hi
so im interested in peoples thoughts good and bad on running the coilover rear end on a 1200 ute with the single leaf to locate the diff..

would a panhard be needed/help

thanks

You can remove all of the leafs except for the main one and run coil-overs but make sure that you reinforce the shock pocket to take that load. A panhard bar or watts-link is a definite plus for the handling. I made mine adjustable for height to tune the rear roll center. You would be amazed at the handling tuning that you can do with the rear roll center.

The good: It looks cool
The bad: it will ride rougher than before

The stock 1200 truck/ute springs are 149 lbs/in. Aftermarket coilover springs usually start at 250 lbs/in. Stiffer, rougher ride. So you would have to use 275 lb springs on the front to counterbalance. Unless you can find more appropriate rate springs.

You can add a Panhard Rod with the stock leaves. But by nature a panhard moves side-to-side. It is better to use the similar but more refined Watt's linkage.

The leaf springs provide lateral restraint as well, so adding a Watts linkage or Panhard rod can be problematic with where your roll centre actually ends up being and can bind if not done correctly.

What most races will do (if they want to do it properly) is run a greesy/slip connection between the leaf and diff to enable the watts linkage to set the roll centre height. Downside of this is you will need more longitudinal connections to keep the diff in the right orientation through the range of suspension travel.

You can adjust the roll centre/roll axis by changing the connection points of the leaf spring (ie longer shackles or lower the front mounting point), this will effect the roll centre and roll axis.

Ive never liked the idea of mixing spring types in one end. For racing a ute will not require much rear ride rate, therefore can get away with reasonably soft springs (100-150lbs max - id have at a guess). roll rate will be underdone with this spring rate and is made up by a rear ARB. With this in mind most ute springs are overspring standard, due to the load carrying requirements, therefore you might get enough out of a single leaf setup anyway (in ride that is).