Long Travel Suspension

by **Mudwheelin** » Thu Nov 15, 2012 9:26 pm

Well it looks good man. Good job. I wish I had the skills to fabricate stuff like that. Then again maybe not because my wife would kill me for never leaving the garage.

by **TexTrail** » Thu Nov 15, 2012 10:38 pm

Hey thanks man. I let the CNC plasma do as much of the work as possible. Without it lots of my projects don't turn near as well.

by **TexTrail** » Fri Nov 23, 2012 3:39 pm

I got a chance to see how our TB handles higher speeds offroad the other day. I needed a seat of the pants baseline where the truck currently is. On a well known non public stretch of caliche road with slight elevation changes and not perfectly maintained some ruts and uneven spots I got up to 70-80 mph and while accelerating or just holding steady at those speeds it felt very stable until deceleration or braking. The front felt solid but the back felt like it was going to drive around me. I had to fight the wheel hard to keep it straight under medium to heavy braking.

Most fast offroad driving I've done was in my 05 F150. That truck could handle a beating with nothing but a leveling kit. I only got it air born twice both were accidents. We took it down to big bend during the tourist off season in south Texas and we ran about 2 hours worth of trails at speeds of 50-90 mph the only problems I ever had with truck was rear wheel speed sensors. We didn't see another soul all day. The point is the lighter back end of a pickup never gave me feel that the TB did the other day. I think new 5125 bilsteins and new correct length sway bar links will help this some.

The other test I did was at about 40-50 mph on a trail around here that's just a little sandy with ruts off camber bigger bumps (almost jumps at that speed) that would really cycle the suspension through its full range and see how it handled full extension droop to full compression a total cycle under load and at speed. Even when I could feel total droop when the tb came down it never did bottom out. The spring rates felt good for the current setup I have no additional weight over stock or extra leverage on the front suspension in the way of offset wheels or wheel spacers yet. I think a major reason several of you guys are having to get such heavy spring rates in the front have more to do with addition leverage on the strut assembly. The further out you move the point of contact with the ground the more leverage you put in the strut assembly. If the additional leverage comes from out side the steering knuckle or hub bearings (wide wheels, small backspacing or wheel spacers you have additional leverage and no extra travel if the addition leverage is inside of the knuckle or hub bearings (longer upper and lower control arms) you gain travel and leverage. That's why connecting coil over towers to each other across the engine bay is so important in pre runner type trucks the keep the additional leverage in check.

by **boog2006** » Fri Nov 23, 2012 7:32 pm

We need to put cameras all over that thing!

by **TexTrail** » Sun Dec 02, 2012 5:41 pm

That could be arranged my friend has a Gopro. I've got to take a little break from the TB and work on my jeep for a little while. Just a heads up I'll return to TB world after the jeep is done. I'm building a new gas tank skid, retro fitting a skid row engine skid for a stock jeep into mine non of the factory brackets are there so I'll have make some. Also reworking my tranny mount to give me an extra inch of clearance.

Once back on the trailblazer the prototype arms are getting built. I think the first set will use stock bushings and a ball joint clamp. I know the first few try's aren't going to be the final product and I don't want drop a ton on r&d prototypes until I get the geometry down perfect.

by **TexTrail** » Sun Dec 02, 2012 5:55 pm

Erased

by **v7guy** » Sun Jan 06, 2013 6:21 am

nevermind

by **DirtyBacon04** » Sun Jan 06, 2013 12:27 pm

NC_IslandRunner wrote:I drove over 2000 miles in my Impala a few weeks ago, the suspension felt great. Long-Travel-Suspension, I got it covered!:mrgreen:

YouTube Videos · by **Trail X** » Thu Jan 10, 2013 2:21 pm

TexTrail wrote:I also use heims on my jeep. My current jeep is one I didn't build but I know the heims lasted there for 2-3 years under heavy abuse. I just wish they were 1-1/4" heims instead of 7/8x3/4 at least on the lower control arms.

I've got three different ideas for both the joint on the upper arm and the arm itself. That's just the first rough idea.

The guy on the toy website was using uni ball joints in his which is just a heim with no threaded shank. The other purpose of the heim would be for camber adjustment. What are the chances we are all running the same lift where a fixed joint location is best?

I like the heim idea, but the only concern I have is with your idea of making a threaded shank to adjust the camber. You might be able to manage it spatially, but when in full droop the UCA can run into the strut spring, so I'm kinda doubting that you have enough room to give it adjustability - unless you have some sort of compact design in mind.

by **TexTrail** » Thu Jan 10, 2013 6:01 pm

I have concerns about that as well but I haven't verified that yet. Im going on a wheelin trip this weekend and I'm hoping to get some old parts to use for jigging, measuring, testing from gordin in the mail soon.

by **v7guy** » Sat Jan 12, 2013 12:27 pm

Shouldn't matter if a uniball/balljoint is used at the balljoint location and heims are used on the inner mount. Adj the heim depth to change the camber. The obvious draw back is that the upper arm has to be removed to adjust the length for alignment. Initial setup would be a pain but after that it's all easy riding except for the NVH. Not that most of us give a shit about the NVH at this point.

by **TexTrail** » Thu Jan 17, 2013 9:31 pm

Well I broke my jeep this weekend so time and money will be going to a superior super 88 kit to upgrade to chromo axles and eliminate c-clips.

My only hesitation to using all heims and uni balls on the upper is not having and vibration isolation. I'd think it would be better to keep urethane on the frame end to cut down on felt vibration. All heims would send every little bump into the frame.

YouTube Videos · by **Trail X** » Thu Jan 17, 2013 11:27 pm

True, but remember you're somewhat isolated from that in the cab by the body mounts. But I guess I agree with you.

by **fishsticks** » Fri Jan 18, 2013 12:26 am

TexTrail wrote:Well I broke my jeep this weekend so time and money will be going to a superior super 88 kit to upgrade to chromo axles and eliminate c-clips.

My only hesitation to using all heims and uni balls on the upper is not having and vibration isolation. I'd think it would be better to keep urethane on the frame end to cut down on felt vibration. All heims would send every little bump into the frame.

My rear control arms are rod-ends. I'ts really not noticeable. I doubt it would be a huge deal.

by **TexTrail** » Sat Mar 30, 2013 1:36 pm

Sorry about not having any updates on this. Haven't had time to fiddle with it much. I did get that busted upper control arm and ball joint shipped to me and hope to use them to come up with an option for the ball joint correction.

Offroad Trailblazers and Envoys