neilert said:
Here is a first pass of a rear bracket that is solid rather than 12GA bent plate. The solid bracket would not allow mud/grease/rust to take over. This bracket was just supposed to be stronger, but I'd be interested in thoughts on how this could be indexed, sliding front to rear to raise and lower the ride height. If it's just a bad idea alltogether, feel free to comment.
While I am NOT claiming to be a self-proclaimed "Rear Spring Expert", if you read my thread, you'll know that I just spent over a week rebuilding and replacing my rear springs.
I liked the ride that I had (with gas charged rear shocks), but I only had THREE inches of ground clearance. I ended up using the top 2 leaves from the Jule springs and the bottom 3 leaves from my stock Healey springs. The ride height came up about 2 inches and with after a short trip, the ride seems OK.
I used 1" spacer blocks and bought new, longer, U-bolts.
I think that your drawing is fantastic and the machine work that you have done is outstanding, but why do you need a stronger rear bracket ? Has your existing bracket broken ? If not, why is IT not strong enough ?
Having spent quite a few hours with my hands in the rear spring bracket pocket, I know that there is less than an inch between the top of the spring brakcet and the top of the pocket it is in. I also cannot see any way to lower the bracket.
Because of the arc of the spring shackle, moving the bracket Up-Down-Front-Rear will not provide more than a few 1/8ths of height adjustment.
If I had it to do all over again, knowing what I now know, instead of buying new springs and having to modify my spring stack, I'd take some leaves out of the stock springs and put the money into a set of Air-Lift air bags. Then, buy adjusting the air pressure, I could set the ride height and ride firmness anywhere I wanted it.
I have a set of bags on the rear of my RV and can adjust the ride height up to 4" and get nearly any sort of ride I want. With an on-board compressor, I can even adjust on the fly. I bought the Healey springs B4 I put the bags on the RV.
What are your thoughts on using air bags ?
Tim