Quick Question(S) On Xt130 Sleeve Kits.

[Jrad]

Hey guys, I'm finally going to get around to doing something about my teeth-rattling front suspension.

After working all over easter, and will be Anzac day, I have a little cash to splash.

 

I've searched and gained some knowledge and I'm thinking the xt130 front struts will be the go for me.

 

BUT, how exactly does the sleeve kit work? I've never had a direct answer.

How much adjustment will I have with on of these kits? (in other words, can I get it gut-scrapingly low)

What is involved in modifcation of the standard strut when adapting them to a coilover strut?

Apparently the only reason xt130 struts are used is because they're easier to change inserts or something, I don't know what the go is with that either.

 

Black and white answers would be great, in layman terms.

 

Not afraid to get my hands dirty.

 

...unless of course someone wants to offload a set that's already been done? :D

 

Thanks in advance guys!

[It's_AUDM_Yo]

Sleeve kits you just cut your strut and weld it on, so you can go as low as you want and generally they have about 60mm adjustment.

 

The reason everyone uses Corona struts is because there is a much greater range of shocks and brakes that can be used compared to the KE70 ones.

 

Hope that helps,

[Jrad]

That does help a bit.

By cut... Where? Just the whole thing or just do you can slip the spring over it?

 

I've had a look on some places but I can never find it! Maybe when I do it I'll chuck up a guide on it.

[snot35]

You cut the spring seat off of the strut so it's just a tube with your hub at the bottom. The sleeve then goes over the tube. If you have a steel kit then you can weld the bottom of the threaded sleeve to your strut tube. Alternatively people make up rings to go over your strut tube and then sit the sleeve on top of that.

[ke70dave]

hey mate.

 

ill try and give a quick run down.

 

there are 2 main reasons why you would want to build your own sleave kit. (appart from the ride height adjustablility)

 

a) you want to use a short stroke shock absorber in a shock tube with a spring perch, but with the short stroke shock installed the spring perch is in the wrong spot, so you need to make a new spring perch, ie...the threaded bit of the sleeve kit

 

b) at the ride height you want to run, the wheels you want to run hit the standard spring perches.

 

now cutting stuff. (using gineric numbers here, but i don't have access to real numbers, but you get the idea)

 

If you don't understand why you need short stroke shock absorbers, have a search on the google machine, and if you get stuck let me know i can explain that too.

 

say a xt130 strut tube is 500mm long from the base till the gland nut. a short stroke shock absorber to be used may have a body length of 400mm. so when you slide the shock into the strut tube, there is now ~100mm between the top of the shock body, and where the gland nut is. the gland nut needs to be at the same height as the top ofthe shock body to hold it in. so what you do is you cut 100mm out of the shock tube, and weld it back together. so now the shock tube is ~100mm shorter, but the gland nut tightly holds the shock in place.

 

(when i made my coilovers, i used ae86 struts, and rear SW20 shocks (which are short stroke), i had to cut about 60mm out of the tube, your shock absorber choice basically governs how much you need to cut out.)

 

doing this cutting usually involves removing the standard lower spring perch, and if try and keep it, because the lower spring perch is ~100mm lower, the spring perch will interfere with the tyre/wheel.

 

enter....the coilover kit.

 

coilover springs are only ~70mm OD, as opposed to stnadard springs maybe 180mm OD. so this allows the wheel and tyre to fit on as you have ~55mm extra clearance.

 

now it is your choice where you weld the coilover kit on, BUT you want to pick a ride height, and design your coilover setup (both the shock absorber choice, amount you cut and coilvoer kit position) to ensure that at static ride height the shock absorber can be positioned in about the centre of its stroke. so you have equal bump and equal rebound on the shock.

 

the reason that xt130 shock tubes are popular is that they have a large diamter shock tube internal diameter that allows a greater choice of good shock abosrbers to fit in. same diameter as ae86 ones so anything that fits an ae86 shock tube (lots of good aftermarket shocks) also fits in an xt130. (cut to suit of course)

 

there are also plenty of xt130s at the wreckers, and you get better brakes than ke70 and adm ae86, though the discs are still solid not vented.

Edited April 22, 2012 by ke70dave

[Jrad]

Both of you guys, but especially Ke70 Dave:

You are fantastic.

Everything I wanted to know there. And that makes perfect sense to me.

 

Yeah, I do understand the reason for short stroke, I have them in the rear already. They're from a VL wagon actually, and I'm NOT running AU springs hahaha.

 

I will need to determine the shock inserts appropriate as my ride height is going to very low. Hence the need for a coilover conversion that I can control for myself.

 

I'll be sure to do a write up afterwards for others like myself.

 

Thanks guys!