The off road/buggy folk do it all the time due to the light front ends, easier to get a usable spring rate with coils.GS guy wrote:Thanks Surf. I guess I'm most interested in how the beam and through rods "holds" the trailing arms in position? What controls the in and out motion of the T-arms? Also, what parts rotate against each other and how is that handled (lubrication points? thrust bearings?).
... from memory most just use some all thread and maybe thrust washers to keep things together, some even a thrust bearing on one or both ends. Sometimes its just done on the upper arms, the lower bars handling the spring duty.
I considered doing that on my T3 but I did it a little different, the indexable torsion bars are all installed ~ at ride height and add quite a bit of anti roll/dive/squat effect, ~2X stock spring rate. (~1.7/1.8hz tuned) the coil overs carry most of the weight, but the bars contribute to spring rate going up (and take away rate extended past ride height)
I installed an early t3 front sway bar so it didn't understeer badly.
(T3 sway bar goes between the upper arms through the beam, the springs on a t3 front are only the lower bars, those go all the way across and actually cross each other at a slight offset/angle)