Quote:

I've wanted to run these for years for the huge unsprung weight reduction, but durability testing at Chrysler (Chelsea PG) had ALL fiberglass / composite springs failing, and this was on an undriven rear axle (minivan).

If I could be convinced that something has changed / improved...

Rick



at what level of cycling did the failure occur? steel leaf springs are most likely designed to be infinite life items, if in the minivan testing, it failed at 500k or 700k cycles, well...it's not infinite, but it doesn't mean it wouldn't last a very long time in an application that gets driven 6 months and maybe 4k miles out of the year...

I'd definitely inspect regularly, but they have been proven in a street application over at GM in the vette (albeit loaded completely different fashion), and IIRC in the astro van (in a very similar fashion to our rear suspension configuration)...couple them with something like a cal-trac to take the wrap out of them, and maybe a panhard bar the lateral load out of them, and that would go a long way in their long term durability.

1976 Spinnaker White Plymouth Duster, /6 A833OD
1986 Silver/Twilight Blue Chrysler 5th Ave HotRod **SOLD!***
2011 Toxic Orange Dodge Charger R/T
2017 Grand Cherokee Overland
2014 Jeep Cherokee Latitude (holy crap, my daughter is driving)