Re: suspension question

[Curt Cleavinger <rcleavin@domain.elided>]

>Date: Wed, 31 Mar 1999 14:26:32 -0700
>From: Tom Mandera <tsm1@domain.elided>
>Subject: Re: suspension question
>> 1. 4inch lift kit front, springover back
>
>Easiest/cheapest setup.  Almost no thought or engineering involved. 
>Bolt the front in, weld the rear perches to the top of the housing and
>add shock mounts.
The trouble here is that you're going to get about 3.5" of lift in front,
and 5.5"-6" in back. And you don't want to level it out with longer
shackles in front or you get negative caster. Usually a shackle reversal
is done when you want to go this route - it gives about 1.5" of lift to 
the front, so the truck sits pretty level. Of course, that takes it out
of the easiest/cheapest category - especially if you're not equipped to
fabricate your own shackle reversal.

>> 3. 1inchbody lift, and rearched springs
>
>Bzzzttt.  Yeah, it's cheap n' easy... but if you want something capable
>of "working" (articulating and providing clearance), it'll come up
>short.
Don't discount the stock suspension's flexing ability - I have video of 
my Scout (pre-springover - stock height with 31's) going across the 
Golden Crack on the Golden Spike trail in Moab (some pictures of the 
Golden Crack are at http://www.4x4now.com/gs6.jpg and http://www.4x4now.com/gs5.jpg), and my Scout barely lifted a tire. It 
caught less air than most of the more modified Scouts. I don't know if
Tom's referring to rearching the springs as the thing that will kill 
articulation, but you might want to consider a 2" body lift to fit 
bigger tires, and leaving the stock suspension alone.

   rcleavin@domain.elided  San Diego, CA
   Binder Bunch: http://www.off-road.com/~jweed/binder.htm
   Scouts West: http://www.scoutswest.com
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