Hello, i ordered some Dobinson's parts and they're starting to arrive ,and i thought i would say what i ordered here so if anyone wants to replicate it they can. I ordered the normal long travel front shocks for the 100 series (MRA59-A786), their diff drop, torsion bars, and upper control arms. I really didn't want to mess with the front and mismatch shocks from other vehicles because of the added stress of our 35's and a worry for reliability. On the rear i ordered the (MRA59-A687) but after looking at the specs and comparing it to the (MRA59-A685), they both have the same minimum shock length (my biggest worry) but the (MRA59-A685) is 728mm at maximum length and the (MRA59-A687) is 674mm fully extended. I am on ahc now and have been tricking the rear sensor to move all fluid out of the shocks in low mode so i can measure the minimum shock length we need before the internals of the shock hit and when on bump stops the shock is 17.5" long and the (MRA59-A687) 16.5". both of the Dobinson's shocks are 420mm when fully compressed but after measuring for myself it will compress to 390mm or 15.3". for springs ive calculated that Dobinson's 80 series +440lb constant load springs will work great for a moderate build (roof rack, bigger spare tire, ect...) i ended up gong with the dual rate springs too. (C97-145VT) are the springs, they are 3.5" lift with no extra weight (100 series is heavier than 80 series) 3" with 440lb load, and 2.5" lift with 750lb load. i dont have a free weeekend to intall untill the 25th but i will update you guys when im done installing.
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I'm curious how the rear suspension works with those shocks.
What wheels and tires are those? And what sizes? I’m usually not into aftermarket wheels but damn that looks good.
Yep, not a big fan of aftermarket wheels, but 17" wheels would be nice, and those aren't bad.
It looks great, but the extended Dobinson's shocks aren't a long travel set up.
Agreed, "extended" =/= "long travel"
Yup, not long travel. Rear end will be great, but still have them short LCA's and torsion bars up front and zero down travel....
Front can be "optimized" a bit, but yes no "long travel" or even "mid travel" really.
No one makes a long travel kit for the 100.
Agreed, and likely nobody ever will.
long travel is long travel, front or rear its more droop.
Extended =/= "long travel"
A little extra travel isn't long travel.
Cool, the rear end flexes, but the front still has torsion bars and zero down travel.
Agreed.
A little "down travel" (2-2.25") can be added to the front suspension. No, it's not long travel, but if you don't "lift it too far" or "go overboard on torsion bar diameter", you can make minor improvements.
ok, so are dobinsons 100 series front mrr "long travel" shocks not long travel?
Nope. I've seen them advertised as "extended travel", but never as "long travel".
No, they are not. They want you to feel warm and fuzzy about it, meanwhile your full droop and full bump are never changed. Droop is limited by CV bind. Unless you change the suspension kinematics, you aren't gaining anything.
Doesn't mean those MRR's don't feel great... but to call it long travel makes us look like a bunch of dentists
Maybe the difference is "minor", at ~2.25" or so, but in my experience, shock extension is the first limit, upper ball joint is the second, UCA hitting the mount is the third, CV axle limits are much further down the list.
Agreed, still not "long travel"
yeah, so the dobinsons front long travel are not monotube so they have a larger delta (minumum to maximum size) so you are gaining, were doing a diff drop and thats to correct cv angle so we can droop more, then because the tires will tuck into the wheel well to the same point as stock we are gaining travel.
But, it is my understanding that Dobinsons IMS/MRA/MRR are monotube.
He reached max mod potential on his 100 and upgraded to a superior 80 series. As you have or are finding out, suspension travel gains are nominal on the 100 series no matter how you slice it. The torsion bar setup is the primary limiter and there’s no getting around it without tens of thousands of dollars, which, at that point, just ditch the IFS altogether or buy a different vehicle. It’s not worth the time or money to try to “long-travel” the 100 series. It is a path to nowhere other than lost time and empty pockets…
Having owned both, calling the 80 superior would depend on your use case.
I disagree that the format of the spring is the primary limiter. I've owned a number of Porsche vehicles with torsion bars (1979 930, 1985 944, & 1981 911), that while some of their engineering seemed archaic, the performance with archaic technology seemed pretty damn good (as long as you never wanted to brake, or lift off throttle, in a corner).
Yes, I've probably spent an inordinate amount of money tuning a (actually more than one) 100 series suspension, and it was probably a waste of time and money, but it did make me happier.
Eh.
"Longer" but not necessarily "long".
Yep.
When you get wider upper AND lower control arms.
And even then, an un-nameless one, around here, claimed to see a total of 10.5" of travel. Woohoo! (I'm seeing ~9.75" with my bastardized stock suspension).
I'd say you'd need to actually improve the angles the CV can operate at and go from there. Barring that, a slightly longer shock leaves you with the same limits and beyond that, potentially more risk to your originally designed CVs.
Similar to a real long travel conversion, nobody makes a bolt- on remote mount turbo kit for our trucks either. But we're not our here running turbonadors in our intake saying it's the same thing.
Longer CVs, maybe. but angles, not necessarily...
A slightly longer shock has its limits, but I don't think CV is the first issue that you'll run into. I'll be the first to scream, running extended (front) shocks on all three of mine.
Ideally, you'd gain travel by pushing the front wheels outward. Extending UCA/LCA & CV axles, and gaining travel by putting them at the end of a "longer lever".
You don’t need to be sorry. And yes, that’s what we’ve been saying.
Torsion bars were by far the worst thing to happen to the 100.
80 folks been doing this. Who is doing anything extreme with a 100?
I'm still somewhat confused about the torsion bar hate. I get that you can't do progressive torsion bars, but the bigger issue that I see, is relatively "lightweight vehicles" going to 32mm torsion bars (no uptravel), lift it 2.5" (no downtravel), and throw on some really stiff shocks (OME), then wonder why it "rides like s***".