So I hate to even bring this up. As I feel like its beating a dead horse at this point. I have seen many SAS vs IFS debates online, but none that have answered the questions I have.

I want the "best" setup that will allow:

Jumping my truck (about 10-20ft horizontally and 3-6ft vertically)
Hitting 50-70mph on dirt
Some crawling
And use as a daily driver

In all the things I have read they address ride quality, durability, articulation/flex, etc. I've never seen anyone talk about higher speeds, and getting some air. Love to know your thoughts.

 

Long travel IFS if you plan on flying a lot, and they flex pretty well to boot. Plus great road manners.

If you go solid axle, make sure you truss the hell out of it, Toy axles like to bend when jumped.

 

I liked my ifs and had plans of some type of long travel set up. The only reason i went to sa is its overall stronger and alot less moving parts. My ifs was really too beat to fix and needed a torch and hammer to make it drive straight. I think i would piss blood if i drove my truck at high speeds off road.

 

It really does depend on fab skills, and what you want to spend as well.

A really well set up long travel system is phenominal for high speed dirt runs, is great for daily driving, decent crawling, amd jumping.

Solid axles, when properly build, are also very capable of high speed dirt runs (watch a G-wagen Offroad), is more than capable for dd duties, obviously can kill it on the rocks, and, properly trussed, can handle 3-6 foot jumps.

 

long travel if that's the style driving you're planning to do. pretty much look at 4wd baja-style builds.

 

Okay, so it sounds like a well done long travel setup is the way to go for what I'd like to do.

By trying to get the best I can of crawling, and pre running do you think that it'll just be kinda lousy at both?

Given, I'm not planning on entering any races, or crawling comps out here, but I'd hate do dump the $ needed for the build, and regret it.

 

As long as you have lockers front and rear, and some low t case gears youll be fine for crawling.

Traction > articulation.

Check out ToyoTech559s build, he has a blazeland LT and put it through its paces on the rocks..

 

Thanks. I'll check out his build.

How would you define articulation? The distance between the wheel well and the tire? Is "flex" the same thing?

Willing to take a dumb answer if its a dumb question. But is it? I'm still new to all this.

Thanks.

 

Flex refers to articulation basically the droop and uptravel. For what you want long travel is the way to go. It's pretty much bolt on kit not alot of fabrication. To go sas for what your doing would really just be alot of wasted time work and money. Ifs is made to go fast and jump if it wasn't the trophy trucks would be running sa.

 

You may want to rethink this, using a DD to take off jumps is not a good idea IMO. Taking jumps at high speed would require having a cage, suspension seats, 5 point harness and will most likely be a pain as a DD, factor in breakage and it just becomes irrational.

Save your money and buy a vehicle dedicated to beat on that you wont depend on come Monday morning.

 

Okay, so now the search begins for what kind of long travel setup to go with. Thanks man.

 

A cage would be a good idea. Marlin and 4xinnovation both make weld in cage kits...

 

There are so many other things that need to be considered besides the front suspension when it comes to jumping. For example, the floor pan of my 1986 xtra cab has begun to collapse and I have broken the factory seat frames. Granted I weigh 220lbs and sometimes I carry passengers, but hard landing has taken its toll. I've since built an additional cross member with added bearing points to distribute the loads and I've reinforced the seat frame.

Safety is a big concern! Get a roll cage. I'm not one to preach as I don't have one and I should! I've had a couple of close calls!

Rear suspension is key! So many folks get LT up front and put off the rear. Going from 11" travel to 14" travel was night and day! Getting the dampening dialed in also made a difference.

Consider the weight distribution and balance.

Bump stops and droop stops. Limit straps, air or hydro bumps. Your going to blow by the travel limits of your suspension and when you do you want to bottom out on something substantial and planned out.

Just remember jumping is unpredictable. Designing for dynamic loads is difficult. Just look at the Monster truck jams! When they do freestyle some thing always breaks or fails but safety is always the upmost importance!

 

Yeah, an in cab cage is a must before I really start to attempt getting air. As is a 6pt harness, helmet, etc.

It's not something I plan on jumping often, but it's on my bucket list to get a real good jump out of a vehicle.

I'd love to set up my truck to jump like this:

 

Buliding a crawler is cheap and easy compared to a high speed desert truck. When i want to catch air I ride my quad or dirt bike lol.

 

This made me change my mind from SAS to IFS

http://www.trailslesstraveled.com/ar...road-magazine/

 

Awesome. Great article. Thanks.

 

http://www.dezertrangers.com/vb/content/

Best set up? Must have access to lots of $$$
T

Nate brings up a good point on seats.., stockers won't cut, plan on spending money on good suspension seats...your vertebre will thank you later.

 

The problem with bolt on LT kits is that they utilize the stock mounts for the control arms, which are definitely not designed to take a landing from 3-6 feet in the air. On top of that the original bump stomps are rigid. What I would recommend is that you cut off and rebuild your control arm mounts, gusset the hell out of them. Plus then you can mess with your suspension geometry a little bit. On true race built trucks, your upper and lower arms and your tie rods are equal length, which means the tire stays straight up and down during travel, and it doesn't kick out to the side. With a bolt on kit, the more travel you add, the more misalignment you are going to see, which will wear your tires on the road. I mentioned the bump stops too, those need to be replaced with an air bump, its a relatively simple mod, just some simple cutting and welding. The air bumps will keep you from cracking your arms if you land too hard. The seats too are important, a good race seat is not decline adjustable. They are at a set angle to properly apply the g-forces to your spine. The costs do add up, but its worthwhile. For a bolt on kit with everything you are looking at generally around 6,000, thats including coil overs. Bump cans are about 200 a piece, and the mounts for them are like 20.

 

Thanks Ryan. I appreciate your input. I was thinking about coilovers with a triple bypass and air bumps. I'm not sure what I wanna do for the rear. I wanna crawl too so I think I want to keep it axle over for clearance. What do you think?