Superior Super-flex arms

Joined: 16 Feb 2007 Location: Perth

I have the fancy superior arms (extremely happy - on road behaviour exceptional for the amount of wheel travel off road), am I correct in assuming that the smaller bush on the passenger side is a Nissan rear control arm bush? Just need to know for when the time comes to replace it. Like to see the look on the Nissan parts bloke's face when I ask for 3 front bushes and one rear...

Also if one were to drill and tap sway bar mounts in to the bottom of them would this unacceptably weaken them? It's only once or twice a year on big trips up north I like to put the sway bars back on but no biggy if superior do not recommend it.

Joined: 17 Dec 2006 Location: Bairnsdale, East Gippsland

If you going to add sway bars, ill swap you my stock non flex arms

Joined: 24 Dec 2008 Location: pomona, sunny coast

yes it is a rear trailing arm bush.

probably the best thing to do is give supierior a call, that way you'll get the right answer not a heap of opinions. have you tried it with just a rear swaybar?

Posted: Fri Jan 23, 2009 11:36 am

It won't weaken the arms to drill and tap them. These arms are super strong. I was going to set this up myself but I put it in the too hard basket because your sway bar mounts would have to be modified or they would get knocked off during articulation.

If you get the sway bars to work post up with pics.

I do confirm that that bush is a rear control arm bush.

Shane

Joined: 16 Feb 2007 Location: Perth

Ok cheers for that, as I said I would only put them on once or twice a year for bigger trips anyway. I thought about the link mounts too, but there is the four holes from the standard mount in the chassis so I'm sure I could bolt a plate in there and weld something from the top that comes high enough to clear the arms and extend the links to suit. Will take the springs out to confirm uppermost travel to be sure anyway.

I have tried with the rear sway bar but it's that thin I'm not really convinced it makes any difference anyway. I have a 5 inch lift with konis so it drives pretty well anyway but if I could make it stay just a little flatter it would be nice - tends to be pretty heavily loaded when on bigger trips. Might give it a go when I get some spare time... one year.

Posted: Fri Jan 23, 2009 1:20 pm

We can get heavy duty rear sway bars.

Shane

Joined: 19 Jan 2005 Location: townsville

you could use a clamp on bracket on the arm to mount the swaybar for the one or two trips

Joined: 02 Dec 2007 Location: Brisbane

Drilling and tapping the arm will not weaken them .
The reason we have not done it in the manufacturing stage is because the arm runs horizontal out of the rear pivot point " hence drop radius arm " so from the original sway bar bracket on the chassis down to the top of the drop radius arm / Super flex arm does not have enough clearance for upwards travel of the arm before it will hit the chassis swaybar bracket ( before the bumpstop or shock will bottom out) whether onroad or offroad.

I think you will find this applicable to all drop radius arms on the market, obviously depending on stiffness of the coils in the application.

The inner mudguard will be in the way of moving the swaybar chassis mount up higher, if you have a 2 inch cab lift you may have a chance of remounting it, the reason we never made brackets and drilled the arms is because their is not that many trucks that have body lifts and the factory front swaybar is very inadequate anyway.
Hope it cleared it up a bit.
If you have any queries give me a call .
Mick

Joined: 16 Feb 2007 Location: Perth

Thanks for that, I think I'll try the stiffer rear bar and see how that goes. If need be I'll make up something for the front - I like the idea of clamping it on, even if just to see if it makes much difference. If not then I won't bother.

Joined: 02 Dec 2007 Location: Brisbane

Leeroy wrote:

Thanks for that, I think I'll try the stiffer rear bar and see how that goes. If need be I'll make up something for the front - I like the idea of clamping it on, even if just to see if it makes much difference. If not then I won't bother.

In R&D we found that if you were to go a bit heavier on the rear coils this makes the front end work a lot better as far as flex, it also stops a lot of body roll.
My red GQ is over 3t with 270lbs front coils EFS and 280 lbs rear coils EFS, this worked pretty good but slow it was a bit bouncy in the rear, and high speed the ass end was a bit prone to bounce on the rebound after going over a jump ,the front with super flex arms was good. high speed driving was okay.
We changed the rear coils to 340lbs dobinson coils and massive difference in handling both high speed as well as slow speed.
No less flex in the front or rear ,if anything the front flexed more due to the rear being a bit firmer and forcing the front to flex.
I run no sway bars front or rear , tough dog front 4" 80# cruiser with towers lifted 2 inchs, rear is 18" FOA remote resovoir with long arms and standard top mounted arms, hydraulic bumpstops.
This setup easily can be driven in rockcrawling or high speed events with no changes to anything.
Before you try the front swaybar just go to a slightly heavier rear coil and see how that goes, i think you will be pleased with the results.
Give me a call and i will get you the coils you will need.

