Negative impact of longer then needed shocks ?

[sleeoffroad]

I agree, the "art" of how the '80 works has progressed. Not so much an argument/disagreement as different users have differing uses, needs. Lots of owners run 35"s and even 37"s on smaller lifts and wheel them very successfully.

This rig (azrider) runs J's front, heavy rear, L shocks and 315 Nitto. I would call this wheelin?

I would say that the biggest thing that has changed since we started is that the trucks are now $3k trucks and people do not give a hoot about trashing the body, hacking the parts that are in the way off and essentially beat the crap out of the trucks. So yes, the "art" has changed, and what people are prepared to compromise is. The dynamics of the suspension and what changes has not, it is just what people are doing and prepared to ignore.

I know a lot of the AZ people run the combination that you are referring to and they are happy with it. It works for your needs and your wheeling. You also have a pretty active community that is there to help people with their trucks when they have issues, which is good. Some people elsewhere in the country is not that lucky. We can not assume everyone of our customers read Mud. So we try to educate them on what will happen when they lift the truck and have them make the decision based on that.

 

[Walking Eagle]

So let me see, the above is what you run to clear 37's? Approx 5" of lift, give or take with 1 3/8" spacer and J springs with a really light bumper then you have a 1" body lift and cut your fenders open to clear the tires.

that is not much difference from the clearance we recommend, except the body lift vs suspension lift. Not sure what tires you are running right now, but some 37's are close to a true 35".

The above is what I run to clear 37's (HUMMER surplus - not close to a true 35") with 14" travel shocks. Those make a huge difference since the axle gets at so much more of a angle - it also explains why so many others are running the same lift or less than I w/o fender trimming. I'd probably clear 40's if I was limiting my articulation w/ L-shocks. I probably didn't need to cut my fenders, I could have tweaked wheel spacing a bit to get it to fit. There's a chance I might have even been o.k. w/ just leaving my wheel spacers off, but at my height, a little extra track width is a good thing.

Like I said, I'm so far from off the shelf or even a common set-up that I'm hardly an example of what is needed to clear. I'm what, one of 1/2 dozen or dozen on mud who've run shocks this long? Maybe fewer than that? Makes a big difference in fitting, I was surprised how much when futzing around w/ springs out after this last round of mods. So, I'll say it one more time, I'm NOT a typical example.

edit - oh and I forgot, I ran 315's (34.5" actual measure) on J's and L's w/ only 1.25" bumpstops in the rear and 2" up front, full flairs, no body lift w/ no rubbing.