Nissan Patrol 4x4 (Africa)

Hi All

I am sitting with these babies donated to me by a forum member two years ago from a GQ..
Let me explain why I am needing some info.... I have this SOA SFA Sani conversion, that has a leaf pack in the front with a military wrap second blade. Seems the guys that did the military wrap screwed up, and did not leave any movement in the second blade eye for the change in length between the blades. I have had a strange handling problem from day one, and no can figure why I would be having this feel. The springs do not seem to have the lateral support they should, and allow the diff to move from side to side quiet a lot. I pulled the eyes open slightly on the military wrap eye, and immediately lost 10mm in ride height, and it is still binding with the first blades eye. This tells me that the pack is carrying the weight of the vehicle through binding between the blades and not the natural curve of the spring. It also leads me to believe that the the tension between the mounting points is wanting to push the spring straight, but it can't bend in the direction it would normally do along the curve of the spring. I think it is now "happy" to release the tension in any direction it can, and while you are driving, and there is sideways movement of the diff, it exaggerates the diff movement to the sides as the spring just wants to unload.

I am afraid to open the eyes up any more, as I think the drop in height is going to just carry on, and I am not sure I want to find out right now where it is going to settle without a backup plan.

Now back to the original question, looking at the front and rear coils from the GQ, that I have laying here in my arsenal. I have had this wish to go coils and panhard on coils, from the beginning, but was told it would be way more involved and expensive than going leafs. So now looking at these springs, what is the carry capacity of the front and rear springs. As "misleading" as size can be, it looks to me that the rear spring (yellow) has a much greater capacity than the front (black) one. Rear also stands a lot taller than the front.

Is it the progressive nature of these springs that are maybe confusing me??

In my application, would the Sani be heavy enough compared to a GQ to use these springs, or am I going to end up with a very hard ride. The Sani last weighed in with 1100kg on the front and 1000kg on the rear. Obviously that has changed on the springs with the SFA, as the unsprung weight has changed totally.

I am slowly getting the rear diff ready for install, as the next part of the build. I am very tempted to go radius arms and Panhard, with coils, as a test run, and to get the feel of the work involved, so as to change the front end later, which I expect to be a little more complicated than the rear end.

Any info on these springs would be appreciated. Any tips, tricks and advise is always welcome.

WOW, not one response ....

OH well, looks like I have sold a few bits of the Sani's old suspension that was cut out, and should have around R2500 to the SFA project. Not enough for a coil setup, so I will bash the rear diff in on the leafs, and keep the coil setup in mind when doing brackets to make things easier later when we are ready for the "upgrade".

David, I think you have quite a bit of work ahead of you so all the beat from my side

I think the answer to your question is not as straight forward and no one really knows how the coils will react to the weight of your Sani.
Even buying off the shelve aftermarket coils for Patrols no one really knows how it will really feel and most people ask others who have already purchased that paricular brand and spec.

I can only emagine that the coils will make your ride very hard as the Sani is lighter than the Patrols. On my Patrol with 400kg rated rear coils the ride is quite a bit harder than the normal rated coils and mine weighs in around 2,700kg unloaded.

I would say that to get hold of the softest rated coils might be the way to go, but I am no expert when it comes to suspensions

Yeah.... I'm also lost on suspensions..... Luckily the SANI is not really that light, so I think it will be hard ride but its do-able

Thanks for the replies. May I ask if someone knows what the Patrol weighs front and rear, or even just total. Michael, you say 2700kg. Wow thats hectic. That is 600kg more than the Sani, or if you break it down, 150kg per corner.

I do think, that just about anything I do on coils, can only be better than the leafs I presently have in, particularly in the front. I must also keep in mind that the final wish list for the Sani includes some serious under body protection, brush bars, big a$$ bumpers and even a winch. Dual sparewheel carrier on the back. Add all that up, and I could easily be getting to Patrol status.

Interesting thing I noticed last weekend as I checked out the springs standing against the wall in my garage, is that both the front and rear springs were slightly different lengths. Front is very little, but the rears are fairly noticeable. Now if I remember correctly, the Patrol that it came off had a problem of standing one side higher than the other. The coils were replaced, but the problem persisted.

My personal feeling is that the front end should be ok, but the rear end could end up a bit stiff.

I think I also need to organise a session with some guys here to spend some time with s tape measure and protractor under a GU and GQ to see where and how spring perches and shock mounts are arranged. Also want to see lengths of control arms and angles. I did some picture measuring, and seem to get a measurement of front control arm mount to center of the hub at 750mm.

I don't know if I should try and copy a known design and setup and make it work on the Sani as I have seen some guys say that the radius arms limit flex compared to a 3 link control arm setup.

Dave, mine is also pretty close to Michaels weight. Will be probably a few kg difference each way, but my front weight is probably a little lighter as I have the Aluminium TJM front bullbar that, as solid and robust as it is, can be picked up with one hand. I think it's going to be a matter of trial and error to get the ride you want on the Sani.

With my limited budget, it's more a case of putting up with what you can make work, with what you got laying around, that was donated to this project.