Spring-Over Costs (1 Viewer)

[crushers]

Brad,
Everything you say is true and i agree completely EXCEPT i have seen the one area that is totally against the way i wheel. once the center of gravity gets that high then sidehilling becomes a way of the past. i have watched many a SOA laydown on it's side for a rest. in 25 years of wheeling i have yet to lay a truck on it's side and i want to keep it that way.
SOA is great for rock crawling, and playing in the mud, neither of which i do. it is also a tell tail sign of an advance case of MIBS. over the years i have watched as guys have gone from 31s to 33s to 35s to 38s to 44s to 53s as i have gone from 35s to 33s to 31s.
it comes down to personal preference and type of wheeling one does.
there ae some very good benefits to SOA and some detriments that i will not accept.
cheers

 

[89s rule]

good points. crushers

 

[The Dude]

Brad,
Everything you say is true and i agree completely EXCEPT i have seen the one area that is totally against the way i wheel. once the center of gravity gets that high then sidehilling becomes a way of the past. i have watched many a SOA laydown on it's side for a rest. in 25 years of wheeling i have yet to lay a truck on it's side and i want to keep it that way.
SOA is great for rock crawling, and playing in the mud, neither of which i do. it is also a tell tail sign of an advance case of MIBS. over the years i have watched as guys have gone from 31s to 33s to 35s to 38s to 44s to 53s as i have gone from 35s to 33s to 31s.
it comes down to personal preference and type of wheeling one does.
there ae some very good benefits to SOA and some detriments that i will not accept.
cheers

Ah, a case of MIBS...it's been a while since that term has reared it's head. Alas, it is true, but I am sure that my MIBS has come to and end with Marmaduke. He is as big as he needs to be.

I know we could argue about this for ever...the fact that a SUA truck on 33s might not be able to get to where a SOA truck on 38s got to flop on it's side. Or that a SOA truck may stay on the trail and drive through an obstactly where a truck on 31s may have to go around...but that would be silly. ;p

Remember as you go up, you must also go wider. I am running a 3" wider axle and 13.5" wide tires. Maybe I should have put more emphasis on that. It definately helps with the COG.

I think this was tippy "classics" problem. Big lift, tall tires, skinny axles on skinny tires...

 

[Eric Winkworth]

Again I did say JMO

Everyone is entitled to there own, there is a reason LC didn't come with SOA, and it isn't because they didn't want you to put on 38's

you want a SOA truck the big three have made lots, LOL

 

[crushers]

Brad,
it is true, the rule of thumb is for every 1 inch up you go 2 inches wider. Marmaduke is a fantastic rig, not my kind of rig but a cool ride none the less.
for me it is reliability, stability and drivers expertise. if i can take a close to stock rig everywhere, except the big mud holes or huge ass rocks, that a SOA rig can i have gained bragging rights for around the fire.
now this is not to say that a properly built rig isn't something to admire, it is. look at Tippy"R", not my kind of rig either but a definate one off cool rig.
i like a maxim of 35" boots for reliability of the stock drivetrain. the SUA has it limitations but i have learned how to cope with them.
one side note, i have built very capable rigs over theyears and one thing i found is the LOSS of trail enjoyment. the challenge is gone. at first is was a lot of fun drving a "point and go" rig but after a couple years i wanted more of a challenge so i went back to stockish rigs and the actual "fun" of wheeling came back as well.
if anyone has watched the grin on the face of a guy driving a stocker through a nasty bit of trail knows what i am talking about.
cheers

 

[The Dude]

I would think that even 35s are pushing the limits of stock parts.

It should be mentioned that the added costs of a lift or larger tires (and not SOA only) include things like birfield upgrades, steering upgrades and accelerated wear, accelerated bearing wear, brake upgrades, and perhaps r&p issues.

But in all, I think that a "low as possible" SOA is the best lift option available for those that want to run 35 or bigger tires. The advantages for me out way the disadvantages for the type of wheeling I do.

If I could shave off a couple thousand pounds, I would be very happy with my SOA wagon...I guess that's why I am building a stripped down buggy for the fun stuff.

 

[Tapage]

One pic better than 10 thousands words ..

Off course SO my rule for serius mudd wheeling ... in my case 2" whee spacers and I can handle 120 km/h cruiser speed with no problems.

