No dispute that leafs & drums are better for loads. But that’s not what the vast majority of DCs are being used for.
This is where the McNissan/Renault is ahead of the game with mid-size bakkies
The big thing that Manny missed is that not only do trucks have leaves and drums - they have beam axles / live axles.
In addition the axles are situated far forwards and far backwards to keep the load over the axles, not in the middle of the load bin like metrosexual bakkies.
this is so that when you put a load on them the wheels remain perpendicular to the road - unlike an unequal length wishbone set up which cambers up as it's loaded.
In addition, the axles being towards the front and rear mean that you put the load between the axles and load both axles - not (as is often the case with metrosexual bakkies) on top of the axle with the load biased towards the rear, which takes weight off the front axle.
The other bonus of live axles all round - the suspension geometry is compatible, even if you use coils up front and leaves at the rear.
you can match a trailing arm / coil live rear to unequal length wishbone front
but as soon as it's leaf spring live rear and unequal length wishbone fronts, you are fighting roll centres and reactive forces.
Basically - it's a reverse mullet. Party at the front and business at the back....
Maar, al die groot trokke gebruik nie meer leaf spring suspension nie...
Meer en meer beweeg weg na air suspension met so n groot massiewe rubber lug kussing...
This is very true , and air suspension / air assisted leaves have been around for decades in trucks .
But always on beam axles in trucks . Leaf springs provide the axle location if equipped or it’s trailing arms which tends to mean more maintenance issues.
Airsprings have also featured in luxury sedans since the sixties - the Merc w100 limos spring to mind - and are incredibly reliable . Sadly air suspension has developed a bit of a bad name in recent years thanks to things like the disco 3 and 4 .
Apocalypse wrote:
The big thing that Manny missed is that not only do trucks have leaves and drums - they have beam axles / live axles.
In addition the axles are situated far forwards and far backwards to keep the load over the axles, not in the middle of the load bin like metrosexual bakkies.
this is so that when you put a load on them the wheels remain perpendicular to the road - unlike an unequal length wishbone set up which cambers up as it's loaded.
In addition, the axles being towards the front and rear mean that you put the load between the axles and load both axles - not (as is often the case with metrosexual bakkies) on top of the axle with the load biased towards the rear, which takes weight off the front axle.
The other bonus of live axles all round - the suspension geometry is compatible, even if you use coils up front and leaves at the rear.
you can match a trailing arm / coil live rear to unequal length wishbone front
but as soon as it's leaf spring live rear and unequal length wishbone fronts, you are fighting roll centres and reactive forces.
Basically - it's a reverse mullet. Party at the front and business at the back....
Maar, al die groot trokke gebruik nie meer leaf spring suspension nie...
Meer en meer beweeg weg na air suspension met so n groot massiewe rubber lug kussing...
This is very true , and air suspension / air assisted leaves have been around for decades in trucks .
But always on beam axles in trucks . Leaf springs provide the axle location if equipped or it’s trailing arms which tends to mean more maintenance issues.
Airsprings have also featured in luxury sedans since the sixties - the Merc w100 limos spring to mind - and are incredibly reliable . Sadly air suspension has developed a bit of a bad name in recent years thanks to things like the disco 3 and 4 .
