Chat & Social > The Bar - General Chat

Suspension lift ~ is it worth it?

<< < (5/6) > >>

Wanderer:
I think I will have to bow to your superior knowledge Steve.
( I am not worthy)

My last word on this.

If sat on flat ground you have 6" of ground clearance under your diffs then you can do everything that you want but it cannot make up for the fact that the diffs will ground out and impede your passage by lessening your ability to gain traction as soon as the tyres are in a rut or mud that is deeper than 6". Regardless of what is fitted.

Gain more room under the diffs and you'll be less impeded. So your prime directive should be get more room under the diffs by fitting bigger tyres or portal axles.

Then spend your money on other things.

Let's have a poll of what stops people's forward (or reverse) motion.
Diffs or chassis?

Ed

electricbluebadger:
So  just to clarify ....your entire original comment that diff clearance is THE ONLY THING THAT COUNTS revolves entirely on the one situation where ruts are deeper than your diff clearance... my you have a very limited off road experience if you have never encountered other situations where that does not apply


As for your 'Let have a poll' comment, or should I say 'cmon somebody please back me up or I'll cry :) '

Depends entirely on what the obstruction referred to in your poll is:

a ridge under the diff??

a hole that requires more drop on the wheels

mud that clogs tyres with poor tread patterns

cross axle that needs a locked diff

hill that requires an engine with more power

a slope that needs a better approach angle

a departure that needs more rear end clearance

Off road situations are varied and complex as Ive gathered in many many years off off road action in many many theatres (snow, desert, jungle... tarmac :) ) both in my job and in  civilian life... you need to narrow down if you want people to be able to answer with any conviction:

I could go on but you have already been gracious enough to acknowledge my superior knowledge... Thanks

Steve

Mudlark:
At the end of the day are we not all looking for ways of getting further off-road than our competitors?

Above all driver ability yes - providing the drivers are driving the same spec after all the novice driver with 24" of clearance under the diff with aggressive tyres and diff lock all round is going to get a lot further than a experienced driver with a standard truck on road tyres.

With an equal field of drivers then whatever you do to your truck to reduce drag ie diffs grounding out has got to help you get to where you want to be, Ok  lifting the diff may not be so necessary but if it's done it does help.

How you go about it depends on your own preference at the time, lifting the body has to be not only easier but less of a problem than lifting suspension and all the steering symmetricy problems that you then gain.


Lift for the better aggressive tyres - they start at around 33" and most truck have to be lifted in some way to attain this.

davidlandy:
I must admit that the most frequent thing to stop me is the diffs hitting or the axles dragging on things

electricbluebadger:
Lifting the body is easiest??/??//

A 2 " suspension lift can be done in under an hour if the bolts/nuts aren't rusted to crap,

, i toyed with lifting the body on my 90 but....

the rear is easy... spacer plates,

front rear tub... awkward cos the seat belts mount directly through the tub to the chassis.. a 2" lift how do you overcome???? could cut a hole and still mount the belt mounts in original position....

seat box... no issues as it bolts to the body apart from the front edge which has brackets on the chassis for the floor plates

Bulkhead????? the securing bolt is horizontal.. do you  fabricate a complete raised support structure to compensate for the offset???

All this will raise the front of the front wings, and so you should raise the rad brackets but not essential, front panel brackets will need raising etc etc

if its a disco are the brake pipes not on the inner wing so do you stretch or grind n reweld (did that on caz's zuke)

Steering, how much free play is ther in the column will it safely handle the lift

plus IMHO the bumpers on a body lifted motor look crap if not rewelded to sit higher

but if people feel that all this is easier than a quick spring n shock change then crack on???

Cheers Steve

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page

[*] Previous page