 

[The Dude]

and here is a good pick of a clean front axle on my HJ61

.

 

[crushers]

i love that "Jason" front bumper...
nice rig Brad.

 

[Tapage]

and here is a good pick of a clean front axle on my HJ61

.

good shot Brad .. I'm triple jelaous .. is a F beauty TLC ..

 

[Greg_B]

and here is a good pick of a clean front axle on my HJ61

.

Damn that's a nice truck Brad!

gb

 

[Tapage]

Damn that's a nice truck Brad!

gb

in my word ..

B E Y O T Y F U L L

 

[The Dude]

Thanks everyone. I appreciate the compliments.

I love my TLC.

I hope the next one I build will be even better. There are so many nice trucks out there with many great ideas. It's hard to decide what to do next...

(I have chopped a 40 series down to make an extended cab that is going to reside on top of a BJ60 frame that has had the back end cut off and is sitting SOA on a FF rear with a turbo'd 3B, H41 and toybox)

pictures and a write up in the spring...If I ever get it finished.

 

[Tapage]

Brad .. did you have a acction video of your TLC . ?

Did you know the price of those tires ( exist in r15 . ? ) are good in street, web asfalt, decent in mud and rocks . ?

 

[Waggoner5]

My SOA 61 rides on stock springs, new shock mounts front and rear, brakelines, Cut and turned,geasable shackles, new bushings, Marlin RHD arm, CV driveshafts front and rear, extended rear cable for cable lock axle, and 13" travel shocks. It seems to ride better SOA but the shocks and bushings are all new. The truck only has 35k miles on it so the springs are still in good shape. The real deal is that the truck looks right and wheels unbelievable. It now has ATs on it to keep me from doing anything (else) stupid. I put $1700 in parts in the conversion not including tires and wheels.
Gary

 

[Tapage]

dude .. awesome pic and flex ..

Congrats ..!!!

 

[bustanutley]

You can do the cut and turn yourself or
find someone who knows how to do it. Perches - $50

50 dollars for perches?! I don’t' know what kind of gold you guys are diggin but jebus

I think it was $12 for all 4 when I bought them direct from dodge.

The only thing that cost any sort of large funds when i did mine was steering. My SO involved a lot more than yours will because I switch axles, dual circuit breaks, longer springs, all sorts of junk, but it was all junk yard parts that cost $100-200 not including axles.

Steering from marlin was $500
Perches $12
front square drive shaft $20
just got my rear dshaft re-tubed after running it too short for like 6 months $120
welding gas and wire $20-80

 

[dallen341]

I know that Mudrak down here charges $3,500+ for a SOA conversion...thats with him doing everything...
If you do all disassemble / reassemble work yourself and use your stock springs but have a pro do all your welding, it should end up costing about $2,000 - 3,000 USD depending on what you want to do....these are the things to consider (if you want to do it right):

Axle rebuild kit w/ bearings - $175
Cut & turn axle + new perch's - $350 - $400
Track bar for rear - $350
Add a leafs - $50
Shackle reversal - $200
New shackles - $200
Shocks - $300 - $500
New CV drivelines - $400 - $800 (if you need 2)
High Steer - $550
Ext Brake lines - $100

Now there are some things you can try and do w/o like CV drivelines, track bar, Shackle reversal etc....but how bad do you wanna break a pinion in the middle of nowhere?

I saw a guy at Pismo with a 60 who had less than $500 into his SOA....all he did was weld some extended arms to his stock steering arms so as to raise his steering linkage up then he just swaped the axle on top of his springs and made some funky shock mounts.....hell, he didn't even cut & turn or rebuild his axle. It actually looked suprisingly clean. Here is a pic

Personally I'd go balls out if I were to do a SOA....I like reliability

Actually, that is my truck you are talking about. One reason it did not cost so much to do is I reused the shocks from when I had a 4" Alcan lift. The shocks were fairly new. They do hang a bit low, but no lower than when it was spring under. I did not rebuild the axle when I did the soa becasue I had done it within several months of doing the spring over. No shackle reversal and it drives straight as an arrow and handles beautiful.

If I had it to do over, I would probably do a cut and turn, however it has not presented any problems for me.

Don