Z-spring to __________ suspension swap?

Find a wrecked one and buy the whole rear cut off....

 

If the suspension is what I think it is, I have the same one on my Mack....and I haven't been too happy with it either. I've been drooling over the Raydan Mfg Air Link. Hendrickson has their own similar AR2, but Raydan Mfg is an OEM supplier for Mack Trucks and has a wider variety of weight ratings and you can get a much heavier rating from them as well. It's basically a walking beam suspension, but it has air bags instead of the steel spring. It may not provide a smoother ride, but I drive a truck...not a Cadillac. I'm more interested in the articulation and keeping even ground pressure at all 4 corners of the drives when I'm at a jobsite.

The only thing I'd really be concerned about with making a suspension swap like that is whether or not it would bolt up to the existing holes in the frame where the current suspension components are bolted on, or if I'd have to drill a ton of NEW holes in the frame...and how much would that weaken the frame? The alternative would be to find a cut-off from an existing truck and a shop that has experience stretching frames.....and then have them cut the rear section of frame off of your truck to splice the new-to-you cut-off onto your truck.

 

if you have a #### near perfectly level concrete pad, cutting and welding in the new frame with rears isn't that bad. I put 36 inches of frame into my old Pete on a single day. stupid me had a drive line shop stretch the shaft. took them two days and when I got it back was a full degree and a half from straight. called them up and the guy actually had the gonads to tell me anything within 3 degrees is acceptable specs. took a certified letter from an attorney friend to get my money back on that shoddy excuse of a fabrication weld job. ugh, I hate shops. they all suck

 

Buy a rear clip and transfer the whole thing to your frame unless you know of a really good frame shop that can splice the two.

Vancouver Axle and Frame can do that very well, but unless you get to Surrey it doesn't do you much good.

They converted a friends tractor to a Tri- Drive and did an awesome job.

 

anyone that can weld can splice a frame. the only tricky part is getting it perfectly straight. that's where having an almost perfectly level pad comes in. a near perfectly level pad, and straight cuts. It's really not all that hard. shops don't get away with charging 100+ an hour cause stuff is hard. they get away with that rate because people think it's hard.

 

if your gonna upgrade to a 46k set of rears, i personally suggest a ard series neway cuttoff for doing off road. they even ride good on the road also in my opinion. they are a little heavy, but man those suspensions will take a beating. rebush it while your puttting it together and it will last years.......

 

Neway is my favorite by far, both for ride and traction, but that international runs an extremely close second for the ride. What suspension are you planning on switching to that improves the ride, inquiring minds want to know?

Just noticed how old this thread is, how did it get on the first page??

 

This site is weird like that sometimes. I get random notifications saying someone quoted a post of mine. Click it and it takes me to a post made like 3 years ago lol.

 

Yea, after I noticed it, I looked and had first page full of old post that have not been revived. lol