Help me tune my suspension.

Axles:

• Front: High pinion Dana 44, Lockright, Alloy 4340 shafts, 5.13 Yukon Gears. Ballistic diff cover.
• Rear : Dana 60, 5.13 Yukon Gears. Locker and Alloy shafts to come. Ballistic diff cover.

Suspension

• Front: Rancho 44150 springs with a medium add-a-leaf, 4.5" shackle.
• Rear : Skyjacker 6" softride springs, 2" block, Belltech 6400
• Total lift: 7 inches. I don't think those were 6" Skyjacker springs.

Tires:

• 37x12.50 Goodyear MTR Military OZ

Shocks:

• Random Skyjacker and Rancho's that I found in my dads shop.
• Soon to be Bilstein 9100 series

Other:

• High steer.
• 100" wheelbase. Pushed the front axle forward 6".
• Custom multi-mount front winch/receiver with stinger bar.
• Hella 700FF driving lights
• Smittybilt XRC8, with Viking Offroad Amsteel Blue synthetic rope with safety thimble.

Things to come:

• [Jeremy Clarkson]MORE POWER!!![/Jeremy Clarkson] Build the 2.9 w/ supercharger, or 4.0, or 5.0 swap. I haven't decided.
• Cage
• Ruffstuff light bar. Should pick that up next week sometime.
• Flat belly
• Boat sides or sliders
• Rear bumper/tire carrier
• Doubler
• Rock lights
• Maybe push the rear axle back 4"-6".

Edited to be eligible for OTOTM nomination.

Closest thing I have to an off road picture right now.





This was my first axle swap, if it's worth doing it's worth over doing. I'v been daily driving it and hitting a few light trails and OHV parks and now I'm to the point of tuning my suspension.

This was the first time I flexed it with a forklift and well.....frankly I'm disappointed. I thought it would flex more. And I'm sure it will, hence the tuning. All the pictures were taken with the truck in the same position. No sway bars and no anti wrap bar.

This is as high as I could get the front before it started to lift the driver rear tire. 30" from bottom of the tire to concrete.




Front drivers side spring, starting to go into negative arch just as the shock bottoms out.




Front drivers side shock, just about bottomed out.


Just starts to rub the fender as the spring starts to go into a negative arch/shock bottomed out.


Front passenger side shock, still has more stroke to give. How much? I don't remember.


Front passenger side spring, I think it will drop out more. Maybe another 4-6".




Rear drivers side spring, will drop out at-least another 6", but shock is topped out. I'm using the stock rear shock mounts.




Rear passenger side, obviously need to trim the fender, shock is bottomed out.





So.......advice? Obviously trim the fenders, and......add bump stops?



-Jester

Alter rear shock mounts for longer shocks and chop the fenders. Are your axles hitting the bump stops? I they are trim them, just make sure not to take off too much.

Just looked at your pics again, I do not see any bumpstops. So that is not limiting your travel.

I'm sorry, that should of said add bumpstops. The rear still has the stock BII bumpstops, but they are nowhere near hitting. I read somewhere (pirate most likely) that correct bumpstops will act as a fulcrum for the axle to pivot on(flex).

Any ideas for rear shock mounts?


-Jester

on the rear shocks i would likely put both on the front of the axle, then go forward of the stock passenger forward location, and high as possible for the upper mounts. you may have to double shock to get the desired road feel but you can gain more then enough travel for this setup.



the front i am not so sure.


you mentioned the tires wander about a bit, and on my truck they dont wander ...well a bad one wobbles...but no wander...cold, they all wobble till i get to the other side of town then they run straight...even with cold wobble no excess wander in any case over my 33 in coopers. i dont know if a trac bar would be the ticket or not for that but with softer springs i do prefer a trac bar as it really makes it feel tighter. bitch to dial in though



your front travel seems excellent to me

hell....whole thing looks like a home run for a 1st at bat.

sure you can improve it articulation wise if you want to be a ramp champ trailer queen, but for a driver i think you got it

dude, its really well done. hats off to ya.

oh. you need to set the front bumps on it to have them stopped about one inch from before where it is stopped in the pic, you will trash the springs faster if you dont.

bobbywalter said:

on the rear shocks i would likely put both on the front of the axle, then go forward of the stock passenger forward location, and high as possible for the upper mounts. you may have to double shock to get the desired road feel but you can gain more then enough travel for this setup.



the front i am not so sure.


you mentioned the tires wander about a bit, and on my truck they dont wander ...well a bad one wobbles...but no wander...cold, they all wobble till i get to the other side of town then they run straight...even with cold wobble no excess wander in any case over my 33 in coopers. i dont know if a trac bar would be the ticket or not for that but with softer springs i do prefer a trac bar as it really makes it feel tighter. bitch to dial in though



your front travel seems excellent to me

hell....whole thing looks like a home run for a 1st at bat.

sure you can improve it articulation wise if you want to be a ramp champ trailer queen, but for a driver i think you got it

dude, its really well done. hats off to ya.

