I would say for on-road use, towing, etc., the torsion bar setup has a
definite edge. But if you're going to go off-road, coils definitely are the
hot ticket. Witness their usage on the Hummer and Land Rover D90, probably
the two most capable offroad vehicles in production. The new Jeep Wrangler
has switched from leafs to coils for similar reasons: simplicity,
durability, and phenominal axle articulation. Suspension modifications are
also much easier (go price the current Dakota lift kit!). The Jeep mailing
list had a whole debate on this with die hards on either side between leafs
and coils - nobody supported torsion bars.
Mark
----------
>From: frankb@cougar.sr.hp.com
>To: dakota@csclub0.cs.fredonia.edu
>Subject: '97 Dakotas
>Date: Tuesday, April 23, 1996 6:57PM
>
>X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.4 PL21]
>Mime-Version: 1.0
>Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
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>
>
>It sounds like some people are holding out for a '97 Dakota hoping to
>get the 5.9L V8. Look at the specs for the 1/2 ton (1500) Rams-the 5.9L
>V8 is not available with a 5 speed-only an automatic. Do not expect to
>see a Dakota with a 5.9L engine and a manual transmission.
>
>I've also noticed that V8/5 speed combinations seem to be very
>rare-except on this mailing list.
>
>There were also comments about coil springs vs. torsion bars in the
>front of the 4x4 model. I don't know if they will switch to coils or
>not, but one person sounded like he thought this was a good idea? Why?
>I'd choose torsion bars over coil springs any day. They are easily
>adjusted for ride height by the turn of a screw (raise, lower, make up
>for spring sag). And you just back off the screw all the way to take
>them out-no spring compressors. I don't know of any advantage of coil
>springs.
>
>*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
>Frank Ball 1UR-M frankb@sr.hp.com (707) 794-4168 work
>Hewlett Packard (707) 794-4848 fax (707) 538-3693 home
>1212 Valley House Drive IT175, KDX200, XT350, YZF600R, Seca 750
>Rohnert Park CA 94928-4999 '95 Dakota SLT Club Cab V8 5-Speed 2WD
>*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
>
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