Coil-overs are incompatible with stock shock mounts.

Considering the cost/benefit, here's what I would do:

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Some old Euro cars such as the DKW and the Fiat 127 (and its derivatives) used to have a transverse leaf spring independent suspension. In the DKW, due to the longitudinal engine, it was possible to have this setup in both axles, while in the Fiat due to the transverse engine it was only used in the rear axle while the front suspension was a conventional McPherson. Brazilian versions of the Fiat Uno (not the current model) retained the Fiat 127 suspension.