Saw this yesterday and thought some might find it helpful. Although given how many here have already gone through the lift process, maybe not.
The science of lifts
- Thread starter USMCVader
- Start date
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Excellent video and thanks for sharing! It does a great job showing and animating what happens to suspension angles with larger lifts.
@12:47 - "Biggest size tires with the smallest amount of lift." Can't echo that enough - 34" tires with a mild lift will do wonders with all around performance and capability.
I recently sensor lifted my AHC rig 0.75". I can tell the cornering limits on back mountain roads has dropped even at that mild height. (Albeit I drive pretty hard at times for entertainment). Can't imagine how some of these 2"+ lift, narrow tire rigs handle with probably very low handling limits, and traction control constantly reigning things in with a staccato beep beep...yeah, you know that sound.
@12:47 - "Biggest size tires with the smallest amount of lift." Can't echo that enough - 34" tires with a mild lift will do wonders with all around performance and capability.
I recently sensor lifted my AHC rig 0.75". I can tell the cornering limits on back mountain roads has dropped even at that mild height. (Albeit I drive pretty hard at times for entertainment). Can't imagine how some of these 2"+ lift, narrow tire rigs handle with probably very low handling limits, and traction control constantly reigning things in with a staccato beep beep...yeah, you know that sound.
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- Thread starter
- #3
I have a monstrous spreadsheet broken down into subsections such as lifts, roof racks, drawer systems, etc. as I try to sort out what I want to do with my LC. Most of them I have figured out, but the suspension category has been challenging. This video helped me see aspects of lift geometry that I had thought applied, but could not visualize or fully appreciate the ramifications. Hopefully it helps others too.
Taco2Cruiser
Crazy American Off Road
Great advise, smallest lift with the biggest tire.
I like how they emphasize that suspensions are a SYSTEM, and that changing one thing requires changing a lot of things.
One thing that I think got lost though, when they talk about extended sway bar link. It’s fine to extend the sway bar links, but you also need to extend your bump stops, or you need to make sure that the sway bar doesn’t run into something when at full compression.
That’s what I’ve found breaks most links is when the housing or arm hits the bumps, and due to a long sway bar link, the bar is now stuffed further into the axle than Toyota ever designed it for.
I would change the whole “biggest tire” to the tallest tire with stock width. That’s what I’ve seen work better over the decades.
That all said, it’s driver skill that will win the day.
But some times, you just need ground clearance to get though tough trails so...
“Gee, I wish I had less ground clearance.”
-no one ever who goes off roading
(I’m just playin’, we’ll maybe there’s some truth to that. Guess is depends on what your definition of “off road” is)
Oh, but when I comes to their discussion of live front axles. That would help the 80 crowd in the US. But when I do a SAS, it doesn’t use old technology like that anymore. I will always say though, that for hill climbs, IFS is better. For descents, Live axle is better.
I like how they emphasize that suspensions are a SYSTEM, and that changing one thing requires changing a lot of things.
One thing that I think got lost though, when they talk about extended sway bar link. It’s fine to extend the sway bar links, but you also need to extend your bump stops, or you need to make sure that the sway bar doesn’t run into something when at full compression.
That’s what I’ve found breaks most links is when the housing or arm hits the bumps, and due to a long sway bar link, the bar is now stuffed further into the axle than Toyota ever designed it for.
I would change the whole “biggest tire” to the tallest tire with stock width. That’s what I’ve seen work better over the decades.
That all said, it’s driver skill that will win the day.
But some times, you just need ground clearance to get though tough trails so...
“Gee, I wish I had less ground clearance.”
-no one ever who goes off roading
(I’m just playin’, we’ll maybe there’s some truth to that. Guess is depends on what your definition of “off road” is)
Oh, but when I comes to their discussion of live front axles. That would help the 80 crowd in the US. But when I do a SAS, it doesn’t use old technology like that anymore. I will always say though, that for hill climbs, IFS is better. For descents, Live axle is better.
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