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-   -   Composite Fibre Leaf Springs: Can they be used for off-roading? (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/4x4-technical/54767-composite-fibre-leaf-springs-can-they-used-off-roading-12.html)

My bad. Must have misunderstood.

Actually, the shocks are new too. I think the earlier metal leafs were of uneven strength. Do notice that these are before and after measurements, not absolute.

Now the Jeep has car like soft ride, which I love. When this was noticed, at least 3 experts in coorg suggested I use a heavier shocks to counter that. And I was like, why??? I don't want to counter it. I love the soft car like ride, why should I spoil it.

See, I have a little hindsight here. I already know how it would feel with a heavier shocks. When I had initially installed the CFL, the Mahindra workshop had installed Bolero pickup rear shocks, which practically made me feel every little bump on the road. Those heavy shocks didn't let the CFLs work at all.

Since I didn't know wrong shocks were installed, I went around looking for answers in possible angles. It was Jammy who gave me a very enlightening answer. He said in lighter vehicles like Gypsy or SWB Jeeps, one should let leafs do all the hard work. The shocks should only provide dampening against the residual harmonics and not against the primary jolt from the roads. Let the leafs deal with the jolts. This made lot of sense. If we need to see the effect of CFL, we gotta a let it work, and not strangle it with heavy shock absorbers.

Eventually, thanks to Behram I found I was using the wrong shocks. When I switched back to the OE shocks and with free moving shackles, the CFL was allowed to work again.

In other words, for the CFL to work well, you have to use weaker shocks, at least in lighter vehicles.

mr.khan bhai as you know i am altering my gypsy ,i was also planing to change my suspension set up from stock to CFL.I am not a hard core offroader but if time permits would love to offroad sometime,mainly it would be used for comuting to work and back
What would you advice.My plan was to change the back leaf springs to CFL since it is tried and tested(but what about the shocks what would you advice)As for now the front would be the normal leaf blades as the front CLF is still going some tests.will be re-cambering the leaf blades(what do i do for the front shocks)was looking for a less bummpy ride

Just back from a long drive in the car, with the rear loaded up for the first time with three passengers at the back. The loading transforms the ride, I have to say, and pretty well tames the rear bucking and kicking!

And... how did the 3 passengers at the rear feel about the ride?

Dear khan_sultan,

Any updates on your experiences with front CFLs?

Regards

Nitin

Go for the rear ones. Works like a charm. No issues.

Here is what happened to the front set in the OTR @ kakabe.





Because of the design flaw, one of them broke like a pencil and the other had started shearing/breaking. It was a moment filled with disbelief as I never thought that they would break -- that too like this.

These were part of R&D sets and I had them for trail basis, so not to worry too much as I knew I could still drive slowly & had fellow friends along for help. The fact that I had SPoA also helped because the gap between the wheel & body was enough to ensure that the body did not sit on the wheel. BUT, if someone were alone, then it would not be a nice situation to be in. Also, in a stock Gypsy, the body would have just sat down on the wheel, scraping it big time, and the vehicle would not even move... So a not so nice situation to be in if this breaks.

Somehow, but strange stroke of luck, I managed to get NEW model front CFL in Virajpet from a fellow off-roader/Gypsy owner who had put these just few days back. After seeing my broken one's he offered my his front CFL's and he got the metal one's back in his Gypsy. (Thanks a lot Dr. You were a savior that day.)

Now I have driven some 200 Kms after that (ONLY on highway). There is marked difference in the BLUE ones and the RED one. This set is lot lot better BUT we need to test it over time for stress & fatigue..

For now, even though I am running them on the front, I would not recommend them to anyone. Use them at your own risk for now....

Now a million dollar question: Am I removing the front CFL from my Gypsy?
Answer: NO. I know the risks and am fine with it for now...

My 2 cents on why they broke:

• The design flaw of the mounting points did not allow any flex with stock shackles. That meant all stress/fatigue being transferred to them and they behaving like a rigid rod.

I shall stick to my OE sets all around!

The rear CFLs have been around for many years now, don't let the front CFLs affect your feelings on rear CFL. They undergo very different stress compared to the rear. The front CFLs are experimental as of now.

+1 Sawyer.
Scary scene Shahnawaz! They've always claimed that these CF leafs are very strong. I hope, these red ones have a better life.
Cheers,
Deepak

Just completed a solo OTR @ Rajmachi with front n rear sus CFL's of Dr Nanos last saturday... was doing speeds of 50-60 on certain stretches of slightly respectable roads (was enjoying the wheels-in-the air-feeling), did the final climb 3 times with ease, no issues with any CFL's though... Of course, Not Recomended til Khan Bhai approves :)

Yes, I am 100% confident about the rear CFL. For me, the front one's are experimental and need to be treated & looked at that way

Deepak, yes, it's a scary scene. As I mentioned before these broke because the design flaw made them behave like a rigid rod. And they broke.. What I should have done is observed them with magnifying glasses regularly for evidence of fatigue/stress fractures.


Good to hear that & gives some confidence.

Also, just to be clear, I am no one to approve them or not. It's just a matter of confidence about recomending these to people which I am not comfortable about right now for the front CFL. The rear CFL I am confident about and would recommend if people ask for my opinion..

Trust is a very important factor and I believe people/take them on face value when I seek advice from people. In the Team-BHP community we go by each other's experience and advice so we need to be very careful here.

What was the ride like before these broke?

Sutripta

The ride was better than stock BUT improved further after the right set, is what i know :)

Starter: One can break stock springs also, and if its the main one or the clamps then! As khan said these are R&D stuff, and ones testing is over sure would be fine for the front axle also.

With the BLUE one's, the ride was HORRIBLE and imagine getting a death wobble in a Gypsy even on the slightest undulations -- forget bad roads/speed-humps. I think, I did mention that in my earlier reports of front CFL experience

However, with the new RED set, the ride & handling is way way better -- like day/night difference. Has to be time tested now with an eagle eye.