Coil Cab or Leaf Spring Rear GU

[cass_cass94]

Hi guys.

Just wondering what peoples opinions are in terms to gu utes. i would love a coil cab but the price compared to a leaf spring rear is something i dont know if i can justify. Do the leaf spring uts still go good off road and flex alright or am i better off biting the bullet and getting a coil cab.

cheers Liam

[Cuppa]

Depends upon what sort of weight you want to carry. Coils will allow more flex & a plusher ride, leafs will carry a greater payload. IMO that makes leaf the choice for touring & coil the choice for playing. Leaf utes fitted with aftermarket parabolic springs are reported tobe a good compromise between the two.

[cass_cass94]

cheers for the info, being a 20 year old i do like getting out for a play but touring is what i would idealy be setting the ute up for, either with a trade style gull wing canopy or a fully enclosed canvas one

[macca]

Depends upon what sort of weight you want to carry. Coils will allow more flex & a plusher ride, leafs will carry a greater payload. IMO that makes leaf the choice for touring & coil the choice for playing. Leaf utes fitted with aftermarket parabolic springs are reported tobe a good compromise between the two.

As a leafy owner I am with Cuppa.

Loading a coil ute for touring can play havoc with the rear tower mounts and it is recommended to fit a brace kit, they can still fail if the going gets really tough.

Weight is an issue so a canvas back being lighter is easier on coils, talk to owners if you can.

A mate has a coil ute with a canvas canopy, 4" lift. That thing has some flex, its incredible. He is the one who broke his strut brace kit in the NT giving it a hard time for a magazine story.

Both have benefits but if you want flex a coily is probably the pick.

[threedogs]

Utes are great Im sorry I dont have one, you can get a leaf rear patrol to flex quite well
and it gives you the option of sliding on a POD for touring,

[Getaboutabit]

Hi I went with coils for better ride.
I set mine up for touring I you look at what you need
to carry and choose a spring rate to suit it should be fine.

[threedogs]

If you did get an all coil ute at least you could put air bags in the rear to assist in load carrying

[Cuppa]

Just be aware of the need for additional chassis & coil tower bracing if adding air bags and/or heavier rate coil springs with a view to increasing carrying capacity. IMO adding either only serve to concentrate stresses in those areas, making damage more likely. Occasional use may be ok, but if wanting to carry heavy loads regularly or over long distances where corrugated roads are involved I think it’s asking for trouble.

Where I used to live, mine service vehicles were GU Patrol utes. Always fully loaded & heavy. They kept busting standard chassis’ using airbags & that was with leaf springs. Coils would be worse. Only thing which worked for them was heavier duty leaf springs & chassis bracing.

The other factor to consider is the legal one. I’m guessing the coil cabs have a lower gvm than the leaf cabs? 3250kg? (Leaf cab is 3400kg. Sounds plenty but don’t forget gvm includes everything - bullbar, winch, towbar people, fuel, water, supplies etc etc) Plenty of folk choose not to worry about being over their vehicle’s gvm (very easy to do in touring mode) but the ramifications in an accident situation are huge. Bad enough if just the insurance refuses to pay for damage to your car, but if anyone gets hurt it could be something you’re paying for for the rest of your life.

All that said, the Patrols are pretty much as tough as they come, but they are heavy even before an accessories get added.

Whether you go for coil or leaf very much depends upon your intended style of touring & playing. You can still have fun with leafies, & if you are wanting ‘hard core’ fun where more flex than the leaf will give becomes necessary you probably won’t want the canopy on the back.

Best solution is to get one of each! :) If I were not planning to be doing long term touring I’d keep the Patrol for desert trips etc, & get a smaller lighter 4wd for playing - maybe a Suzuki or a Jackeroo.

[the evil twin]

Mine is a coily with airbags and I just luv it to bits.

Anyhoooow.. IMHO coils give a much better on the 'Roidds than a leafy.
Yes a leafy will carry extra Kg's but unless you need that extra GVM coils are the way to go and that is the decision made right there.

[Wizard52]

Mine has coils with Superior Engineering brace and air bags. No problems with recent Cape trip at max GVM 3150kg and probably at little more until fuel and water used.
My son has leaf all round GQ ute and lucky his girl friend does not have extra large b**bs otherwise she would be very sore. She loves it when we all use my ute instead of his.
IMHO coils are definitely worth the small extra cost.

