Who has Parabolic springs in thier truck?

Hi Peter,
Have you had a set? They are generally designed to give a soft ride at all times just after confimation of this.

Hi Garry,
Are yours a LR fitment or aftermarket? If Aftermarket, who made them?

Mine are original fit made by landrover - each spring only has two leaves and are quite thick.

Rocky Mountain in North America make aftermarket parabolics for Landrover so I also assume Toyota - FWDs in Qld are a distributor for them.

Parabolics can handle heavy loads - as I said I can carry 1.5t in mine - but most after market parabolic springs do seem to have issues with big loads - I think the makers seem to compromise capacity for ride but both are achievable with properly designed springs.

Garry

Hi Garry,
I'll look them up.

Hi Kanga,
Did you have them set up for a constant load?
I will only have a max of 100kg in the back on a trip as the weight will be in the trailer. The rest of the time it has basically about 30kg max. How were yours when empty and where did you get them from?

Hi Dave, I had them supplied and fitted by Wilkinson Suspensions here in WA. I think the brand was APM springs, Malaysian made. The springs were quite good with the vehicle unloaded, good wheel articulation. My Troopy is quite heavy unloaded, Kaymar dual wheel rear bar, 2 wheels, full length Trade height drawer set with about 30kg in them all the time. When we go away the cars weight increases by about 250kg give or take 30kg. We are going to buy a Caravan in the near future to replace our Tvan, and the weight on the hitch for the vans we are looking at is around 225kg. Having read all the blurb from Hayman Reece about WD Hitches and Kaymar's info on these Hitches, I decided to put heavy duty leaf packs in the rear instead, and keep it at that. The Parabolics are not suited to my intended use. As a rule of thumb, the springs should be good provided you are not too heavy. Hope this helps you a bit, Cheers, Kanga.

Hi TDB,
Thanks, Who supplied yours?

Westralia springs in Perth. www.westraliasprings.com.au



Regards

TDB

If you look on Wikapedia you will find;

A more modern implementation is the parabolic leaf spring. This design is characterised by fewer leaves whose thickness varies from centre to ends following a parabolic curve. In this design, inter-leaf friction is unwanted, and therefore there is only contact between the springs at the ends and at the centre where the axle is connected. Spacers prevent contact at other points. Aside from a weight saving, the main advantage of parabolic springs is their greater flexibility, which translates into vehicle ride quality that approaches that of coil springs. There is a trade-off in the form of reduced load carrying capability, however. The characteristic of parabolic springs is better riding comfort and not as "stiff" as conventional "multi-leaf springs". It is widely used on buses for better comfort.