Air shocks, Coil overs, or coil springs?

[CruisinFJ60]

As some of you may have noticed I already swapped a 14B under the truggy then Friday eve I went and picked up a a front GM D60 with factory 4.56's and welded up and a FF 14B with factory 4.56's and a Detroit.

I think linking the front would be the best way to get the 60 under the truck. Reason is my front tires currently hit the leaf springs with 2.5" bs wheels and the spring pads are right at about 30" apart. on the D60 the spring perches are 32" apart and on passenger side since this is a GM axle the spring perch is cast into the side of the diff. and is not movable inward. This means outboarding my springs. And that means that the tires will still hit. It isnt a major difference but I would like to not hit at all anymore.

So the thought is to link it up front and move the axle forward to where the tires sit out in front of the truck a little bit giving me 100% approach angle and the longer wheelbase I have been wanting.

Now that you have some info I want to know what yall think would be best for the suspension.

I like the ease and idea of some air shocks not to mention the price. About $230 will get me some 2.0" Fox air shocks with 14" travel and I could still go more. I was kinda thinking 4-6" up travel and the rest all be droop on whichever suspension I choose. From some reading the 2.0 air shocks are rated to hole 1,000 lbs per corner and the 2.5's are good for up to about 1,500 lbs per corner. Would the 2.0's be enough for me? Truck is shortened 16" and has to top but does have a full cage. I dont presume wheels, tires, and axles fall into the weight constraints but I guess could be wrong.

I know coil overs can support pretty much whatever due to the springs being able to be changed but they also cost a good deal more. and for regular coils I am really just not interested to be honest.

For those not familiar here are a couple of pictures of the truck.

I am sure some more cutting will happen down the road making it lighter. I really kinda think the 2.0's will work for my needs cause I cant see the body and cage weighing more than 4,000 lbs.

I am to that point in this truck finally and am excited, but still wanna do it right and not rush it. money will keep me from rushing to much cause I dont have a lot to spare but yea.

 

[Kurtis]

If your over 3.5k I would jump to 2.5s. Chances are your weight is not evenly distributed. You can get by on a slow moving rock crawler with 2.0s if your a little over weight but it wouldn't be ideal.

From my experience in my rail that weighs 1500#s plus passengers at 80-100mph and 375 psi in the rears I can almost bottom them out.

If you were ever going to get a motor with more than 120hp in the future that could move the thing I would jump to 2.5s right away. 2.0s would have a hard time controlling those heavy axles and tires in anything rough at any speed at all. That is a lot of un sprung weight.


The fox shocks are nice though. They hold up well and are cheap and easy to service.

 

[kling-on]

Coils are cheap....coilovers would be the best cause of whgt

 

[CruisinFJ60]

If your over 3.5k I would jump to 2.5s. Chances are your weight is not evenly distributed. You can get by on a slow moving rock crawler with 2.0s if your a little over weight but it wouldn't be ideal.

From my experience in my rail that weighs 1500#s plus passengers at 80-100mph and 375 psi in the rears I can almost bottom them out.

If you were ever going to get a motor with more than 120hp in the future that could move the thing I would jump to 2.5s right away. 2.0s would have a hard time controlling those heavy axles and tires in anything rough at any speed at all. That is a lot of un sprung weight.


The fox shocks are nice though. They hold up well and are cheap and easy to service.

That makes sense. I initially thought about the unsprung weight then dismissed it since it was unsprung. I wont be doing anything near 100 in this thing, pretty much 40mph is flying for it! lol but thats some good points.

 

[CruisinFJ60]

also is an air coil over shock an air shock that can also be used as a coil over? If that is the case why is it cheaper? would be ideal to run those in the 2.5" variant then when money permits add the coils in the mix.

 

[4rnr]

Ill vote coil overs over everything in most cases. Air shocks are basically for people who don't have the budget or patience for coil overs. But if you don't want to spend the $ for the C/O I would go with 2.5 air shocks for sure.

