sleeoffroad
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Yes, it worked, Ben drove it for about a year or more, Brad did the same. Not sure what happened after than.
Is this worth it?
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Hey, did Brad work at a bolt shop in Loveland? I live a couple blocks away and used to pass him on a daily basis. Funny there is now a Tundra sitting in front of the shop! Never got a chance to stop and talk to him but always wondered where the h**l he got those monster springs on that thing, I have a 5" lift and it always made my cruiser seem low!
It was for sale for ever and it always seemed like he drove it on a daily basis. Haven't seen it for a while and always thought Action Jackson owned it now but I guess a different 80 but same idea.
It was for sale for ever and it always seemed like he drove it on a daily basis. Haven't seen it for a while and always thought Action Jackson owned it now but I guess a different 80 but same idea.
sweet.
What were the HP and torque specs and stuff? Any heavy modification required? Just curious.
Last edited:
sweet.
What were the HP and torque specs and stuff? Any heavy modification required? Just curious.
Brad had it on a dyno
https://forum.ih8mud.com/showthread.php?t=25239&highlight=dyno
So what was the problem with this ramp champ?
sleeoffroad
Supporting Vendor
Does this explain it 
Would things have worked out better with different coils?
sleeoffroad
Supporting Vendor
Not really, the problem is tall truck with lots of articulation. Caused the truck to unload and lean a lot.
If it was a shorter truck with stiffer coils (your 6" springs)?
I hope he's going to say something positive to that since that is what i'm running
Same here...although quote from the local 4x4 place was around $1500 out the door for a 3-link, I guess I should ask about him making me a weld on kit.
sleeoffroad
Supporting Vendor
When we did the Shortbus we did short coils captured on both sides. Initially we ran OME 850/OME 860 with 4" spacer in the front and 2" in the rear, but 14" travel shock set up to use all the shocks. The truck was 100% more stable and did not exhibit the unloading that we saw on Ben's truck.
The three link will make the front move easier, but that same ease of movement is what gets you in the end. Coils and coil overs have no negative spring rate like a leaf spring. The only way to get that is run a shorter coil and capture it, so that when you droop you actually stretch the coil. Just be aware coils does not last long when you do this to them. I changed coils about every year on the Shortbus. Also, it did help that I got rid of the body on the ShortBus. I did not dave that much weight, but it was moved lower down.
The problem is the weight of the 80 body and frame. Max articulation if great on buggies etc, but for a 80 it is really not ideal. That is the reason we never went down the commercial 3 link route. Like Sumotoy says, BTDT.
I take stable on the trail any day over a ramp champ. With a 6" lift you will still get a little unloading, but the shocks will normally stop you. Now if you took a 6" lift and added mega long shocks, I would also suggest capturing the springs.
I am just posting this to show that the strive for maximum articulation is not always where it is at. With the ShortBus we still up to today are running stock links, just longer shocks with relocated shock mounts and no swaybars.
The three link will make the front move easier, but that same ease of movement is what gets you in the end. Coils and coil overs have no negative spring rate like a leaf spring. The only way to get that is run a shorter coil and capture it, so that when you droop you actually stretch the coil. Just be aware coils does not last long when you do this to them. I changed coils about every year on the Shortbus. Also, it did help that I got rid of the body on the ShortBus. I did not dave that much weight, but it was moved lower down.
The problem is the weight of the 80 body and frame. Max articulation if great on buggies etc, but for a 80 it is really not ideal. That is the reason we never went down the commercial 3 link route. Like Sumotoy says, BTDT.
I take stable on the trail any day over a ramp champ. With a 6" lift you will still get a little unloading, but the shocks will normally stop you. Now if you took a 6" lift and added mega long shocks, I would also suggest capturing the springs.
I am just posting this to show that the strive for maximum articulation is not always where it is at. With the ShortBus we still up to today are running stock links, just longer shocks with relocated shock mounts and no swaybars.
Captured 6" coils, front 3-link, 14" shocks...sound like a decent idea to you Christo?
I agree with this completely - I don't find the 80's front end to be a major limitation anywhere but in taking "crossed up" pictures. Granted I'm not doing extreme wheeling, but I don't take the bypasses either, and my last rig had a very flexy front end. I like the 80's front end better, despite an inclination to say I wouldn't and shouldn't.
Even with 38's, I personally think you will get a lot more out of maximizing your crawl ratio (diff gears & crawler) than out of adding a few inches of droop to the front end.
Suspension performance invariably gets more complex as lift increases and you want more raw travel at any corner. "Flex" is simply a function of the links acting independent of the rest of the system. Which is why the ramp is largely meaningless - last I checked I've never wheeled backwards sticking one tire as far in the air as possible. On the trail, you don't get that benefit of independent flex, and all kinds of weird behavior can surface.
You can go into quad coil Jeeps on 6" lifts, for example, and read about things like "torque jack" where the suspension would just lift a wheel under throttle on a climb in the rear. Flexy as hell and terrible performance leading to long arm conversions.
If you want to read about this kind of stuff, get into things like anti-squat and roll axis and instant center. I would personally want to understand all of this stuff before I believed I was capable of designing my own suspension.
Simply asking the question "does a front 3 link with 14" travel shocks sound good" ignores the factors that lead to optimal suspension performance. I have watched too many people spend all of their money and 99% of their time unsuccessfully trying to modify the underlying factory platform to believe that many of us ever accomplish much. I've probably seen more divorces come from this obsession than successful suspension re-engineering projects.
