how do I get a softer ride on a bedford

[shaginwagin]

Hi all
 just wondering if there is any way to get a smoother ride on the 1976 short wheel base bedford?    
 I  have put new  gas shockers all round. the coils on the front i think are heavy duty coils,  5 leaves in  the rear springs.  I have sway bars for the front and rear but they are still on the garage floor so obviously that dont help at the moment 
 Is it wishfull thinking to be able to get a reasonable soft ride out of a bedford 

Julian

[BusyKiwi]

Add more weight

Any commercial vehicle will ride smoother with weight in them, but more weight equals more fuel ...

Apart from adding weight, you can use non heavy duty springs in the front and take a leaf or two out of the back springs, sway bars are only for cornering but have to be set up just right, they can't just be thrown on as the geometry wont work and would have as much effect as tieing a stick to your diff.
I don't have any proof but don't think a sway bar on the front would have much effect, the suspension type is wrong for a sway bar, but again if it did it would have to be the right thickness and placement for it to work.

A softer suspension will give you a softy bouncy(ish) kind of ride - and makes stopping fast harder
A heavy duty (hard) will give you a solid "omg i'm driving a brick (boy racer wannabe)" ride
A loaded suspension (weight in the van) will give you a normal ride but will make the van slower and use more fuel.

End of the day it is a van and will never ride like a rollsroyce

[ben]

but all the nice riding vehicles are heavy anyway.. rolls royce are not light!

ben

[atk1]

I heard the yellow custom cf truck on trademe has 300kgs of concrete in the back. It drove past me on its way back down to the south island just over a week ago

[Warren]

Hi all
 just wondering if there is any way to get a smoother ride on the 1976 short wheel base bedford?    
 I  have put new  gas shockers all round. the coils on the front i think are heavy duty coils,  5 leaves in  the rear springs.  I have sway bars for the front and rear but they are still on the garage floor so obviously that dont help at the moment 
 Is it wishfull thinking to be able to get a reasonable soft ride out of a bedford 

Julian

Julian

Yes you can get a softer ride, I was looking for a post I did on this very subject before, but must have been on the old site, so to be brief.

Beddies were designed to carry weight, one of my vans rides like a dream with 6 people and a one tonne trailer attached, but bounces around when unloaded.

So you first need to know a little about how a leaf spring works and then workout how much "weight" your likely to be carrying, will it be packed to the rafteres with tools or just have a bead in the back.

Now to explain a bit about the leaves in the spirng, each one has its own characteristics depending on thier length and thickness, with the longer ones coming ito play first progressing down the lengths, but all combine (at different stages) to give the overall springing.

Qhich leaves come into play depends on how much the spring is deflected when bumped, on a smooth road very little deflection occoures and the main and second spring do the majority of the work at this time.

The main leaf gives you your initial "pre load" and affects mainly the initial soft/firmness- and can only be changed by changting the thickness.

The second leaf (being close to the same length as the main leaf) also affects the initial soft/firmness and if removed would give a softer intial ride.

As the spring deflects more (bigger bump) then the next springs start to come into play.

To make the ride softer you could take the second and forth leaf out, and see how it rides, if it is comfortable but bottoms out more often, put the forth leaf back in.

You could also play with thickness of different leaves to fine tune it as well

Hope this is clear

Warren 



 

[mezzmo]

You're a living, breathing beddie encyclopedia Wazza!

[SkippyThBushKangeroo]

wiki-wazza           

[mezzmo]

Funneeeeee Skip!

[rossie]

The best way would be to bag it, air bags will handle weight, give a great ride and can adjust the hieght at the flick of a switch.

[shaginwagin]

Thanks everyone for your input
. I know the more you put into the back the better it rides.  Bought a heap of Beddie  bits  down from QLD loaded up to the hilt plus the trailer sat on the road beautiful but can't drive round with V6 motor and beddie front end in the back all the time.
It doesn't seem to matter how much it's loaded up the back springs don't change shape. Opps they did when I had the commodore auto box in the back with the motor, only time the bump stops got close to hitting the diff   Had to take it out and put it in the trailer lol.
Just had another look  it's got 6 leaves not 4  and they are that close to being straight  ( almost no curve in them ). They have been like that every since getting the beddie in late 90's.    The gap between bump stops and diff housing is 3 and half inches.    I had thought about getting some curve in the springs but it's ride height is good at the moment ?   Didn't really want it ridding with it's bum in the air.