I was having some random suspension lift thoughts (bizarre, huh?) and was wondering if anyone has SPOA'd thier rear end and 1/4" spacers plus BJ flip/T-bar crank on the IFS front?

At one time Dallas had his rear SPOA with an IFS front. The problem is that a simple SPOA gains you a minimum of 5", quite a stretch for the IFS front.

As I remember, there were significant issues with the driveline, also.

Also, Corbin runs coil-overs in the front of his 2nd Gen Amigo.

I think it more went like... he blow up a transmission on the way back from Moab and thats what pointed StinkBug down the dark side of SAS and driveline swaps!

Basically, if you're careful about it, and minimize everything about the SOA and maximize the front lift to where its riding on the snubbers, then you can probably get within an inch or two height diffence front/rear.

-Rob

There's also possibly an excellent benefit to doing this: you can remove a leaf from the rear spring pack, potentially. This would give you a drastically softer suspension in the back, greatly enhancing flex (at least in the rear). My rig's set up with stock rear springs, stock old-school waggy springs in the front. The net effect is that the spring rate is wicked supple (ask anyone who's taken a roundabout in the Rodeo at 15-20mph with me...) and makes for some awesome off-road-a-bility.

Again, just a thought.

- mike

gotta be careful here though, sure you can remove leaves that would likely help lots with the height and add to flexyness, but the downside to this is loss of spring rate which results in a rear end that sags fast and will induce much more axle wrap.

This is often a trade off with SAS's, i know it has been for me. balancing spring rate against height and flex. I know with my first stab at it, I got the ride height I was after, but a stiff breeze on the hood could compress her to the bump stops. I'm much better now, but like Mike mentioned, throwing some high speed corners can scare the pants off of just about anyone.

-Rob

Let's not forget how StinkBug got it's name either. SOA in the rear with torsion bars cranked and the back end sat *much* higher than the front and he was quickly dubbed 'StinkBug' by Randii cause that's kinda what it looked like.

Have you see the SOA tech article? On a 1st gen, it's hard to even it out as you can only get about 3" out of the front.

I would not suggest removing leaves though. I know of a few people (myself included) that did that and promptly bent them up the first trip out. I think you could get away with removing (or flipping over) the over-load leaf on the bottom. I think George R. removed his without a problem, though he did add airbags to retain his load carrying ability. Don't remove a leaf from the main pack though, it will bend if you do (check page 3 of the article above).

--Dan

Hey there - just a quite note to let you all know that I've sobered up from the doughnut and coffee-induced mania I was suffering from this morning. Enough so to remember that I did remove some leaves from my spring packs when I went SOA in the rear.

However, they were there from the original Calmini 3" lift.

So, now I'm back to a stock spring pack.

Duh. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif" alt="" />

- mike

someone on pirate had said to use 82-89 rear yota leaf packs with less arch. Sounds good to me. I wanted to soa my wifes 86 t.d. but didnt want to rear end way up in the air like i have seen. maybe the yota springs are the answer to some better flex out of the zuzu's.

I've done it on my rodeo. My spring pack was sagging pretty badly, so I decided to leave my add-a-leaf in. As it is, its resting on the add-a-leaf, so if I took it out my springs would invert. It first netted me somewhere around 8" of rear lift. I threw about 400 lbs of cinder blocks in the rear and that brought it down to a more reasonable 6". I've been slowly removing the blocks as it settles.

I first cranked the front until it was sitting on the bumpstops, at about 4.5" lift. It gets a bit <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/zombie.gif" alt="" /> going over bumps though, so I cranked it down just a little bit so its at least not sitting on the bumpstops.

So about 4.25" front, 6" rear, it has a definite rake to it, doesn't look rediculous though. I still plan on redrilling the front spring hanger to lower the rear some, then I can dial the front down too.

Yes, still have the two piece driveshaft. It vibrates real bad from 0-5 mph then surprisingly, evens out. Still has enough extension for full flex.

Overall, I would not recommend it, unless you are planning on SAS soon.