byrdawg said:
has anyone seen this done on yotas, front or rear. what would the benifit be to usin 1/4 eliptical springs over reg leafs?
The biggest benefit that I can see over regular leafs is that you eliminate the shackle in the rear, so basically you only need the frame to extend far enough to the rear to mount some shocks. This gives you a negative departure angle which would be very nice to have.
You can also get more flex out of the half-pack than you would out of the full pack, as the spring constant goes down (there is less downward force created by the leaf spring).
Here is a Suzuki with a 1/4 elliptic setup. It's basically a four-link with some extra arms (the leafs). Wheeled with this thing in Idaho.
http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2003-4/155437/P1010014.jpg
Another possibility that I have seen in person on a 4-Runner was a buggy spring setup. You mount a half-pack, like the 1/4 elliptic, to the frame above the normal leaf spring. Then use a shackle to join the rear of the upper spring to the rear of the full-length spring. This is mainly useful for droop, as once the bottom spring is fully stretched, the upper spring starts to bend down as well.
It worked amazingly well on the 4-Runner, as he was able to drive all the way up a 30* RTI ramp while using 38" Boggers.