Hellwig Traction Springs

[lucas287]

Tired of your vibrations?? Feel like driving your truck off a cliff? You are certainly not alone! 

 

I feel like I've been chasing my tail trying to solve vibes under acceleration and even cruising. It all started when I removed my overload leaf springs

 Which ended up being a BAD idea! I started experiencing even more vibes on the highway and even more vibes under acceleration/load. I thought it might be my pinion angle. Corrected that and still had the vibes. But then I started researching the phenomenon of axle wrap and it's influence on pinion angle. I've got the 6.2 in my truck, which most of you know is a torque monster. It makes the same torque at 1500 RPM that a 5.3 makes at peak. It's off-idle torque is like a big block and what I was feeling was the pinion twisting up under even slight throttle input and throwing my angles off. I do realize there are contributing factors at here. Maybe I need new UJs or a my DS needs to be balanced. One thing is for sure, my axle was wrapping a lot. It was evident especially on the highway. Flat ground, meh, vibes felts similar to a tire issue. Slight incline - yep getting worse. Hill climb - awful! Or even if I leave it in 8th and roll into the throttle to pass someone, the vibes would get worse. All this on top of a generally jittery ride just made for a pretty bad experience all around. 

 

So, to the point. In one of my many Google searches trying to find a solution I stumbled upon several threads on a Nissan Titan forum where they had great success with these Hellwigs. At only $80, I figured why not? I was about to spend $30 on 4 clamps from Autozone to test out that theory from another thread on here. Besides Hellwig designed this product specifically for axle wrap, not load capacity. 

 

 

Threw em on earlier today. Install was super easy. 1/2" ratchet, 18mm deep socket, 1/2" torque wrench set at 60 #s. Took maybe 20 minutes. Used the floor jack (as instructed) on the first side but didn't on the other side because it makes no difference. I tightened the front clamp down enough to where the Hellwig spring was about 1/4-1/2" (thickness of my index finger) away from the top leaf spring. 

 

I subjected my truck to lots of different little tests. 2WD launches from a dig = 90% wheel hop gone. It only hopped while bogging from shifting to 2nd gear under tire spin. Getting on I10 near my house is basically a 5% grade, it used to axle wrap the worst here. After install, nope, nothing, nada. Smooth as glass! Took her up to 70 and set the cruise = smooth as glass. 75 = smooth. 80 = smooth. 90 = yep, still smooth. I would previously get bad wrap under braking too, or pretty anytime coasting on the highway. These trucks have pretty aggressive DFCO and that always caused vibrations. That's gone too. Under very light throttle I do still have some vibrations, but I'm 90% sure that's because I need to put pinion angle shims back in. (removed the rear blocks) Under more aggressive throttle it rotates the pinion up enough to not vibrate though.

 

All of that I honestly expected would be the result. What I DIDN'T expect was the improvement in the ride! It's no doubt stiffer, but not in a bad way at all! Small bumps and road imperfections are actually smoother. The rear end feels very planted! Unperturbed is the best way to describe it. 

 

Needless to say I'm blown away. I will continue to monitor and tweak the preload on the front clamp. Maybe once I nail my pinion angle I will tighten that front clamp until the Hellwig touches and that should limit wrap even more. 

 

 

Edited June 5, 2020 by lucas287

[Snowcamo]

Dude you rock! Btw you should make a you tube vid with the same comentary. Prob will sound like scotty kilmore but hell that ish is funny lmao![emoji817]

Sent from my LM-G820 using Tapatalk

[lucas287]

Hellwig #2002 is the part I used. Their website is pretty much useless and so is Amazons formula for fitment. Trust me, it fits just fine. It's a nice powdercoated spring. 

[Snowcamo]

Nice!

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[flyingfool]

on my wish list...i really dont want the whole traction bar kit , as it might attract unwanted attention with visible speed parts, this sound like what i'm looking for.

 

just finished installing Hellwigs fat front sway bar and rear sway bar kit, this truck takes hard corners like a 740il, cant wait to try the leaf springs next

 

ohh and what is an  "aggressive DFCO"?

Edited June 6, 2020 by flyingfool

[Mileguru]

Cool man. I've been thinking of getting some CalTracs, but this might be a huge money saver. I have a 6.2L, supercharger, smaller pulley, and meth, so my rear end likes to hop.

[dieselfan1]

I wonder how these would work on a truck with a big lift?

I'm sure I have some axle wrap when I stomp on it.

[lucas287]

10 hours ago, flyingfool said:

on my wish list...i really dont want the whole traction bar kit , as it might attract unwanted attention with visible speed parts, this sound like what i'm looking for.

 

 

just finished installing Hellwigs fat front sway bar and rear sway bar kit, this truck takes hard corners like a 740il, cant wait to try the leaf springs next

 

ohh and what is an  "aggressive DFCO"?

Nice! I bet with this it'll stiffen up even more and its super stealthy. I got the gray powder coated ones because red would draw too much attention. 

 

Deceleration Fuel Cutoff. When you ease up your throttle and it feels like you just weighed an anchor, that's DFCO. Kinda like engine braking is more aggressive with a manual transmission. 

[lucas287]

7 hours ago, Mileguru said:

Cool man. I've been thinking of getting some CalTracs, but this might be a huge money saver. I have a 6.2L, supercharger, smaller pulley, and meth, so my rear end likes to hop.

Wow...that's some power you're making! This might work?? Worth a shot from a driveability standpoint alone. May not cure it though!

[lucas287]

42 minutes ago, dieselfan1 said:

I wonder how these would work on a truck with a big lift?

I'm sure I have some axle wrap when I stomp on it.

Even better actually. Lift blocks act like a fulcrum on your axle accentuating axle wrap. 

[M H]

I wonder if you could use a set of these instead (not powdercoated, but half the price) and flip them upside down to get the same effect?  It's hard to tell if they are curved enough, but same principle.  Any reason these wouldn't work the same?  I have the Hellwig rear swaybar, works great!  Seems steep for what it is because of the powdercoat I guess.

 

https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B00029K022/?coliid=I2FIF2VS7AMVME&colid=A26RVP7QW2VT&psc=1&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it

[lucas287]

I'm sure they would! Titan guys run em like that.

 

I'm actually going to take mine off and return them. I just don't like the increased ride harshness. Too much preload and they are too stiff and you can feel every pebble. Too close and they don't even work. 

 

Thinking that was just a placebo effect after all. I drove on them for two weeks fiddling with the preload and there wasnt any way to install them without negatively impacting ride quality.

 

Do they control wrap? Yes. But that's because they work by increasing spring rate.