Leaf Springs

kankles · Feb 14, 2014

Hello
We live in Australia and did not realise that Nissan Navara made in two locations, ours made in asia.
the issue is that we were having issue with the car being very hard at rear end and went to 4wd place and they said that the lev springs are straight and need to be done.
we were looking at doing a Lift Kit which seems if did that would take old ones out and replace with correct more heavy duty ones, as my hubby carries a tool box thou not that heavy and only other thing is we have a van 1800kg that we tow 4 times a year

i can not get over we buy a new 4wd nissan and the suspension already b???ged.
any help.
spoke to nissan in melbourne and they said unsure if they can do anything except take pictures and send to head office.

that does not help us immediatly as planning to take the van away in next 60 days.

any help???

TigerST · Feb 14, 2014

I'm can only guess by asia your meannig a D22. Like most stock set ups it a cost thing not what works in day to day living.

My Front coils only lasted 30,000 till I had to replace them thanks to the 120kgs i added on. Best thing I could suggest is go to a suspenion shop and ask them what you need and replace it with the right stuff....

Aussie Frontier · Feb 14, 2014

Could be a D40 from Thailand

TigerST · Feb 14, 2014

aussie frontier said:
could be a d40 from thailand

true

joe2006 · Feb 14, 2014

The more "heavy duty" the springs, the firmer the ride will be.

Standard leaf springs are usually criticised for being too soft, so with a little weight in the back, they will usually flatten out and may even become inverted.
You may find from time to time the rear axle will hit the bump stops (like going over speed humps or going through a pot hole) and perhaps this hard ride that you are experiencing?

I really don't think that an honest suspension specialist would advise that heavy duty springs will give a softer ride but may improve other characteristics such as pitching, wallowing and perhaps hitting the bump stops, if that is what has occurred. A change in springs is also usually accompanied by a change of shock absorber as the standard shock absorbers may not suit the characteristics of the "heavy duty" springs.

Unless your current springs are clearly faulty, I think it is unlikely that Nissan will be assist. If you own a D40 Narvara, you may have been initially seduced by the car like ride. It is just an unfortunate consequence that this also has negative aspects when you start loading them up.

Perhaps another professional opinion may assist and be clear with what you want. Whatever they want to sell you, ask them to explain exactly how this will give you a more comfortable ride.

Good luck

Old.Tony · Feb 14, 2014

Factory leaf springs are designed to get the car out of the showroom. They're soft, they give a car-like ride so the utes appeal to a wider market and once you've bought it, it's your problem.

Thankfully there are good solutions, it's a shame they cost so much but since Nissan can't predict whether you'll tow or load the car up or not, they choose the somewhat reasonable approach and put the softer springs in and let you make your own choices later.

Multi-rate springs are probably the best way to go, in my opinion. We've done a little towing ourselves, and it wasn't until we put the dual-rate OME Dakar leaf springs on the rear did we notice how poor the ride used to be. The picture currently in my sig (which I'm going to have to replace now that we have a new van) shows a sagged tail - that was stock suspension with 1.8T of van behind (180Kg of ball weight). I had 4 jerry cans of fuel, a full Engel fridge and some tools in the back.

With the new van (2.15T, ball weight 130Kg - don't ask me why) she still shows most of her 85mm lift and one of the guys in the workshop where we had the handover today commented on how high she seemed to sit (he had a D40 as well, and now there's a good chance ARB are getting another customer).

Other choices are air bags - I really don't recommend them at all, the chassis is not designed to take loads between the leaf spring mounts. Helper springs (eg Ironman Load Plus) bolt onto your current leaf pack and attempt to restore some of the expected curve. It's a valiant attempt that lasts for a little while, but for the punishment we gave ours (and that was significant, talking many hundreds of km of corrugated dirt with the van attached) they had no choice but to fail.

The dual rate springs have been in for a while now and don't look like causing any grief at all. Couple them with a decent high-heat-dissipation-rate shock absorber (OME Nitrocharger Sports, or perhaps Tough Dog Foam Cell) and you've got a great combination.

Harder springs on their own will probably make you regret entering car parks or driving on corrugations without a load, they can be very harsh on the kidneys!