Have you looked into ORI struts? I haven't been following the latest news on them but from what i've heard they are about the same price as coil overs and out of the box they are about 90% as good as perfectly setup coil overs....achieving a perfectly setup C/O is hard to do at best, and impossible for most.

Just a thought

 

[mookie]

WAY to heavy for air shocks imo....i voted coilovers, and you are going to be amazed at the improvement in your rig when you do this, i'm excited for you!

ori's are a very good option to consider, they cost more than coilovers BUT you won't ever need air bumps or swaybars and they are very easy to tune and adjust ride height

 

[CruisinFJ60]

Looks like the majority of you who said coilovers so far have said the 2.0" ones. why those over the 2.5"s? the 2.5" not needed for my application?

what about this? air shock and coil over functions all in 1. http://www.polyperformance.com/shop/Radflo-2.5-Air-Coil-Over-Shock-1-1-4-Shaft-p-29415.html

 

[4rnr]

Looks like the majority of you who said coilovers so far have said the 2.0" ones. why those over the 2.5"s? the 2.5" not needed for my application?

Because the job of supporting the vehicle is the coils, and only the damping is done by the shock. If you have a heavy vehicle you can just increase the rate of the springs. A 2.0 shock should handle the job of damping as long as you dont plan to "try" to eat 2 footers at 65 mph. An air shock has to support the vehicle.

IMO...Unless you are planning to enter that big thing in desert races, I don't think you will need 2.5" C/O.

 

[CruisinFJ60]

fair enough.

so what about the c/o i posted a link to above? that mean I can use it for either purpose or even combined? so air shock only or coilover with no air or a combo of the 2. the price is more on the affordable side of my budget too.

 

[Tapage]

Another vote for 2.5 Coilovers ..

 

[Mace]

2" coilovers.

Then spend a TON of time tuning them..

 

[mookie]

so what's the deal with them hybrid coilover/airshocks?

 

[CruisinFJ60]

I assume emulsion coil overs would be fine and not need the bypasses since I wont be going fast enough to really heat em up.

 

[4rnr]

so what's the deal with them hybrid coilover/airshocks?

I don't know much about them, but I have read comments in passing in other threads and they have always been negative. But there isnt much info on them out there.

Call Radflo and get their opinion on it, they sell all three designs.

 

[CruisinFJ60]

Eh, I'm not down for negative feedback. I'll just buy the 14" travel 2.0 coilovers.

Sent from my DROIDX using IH8MUD

 

[4rnr]

Eh, I'm not down for negative feedback. I'll just buy the 14" travel 2.0 coilovers.

Sent from my DROIDX using IH8MUD

Good choice. As I said before tuning is key with C/O's they can be tricky but the pay off is huge.

Make sure you find a good vendor that will be flexible with you, give you advice where to start with spring rates, and valving, good overall support.

 

[mookie]

I assume emulsion coil overs would be fine and not need the bypasses since I wont be going fast enough to really heat em up.

man don't make that mistake, i had the same mindset when i bought my coilovers, now i've gotten into endurance racing and it's going to cost me about $850 to get my shocks converted to remote res. style. if you buy them that way right off the bat it doesn't cost that much more than emulsion style. they will resale better than emulsions too.

if you are going with Fox's call up Poly Performance and ask for Tommy ....he gave me a freaking awesome deal on my shocks- WAY better price than anyone else and free shipping. Poly will also set your initial valving/tune and install tender coils, shafts bumps etc for free.

 

[mookie]

I don't know much about them, but I have read comments in passing in other threads and they have always been negative. But there isnt much info on them out there.

Call Radflo and get their opinion on it, they sell all three designs.

i'm not remotely interested in buying a set, i just don't understand the point of them?

 

[4rnr]

i'm not remotely interested in buying a set, i just don't understand the point of them?

That seems to be the general consensus. No point. If you want a C/O get a C/O, if you want an air shock, get an air shock....