[Cuppa]

I guess I would have to concede that were it not for my need for the extra load carrying capacity (I have a tare weight of 3400kg on the rego - reality in non touring mode is probably 300kg less, but weighing 3700kg in full touring mode) a coily would be my choice for all the reasons mentioned (except for the fact that my wife does’t have extra large b**bs). The mine service vehicles I mentioned used to run well over 4 tonnes all the time.

[threedogs]

Still has me beat ppl that choose to travel at full GVM, its not like SWL or WLL.
to travel maxed out is wrought with dangers as Rafa found out. You wont be doing any 4x4s in that state,
Only slow rocky tracks, He didnt even increase his GVM and had what I thought was a good set up. stay within Manufacturing limits would be my advice.
No reason a coil ute coundnt travell around Aust with a STD 2" lift and airbag assist in the rear.
I had a leaf sprung 4x4 and drove that over 400k, that is why I now drive a patrol, wish I had brought
a coil ute though

[Cuppa]

Still has me beat ppl that choose to travel at full GVM, its not like SWL or WLL.
to travel maxed out is wrought with dangers

We’ve had this discussion before & I’m in agreement with you TD. My GVM is 3900. The 3700 is our max weight which reduces considerably as water & fuel & food is used. Travelling for 1 or 2 years plus is totally different to a 6 or 8 week trip, (as is travel solo in remote areas compared to travelling with other vehicles). I would expect that the majority of the time when travelling we will be under the factory GVM. Having the capacity doesn’t mean it has to be used at all times, but there will certainly be times when the additional capacity allows us to spend extended periods away from ‘civilisation’ which is what we want to do. Certainly the heavier one’s vehicle the more cautious one’s driving style needs to be. Most damage occurs to folks who are in a hurry.

[DX grunt]

I'm confused. I have coils on the front and leaf on the back. lol.

Seriously, I've got a 2005 ex Telstra 4.2 TDi ute, with the pod on the back and love it.

I can't tell the difference and don't know what I'm talking about, but I love my ute.

Rossco

[threedogs]

We’ve had this discussion before & I’m in agreement with you TD. My GVM is 3900. The 3700 is our max weight which reduces considerably as water & fuel & food is used. Travelling for 1 or 2 years plus is totally different to a 6 or 8 week trip, (as is travel solo in remote areas compared to travelling with other vehicles). I would expect that the majority of the time when travelling we will be under the factory GVM. Having the capacity doesn’t mean it has to be used at all times, but there will certainly be times when the additional capacity allows us to spend extended periods away from ‘civilisation’ which is what we want to do. Certainly the heavier one’s vehicle the more cautious one’s driving style needs to be. Most damage occurs to folks who are in a hurry.

Wasnt aimed at you Cuppa but more so the mob that buy huge vans then wonder why something breaks.
As for your set up it suits you after the Bus [dont know its name] and trying to keep as many mod cons as possible without going over board.
I very jealous of your set up as Im a huge ute fan as its all Ive ever owned except the troopy and this wagon

[cass_cass94]

cheers for the help guys

[macca]

cheers for the help guys

So :icon_driving:

[Wizard52]

Still has me beat ppl that choose to travel at full GVM, its not like SWL or WLL.
to travel maxed out is wrought with dangers as Rafa found out. You wont be doing any 4x4s in that state,
Only slow rocky tracks, He didnt even increase his GVM and had what I thought was a good set up. stay within Manufacturing limits would be my advice.
No reason a coil ute coundnt travell around Aust with a STD 2" lift and airbag assist in the rear.
I had a leaf sprung 4x4 and drove that over 400k, that is why I now drive a patrol, wish I had brought
a coil ute though
Agree TD next time I go to the Cape (maybe next year for the meet up) I will definitely weigh in a lot less as these days you don't need to carry every thing I took last time. There was another red coil cab last August up there without any suspension mods running close to 4,000kg so was 850kg over GVM and he wondered why he had to weld rear axle 3 times on the trip back to Musgrave Road house so don't know if he made it back to NSW I think. You should have see the crap he had in the back of that canopy.