GX470 Mid-Travel Setup

[HomersCanyonero]

GX470 Mid Travel - ideal sized components…one man’s opinion.

Assumes most components not mentioned here are stock or close to stock lengths/angles/widths/weights/etc.

For example stock or close to stock LCAs, UCAs, no body lift, not much extra weight of heavy gear like front winch/bumper, roof weight, rear bumper, etc. unless noted.

GX470 Rear Extended Travel:

• Ideal extended length for rear shocks on a rear 2” lift is like 16.5” compressed and 26.5” extended. Unfortunately, only 80-series shocks seem to be closer to this ideal length. The reason this is ideal is due to the limits of articulation with this mid travel configuration.
• If you have like 400 lbs of extra constant weight in the rear, then use the variable rate Dobinson C59-701V springs. This will get you like 2.25” of lift with the extra weight. Too stiff and too tall if you don’t add weight. More weight will lower the lift in the rear.
• If you have like 200 lbs of extra constant weight in the rear, then use the variable rate Dobinson C59-677V springs. This will get you like 2” of lift with the extra weight. Less lift with more weight. More lift with less weight.
• Extended rear center SS brake lines 17”
• Timbren rear bumpstops 5”; compressed 2.25”; these will fit nicely with this extended lift of 2” to 2.25”. Or also use Perry bumpstops in similar lengths and compression.
• Extended rear sway bar end links from your favorite company like OCD, Apache, Dobinson, etc.
• Nolathane 24mm HD rear sway bar REV011-0090B to transfer articulation to the front. Or any other HD rear sway bar of your liking from Superpro or ADDCO.
• EimKeith PCK or Dr KDSS BOTCK to level the panhard bar. This is necessary to avoid your axle from abruptly shifting due to uneven panhard when you articulate the rear on sharp turns or rock crawling.

Here’s a short list of potential rear shocks that are close to the ideal length:

• OME 60071L 15.24”/26.5”
• Bilstein 2” body IFP 33-230351 16.13”/26.38”
• KINGS 25001-125 16”/24.9”
• ICON 56510 rear shocks 15.85”/25.7”
• ICON 56550 rear shocks 17”/28.5” might be a tad too large but doable with the taller 701V springs since these coils are stiffer and won’t compress as much with stated weights.
• Dobinson IMS59-60687 16.57”/26.77”

The key is to get close to the ideal rear shock compressed and extended length for this setup.

Extended front suspension:

1. No front sway bar is possible if you add the HD rear sway bar and get stiff front shocks and HD front coils. This will feel adequate. Horrible if you remove both sway bars or use too soft rear sway bar or too soft front coils.
2. Match the brand of your rear shock to the front shock (OME, Bilstein, ICON, Dobinson, FOX, KINGS, Radflo, Eibach, Ironman, etc) to match the valving characteristics.
3. Use a HD front spring around 700 lbf/in to stabilize the front with no sway bar. Assumes stock weight or little extra weight upfront.
4. Aim for a 2.25” lift in the front. This is optimal for this mid-travel setup.
5. Remove front sway bar.

This setup aims to get 12” of cross index travel from one front corner to the opposite rear corner. This is considered very good articulation for rutted roads and mild/medium rock crawling.

One benefit of these components is that the cost is lower than if you go long travel in front. Long travel in front can get expensive.

Anyways, I’m running close to this setup, but I’m not quite there. I am getting 12” of cross index travel, but my rear shocks are a tad too large and my rear coils are a tad too short. I’m off by 1” in combined rear measurements.

 

[Jstawgn]

I got similar goal and need to maintain my KDSS. I found this 4" lift adjustable LC80 rear shock to be perfect for my use.

I end up having to relocate rear KDSS bar 3.5" up and it is perfect for me. Now the bend line up with the raised panhard and gain a lot more ground clearance.

 

[HomersCanyonero]

I got similar goal and need to maintain my KDSS. I found this 4" lift adjustable LC80 rear shock to be perfect for my use.

I end up having to relocate rear KDSS bar 3.5" up and it is perfect for me. Now the bend line up with the raised panhard and gain a lot more ground clearance.
View attachment 3664245

Ah good point on KDSS. I had completely forgotten about KDSS, but your key adjustments were to raise the rear KDSS bar 3.5” and get a 1.75” spacer to the shorter 4R style bumstop.

Your bumstop configuration is similar to my recommendation to use a taller bumpstop that compresses like 40%. Essentially, you want the bumpstop to protect the shock on full compression (up travel) as your chart shows. Your chart is in mm’s so we have to convert those mm into inches to align with my post which is in inches.

Getting the bumpstop to the protect the bottom of the travel sweet spot requires measuring your articulation as you did.

So, your chart shows what you did to get into the travel sweet spot for your shocks and springs.

Two questions for you:

What rear springs are you using?

And what’s your ride height relative to your travel range shown on chart?

After seeing your chart, I adjusted the ideal rear shock length to account for a portion of the lift compared to stock height.