Air shocks, Coil overs, or coil springs?

[Tapage]

There is no way that with your setup running a 2.0 coil over vs a 2.5 air shock would give you any noticeable advantage.

strongest units .. ?

 

[CruisinFJ60]

My guess is that 60 is every bit of 5000 lbs.

current tires only 120lbs eacl
d60 axle 518 lbs
14b axle 400ish lbs
DOM cage covering front and rear seats
heavy 2f and dual cases

but no glass or sheet metal from the door handles up.

I need to get a weight on it, maybe I can take it to the local scrap yard and talk the guy into letting me occupy his scale for full and partial weights with how it is now with the 14B and a yota axle up front.

 

[brokenparts]

remember you need to subtract out things like the tires and axles etc.... basically anything that attaches below the suspension frame mounts. That is what unsprung weight is.

 

[CruisinFJ60]

Yes but still need to be in the ballpark, the subtracting I can handle after.

 

[brokenparts]

Yes but still need to be in the ballpark, the subtracting I can handle after.

 

[Kurtis]

Advantages of coil overs in a lot of applications are pretty evident. From the viewpoint of having some of each, (air shocks and coil overs) on my different vehicles in this situation the air shocks would do a very good job for quite a bit less money.

You need a nitrogen tank for both so that is really a wash. Air shocks are very easy to set up and adjust in comparison, partly because there is not to much adjusting you can do. In a 4-5k full framed 85 hp to the rear wheel rock crawler its hard to imagine a situation where a 2.0 coil over would get you over any rocks a 2.5 air shock would not. The only disadvantage in your setup would be if you damage one you would be riding home on the bump stock. They hold up to some serious abuse though and are very easy to service.

 

[4WheelUnderground]

Actually there is a lot of adjusting you can do on air shocks, you still have a piston, you still have compression valving and reboud valving, (very important) you have oil levels that control the spring rate and you still have nitrogen levels. If anything the air shock is more of a pain in the but to adjust because you cant simply swap springs. Instead you have to take it apart and either increase oil levels or subtract. Its even more of a science experiment than coilovers where you slide a spring off if its not right.

 

[Kurtis]

As long as you know the starting oil volume I've never found it to be a pain. Valving can be changed with differing shim stacks in an air shock and they come stamped with what you have. Fine tune with oil which only takes a few minutes. Release nitrogen, remove shrader valve, add or subtract oil. If you mount them right you can do it with them on the vehicle in literally a matter of minutes. I can do my whole car faster than I can adjust the single rear on my mx bikes let alone all 4 on a truck. I defiantly spend more time playing with my coil overs than I do my air shocks but in some cases its worth it. I defiantly appreciate the adjust ability of a coilover after landing the 100 footers or hitting a rhythm section one weekend then doing 70 miles in the desert the next. There the minute changes really affect what you will be able to do on the bike. Coil overs are also superior in a vehicle that sees a lot of street time. Its nice to set them up and leave them in vehicles that see similar driving conditions continually. I defiantly wouldn't run air shocks in my truck. In off road only light desert/sand cars and slower moving rock crawlers air shocks really do get the job done pretty well. I just can't see how a 2.0 coil over in this particular setup would get you over anything a 2.5 air shock wouldn't. Plus its a lot of fun to play with your ride height with just nitrogen.