Joined: 22 Oct 2002 Location: Your Mummas House!

No kidding, I have seen Corolla's with bigger sway bars than Nissan Patrol's Laughing

What are the bigger ones worth?

Joined: 27 Apr 2008 Location: Banks Peninsula, NZ

SuperiorEngineering wrote:

Leeroy wrote:

Thanks for that, I think I'll try the stiffer rear bar and see how that goes. If need be I'll make up something for the front - I like the idea of clamping it on, even if just to see if it makes much difference. If not then I won't bother.

In R&D we found that if you were to go a bit heavier on the rear coils this makes the front end work a lot better as far as flex, it also stops a lot of body roll.
My red GQ is over 3t with 270lbs front coils EFS and 280 lbs rear coils EFS, this worked pretty good but slow it was a bit bouncy in the rear, and high speed the ass end was a bit prone to bounce on the rebound after going over a jump ,the front with super flex arms was good. high speed driving was okay.
We changed the rear coils to 340lbs dobinson coils and massive difference in handling both high speed as well as slow speed.
No less flex in the front or rear ,if anything the front flexed more due to the rear being a bit firmer and forcing the front to flex.
I run no sway bars front or rear , tough dog front 4" 80# cruiser with towers lifted 2 inchs, rear is 18" FOA remote resovoir with long arms and standard top mounted arms, hydraulic bumpstops.
This setup easily can be driven in rockcrawling or high speed events with no changes to anything.
Before you try the front swaybar just go to a slightly heavier rear coil and see how that goes, i think you will be pleased with the results.
Give me a call and i will get you the coils you will need.

I don't think i've read a post yet that lists or refers to coils in spring tolerance weights, can you elaborate on what you have said pls?

i.e Dobinsons 340lb...is that what would be rated as a heavy duty spring?
How about the EFS 270/280lbs rating - would that be a 'normal' spring rate?

cheers

Joined: 30 Jan 2003 Location: New Zealand

SuperiorEngineering wrote:

I run no sway bars front or rear , tough dog front 4" 80# cruiser with towers lifted 2 inchs, rear is 18" FOA remote resovoir with long arms and standard top mounted arms, hydraulic bumpstops.
This setup easily can be driven in rockcrawling or high speed events with no changes to anything.
Before you try the front swaybar just go to a slightly heavier rear coil and see how that goes, i think you will be pleased with the results.
Give me a call and i will get you the coils you will need.

I am running a standard flex arm, with drop boxes on the GQ, with OME L series shocks, but will be swapping it over to the GQ. Interesting what you say about the coil rates, did you happen to have any Dobinson numbers for the coils? Other than lifting the shock towers on the front, any other mods needed to run the 80series shocks? (what length were they?)

Cheers,
Dave

Posted: Wed Jan 28, 2009 6:35 pm

I am pretty sure Mick meant to describe the C45-313T coil which has the spring rate of 351lbs with a 540/530 free height which is usually used as the heavier then normal rear 4-5" coils. The C45-113T has the 340lbs spring rate and free height of 505/480mm but there is more flex out of a normal 3" coil so it must be the first part number.

Yes the EFS 270/280lb spring rates and the Dobinsons 276/295 spring rates are considered the normal duty coils.

I am pretty sure he is also talking about the Tough Dogs that are 660mm extended for the 80Series front 4" shocks. I would be recommending the Boss adjustable shocks though.

If you lifted the shock towers far enough then no other mods are required. Some people use 80 Series bump stops on the Nissans and then trim them.

The heavier duty sway bars are worth about $200 or $300 depending on which one you need. I don't usually sell them so not an expert but I think the $300 one is for the one that includes the mounts if you have a Patrol that didn't come out with a sway bar. The GU one does cost $300 though.

Shane

Joined: 02 Dec 2007 Location: Brisbane

Yes shane,what you posted was all correct ,but i made a typo as it was 6" 80 series front shocks which are approx 700mm from where the studs weld to the shock body.
We will release our own range of rear swaybar in the very near future, something that has not been done before and will work better than other swaybars on the market.
When they get put on the market we will post it on outers and shane will also have them for sale at his shop.

Posted: Thu Jan 29, 2009 9:00 am

That would be the longest front Tough dog at 712mm.

By the way, our 1 metre Boss adjustable shocks will be available in a couple of weeks.

Also for anyone wanting to take flex to the next level, Suspension Stuff has rear 5" flexy coils with a 600/590 free height. The flexy fronts are 530/515 unless you want the soft front ones at 580/560mm. 2-7" flexy coils are also available.

About the sway bars, I don't know what Mick has cooking but it would be a lot better then what is currently available so I would be waiting for them.

Shane