Click to expand...

A.D.D.
I think a better/stronger steering stabilizer would solve the tire/steering wander.

Thanks Bobby, not bad for a kid huh? Maybe I'm just jaded from surfing pirate too much, but I sit here and see pictures like this

and it makes me think "Now why the hell won't mine do that?" Obviously 4 link vs. leaf, but I digress.

I know flex isn't everything but I know my suspension could perform a little better. Maybe it is as simple as trimming the rear fenders and moving the rear shock mounts.

Do you have any pictures of that shock setup, I know what you're saying, but pictures are always nice.


-Jester

A four link and air shocks will tune much easier and have more flex (well dont hold me too all that) but I wouldnt compair leaves to a four link setup with air shocks.

Mine flexes nicely for coils but I need to extend my shock mounts up on my frame so that they stop limiting my flex, I should be able to tuck my fronts up under my fenders easily.

Looks good, keep it up.

Quick update.
Added Belltech 6400 shackles to level out the rear, it was about 1.5" lower then the front.





Seems to have helped some, I'll have to get measurements with the forklift tomorrow at work.
Also, my dad is bringing me some AirLift bump stops and new U bolts.

-Jester

That looks pretty good so far.

I would trim the fenders to get the max travel possible. Then try to get more seperation between the shock mounts-i.e. maybe lower the tabs on the axle and try to raise the shock towers. you probably need longer shocks also cause you got more travel than shock.

get the max travel, then deal with bump stops.

i'm surprised you didn't have to trim your engine crossmember - especially with Hp axle, you must've really pushed the axle foreward.

Looks even better in person

I'd say trim the fenders, and move bottom shock mounts on the front axle down lower instead of up on top. Run a longer shock, and limit uptravel with some bumps right at or a hair before the leafs begin to go negative.

Other than that the only other things I can think of is to maybe play around with subtracting or adding leafs to either leaf pack.

Good luck.

slammer67 said:

That looks pretty good so far.
i'm surprised you didn't have to trim your engine crossmember - especially with Hp axle, you must've really pushed the axle foreward.

Click to expand...

Thanks
Only 6", but even at the stock wheelbase it had plenty of room.

legoms013 said:

Looks even better in person

I'd say trim the fenders, and move bottom shock mounts on the front axle down lower instead of up on top. Run a longer shock, and limit uptravel with some bumps right at or a hair before the leafs begin to go negative.

Other than that the only other things I can think of is to maybe play around with subtracting or adding leafs to either leaf pack.

Good luck.

Click to expand...

Thanks buddy
Might have to do that, but I think the front shocks are plenty long enough.

-Jester

Dont let your shock's limit your travel (up or down) ask me how i know. first thing I've allway's done is cycle the suspension with no shock's. The forklift will make this whole process much easier. measure extended length and compressed length where your shock will be mounted (may need to fabricate higher upper mount's if the travel is too long). be extremely carefull while measuring with tire's in the air you could loose your head in a second. subtract compressed length from extended and you will get what length travel shock you will need. then you can start looking at shock length's and shock mounting option's. you may or may have noticed when looking at shock's that just cuz the shock is a longer unit does not mean it has more travel.

just an example. two identical chassis (K-5) with identical front suspension mod's (B-52 kit) first buddy threw some shock's on that seemed to fit. and the second (actual blazer) is my brother's in which we had to make upper shock mount's to get the right length travel shock in ther. picture's are somewhat skewed since i dont have a pic of them with the same tire on the wall but the pickup didnt flex to say the least. oh yeah and gotta love the OZ's





and of course I couldnt let the show be ran by chev's so i threw the mazda up there too. this was the Very first version of my sas as this was only bout 5 day's after it was done. it now flexes gob's more and is rearranging sheetmetal nicely.

Got some numbers finally.

Total wheel travel for the front is 14". 6" up, 8" down. Springs are maxed out.
I can lift a front tire 36" off the ground before it starts to lift another tire.

Rear wheel travel, so far is also 14". 7" up and 7" down. Fenders and shocks are still limiting the travel(read: I haven't done shit to the fenders or shock mounts yet)

Getting the rear level helped quite a bit.



-Jester

so now find a shock with at least 14'' of travel in your desire'd length (mounting option's) fab up some mount's and figure out bump stop's and limiting strap's (sound's so easy)

trim the fenders asap of course.. and get the right shocks..

still a nice rig jester.. just get it fine tuned.