Suspension lift behavior in off-camber

[mountain14er]

I'm about to sell two other cars and have a little money freed up for the bronco. I mostly use it for hard to get to places in the mountains. I've got the stock suspension and there have been times where more articulation would have helped but there have also been times on side-hills where the pucker factor is huge.

I know a suspension lift would help gain some articulation but I'm concerned about a higher center of gravity for those off camber situations. In your experience, did lifting make you feel more vulnerable to rolling? Have there been any tests on this by manufacturers/distributors?

Thanks for the input.

 

[broncnaz]

Old rule of thumb when you go up also go wider. Most people endup putting on wider tires and different offset in the rims which make the stance wider and more stable. I have a 2.5 in lift on my 73 and at one time had 33x9.50 tires while on road manners were great there where times in offcamber situations where I felt a little tippy. Since then I have gone to 33x10.50 tires and no longer feel tippy in off camber situations.
Body lifts make for more tire clearance but do nothing for articulation but they do keep the center of gravity lower than a suspension lift.
I would say a 2.5 or 3.5 suspension lift is ideal as long as your not running skinny pizza cutter tires.

 

[snoeborder]

i wanna go 5" i am currently running 35 x 13.50 bfg crawlers with a 2" suspension.is that wide enough?

 

[Gummi Bear]

i wanna go 5" i am currently running 35 x 13.50 bfg crawlers with a 2" suspension.is that wide enough?

Why do you want to go so high? I'm clearing 38's with nothing more than a 2" BL in the back. They rub, but new wheelwells will pretty much take care of that. I have some old Superstiff springs in the front (3-1/2") and I can drive it. The tires are into the inner fender pretty good, but they're due to come out anyhow, and I'm going to 2-1/2" coils in the front, and maybe 2-1/2" leafs out back just to level it out (until I can afford to 4 link it). That's all the higher I'll ever go with my rig. Width is good for stability, but you don't need to go overboard. I'm at 76" wide, and once I learned my roll over point, no longer feel too tippy. Length will get you as much or more stability than width. Push that rear axle back, scoot the front one forward, and get all the length you can. I'm shooting for 100" overall.

Keep it low brotha.

 

[snoeborder]

think i can clear 40's with a 2 inch body and 3 1/2 suspension?

 

[Gummi Bear]

If you trim the body enough, you probably could. Your flex will come in the form of droop, rather than compression. Be sure to arrange your shock mounts accordingly. You'll probably want to narrow the front or do some extreme trimming on the fenders and grille, and with tires that big, you had better be getting darn close to 100" wheelbase, if not more.

Why so big? Can your axles handle it?

 

[broncnaz]

think i can clear 40's with a 2 inch body and 3 1/2 suspension?

You proably could but I'd hate to see you hit a bump with it. You would need large bump stops that would pretty much remove any articulation. Also the running gear wouldnt hold up long assuming you can even get it to move in anything besides 4 lo without getting some really low gears for the axles more $$. Not to mention your turning radius would just plain suck with 40's

 

[astark]

From the Cage Off-Road Products site:

This '69 Bronco has our 3.5" extreme travel suspension lift combined with a 2" body lift. Oh and a LOT of fender trimming to clear 40x13.50x17" Goodyear MTR tires.

http://www.cageoffroad.com/page/page/1167799.htm

 

[Socal Tom]

I'm about to sell two other cars and have a little money freed up for the bronco. I mostly use it for hard to get to places in the mountains. I've got the stock suspension and there have been times where more articulation would have helped but there have also been times on side-hills where the pucker factor is huge.

I know a suspension lift would help gain some articulation but I'm concerned about a higher center of gravity for those off camber situations. In your experience, did lifting make you feel more vulnerable to rolling? Have there been any tests on this by manufacturers/distributors?

Thanks for the input.

It does take a little while to get used to the additional height. but there are many other things that affect rollover angles, width, and most importantly your center of gravity. generally speaking the cg of an EB is about at the tranfer case. What this means is when you add weight above that height ( bumpers, tools, roll cages,extra batteries people etc) then you raise the cg and rollovers are easier. adding the weight further from the center line if the rig also work in this way.
Tom

 

[SaddleUp]

As mentioned above. If you go higher then the COG goes higher which need to be offset by going wider. That doesn't mean just wider tires though. You need to make the overall stance wider. Many do this by running full size axles and others do it by running shallow backspacing or spacers on the rims. Mine feels more stable now with 37" tires and 5 1/2" suspension plus 3" of body lift than it did when I had 3 1/2" of suspension lift only and 33" tires on standard rims. My rims are about 3" wider on each side though now and the backspacing on the rims is about 1 1/2" less. Overall I think I am about 6" wider while my COG only went up about 4 1/2"(Estimated).