Quote:
Originally Posted by Eric Winkworth  so why exactly were these trucks ever engineered to have the springs under the axle?
is this true?
More control with SUA.
More expensive to lift SUA.
More chance of axle wrap with SOA.? |
1. I have no idea why Toyota engineered some of its truck SOA and some SUA... that's up to them. I own and drive both SUA and SOA, have done many, many spring overs... I prefer an SOA truck for off-roading, there is really no comparison in most types of terrain as long as the lift is conservative (keep the C of G as low as possible for cresting objects etc.).
There are certain engineering principles behind it, I'm sure, but if you want a vehicle that has optimum off-road prowess, then SOA is considerably better than SUA if you do it right.
2. More control with SUA? No, I don't agree... but "more control" can mean many things.
3. Lifting SOA is not an inexpensive venture - if you are doing it right. It also is not something that most people can accomplish in one weekend. There's a lot to do, especially with cutting and turning the front end (and the associated rebuild that comes with that).
4. SOA and axle wrap - depends on what you're meaning is. There is certainly more torque on the spring, but it is all manageable. Driving style has a lot to do with whether wrap is going to be a problem or not. There are many different methods of keeping spring wrap at reasonable levels, some work well and others not so well. Certainly some of the best articulating SOA trucks use very tired springs to begin with, and that has something to do with wrap and related pinion breakage (in hard use with large tires).
~John