I don't think I've ever called myself an expert about most anything, but I do tend to be opinionated and I write a lot.Originally Posted by alaskajosh
I've always liked good condition stock springs chosen for a specific vehicle weight and built up with individual sheets of ultra high density plastic sheets between each leaf. This plastic was designed for industrial use where there is heavy metal against metal sliding. I' have had a set of springs built up with the plastic for over 10 years of use and the plastic is still in very good condition. Basically what the plastic does is virtually eliminate leaf to leaf sliding friction. This makes for a much softer ride than what unmodified springs offer.Originally Posted by alaskajosh
I agree stock springs don't move as well as they should because of the sliding friction and it only gets worse over time as dirt & rust increases the friction. I'm personally not a fan of stock unmodified springs.
But I haven't been a fan of parabolic springs either. I think much of that may have been to my introduction to them. Ray Woods showed me an 88 with a very early preproduction set of parabolic springs that were being developed for Rocky mountain. That vehicle had a LOT of side sway. As I remember 3 or4 Xs that of a stock sprung LR. That introduction always stuck in my mind even though there was a lot more development, testing and modifications to the design done before the springs went into production. If you look at the design, a couple leaves spaced apart will have inherently less resistance to side twisting than a bunch of leaves in solid contact with one another.
I have recently checked out a rig that is similar to mine that has parabolics underneath and learned that real production parabolics do have a lot more resistance to side sway than the early prototype springs I had tested. So I am reevaluating my conclusions. That other vehicle only seemed to have slightly less resistance to side sway as mine with stock springs and plastic sheets.
While I still feel that the best solution is properly chosen stock springs WITH sheets of plastic between the leaves, I am no longer as against parabolics as I have been. In retrospect I should not have based my opinions on early prototype springs without revisiting later production springs.