Long Travel BS Thread

Damn, that linked rear end really got me thinking....

Are 3/4 links better for everything, or just higher speed? I don't really do anything so crazy fast but I really like the idea of C/Os in the back instead of leaf springs. I also don't love the lower links below the axle for clearance stuff.

Talk me in/out of this potentially poor decision.

 

It's expensive as hell.
It's all custom work
If you're not going to use it wtf is the point

 

Fair enough on all accounts. Is it really only dramatically better than leafs at high speed hooning?

 

Not really. Be a better drive all around sort of. Lots more travel in the rocks.

 

Interesting, that part is appealing to me. I will continue researching then. I am sure it will be way more than I would need but it would be a fun project for myself and the shop.

 

why don't people link similarly for crawling?

they use huge arms for LT and Tubing for rock crawling.

why differentiate?

 

don't worry about the front much for a few years and put all your money into the rear!

 

I always focus on the rear


But yeah -- I think it might not be a bad idea to consider. I certainly won't out-drive it anywhere around here though.

 

Likely for clearance. Would rather slide a tube over a rock, where as an arm might catch and get hung up.

 

i'm sure it's for clearance.

my question is why not use tubing for LT applications?

 

Ah gotcha, I read the question in reverse. My assumption would be more strength and rigidity, but that's just a guess.

 

Yeah, and also can anyone explain what the little shock on the back of Giants kits is for?

 

Because with the bigger trailing arms such as on a trophy truck, you can move the lower shock mount forward to gain more travel, vs having the shock mounted straight to the axle. This also allows you to run a bypass shock as well.

Newer style bump stop set up in a strange way.

 

Interesting, seems like a weird way to set up the axle/bump. I figure you would get some 'axle wrap' style movement with acceleration (positive or negative).

Potentially, if I design my own trailing arms I can kind of split the difference and get decent clearance as well as travel. Does anyone have any good resources on required geometry/things to avoid with 4 link?

Also thanks all for the help. This thread is a font of knowledge.

 

i would assume, but don't know this. The usual LT boxed arms are possibly lighter than the DOM tubing arms?

 

If you google for a link geometry calculator there are a few free programs you can download. Can't remember what they are off the top of my head, but I did mess around with one a while ago

 

Most likely not

 

They use that air shock in place of an upper link bar to control pinion angle. . Running an upper link is a far better than the air shock setup. Lots of guys have had issues with the air shocks and switched to an upper link

 

Gotcha, I was wondering where the upper links were -- I wasn't sure if it was an in-progress picture or what. Optimally I would do a standard 4 link, not that weird air system. That seems strange -- any idea what the advantage would be?

 

Not lighter. Lots of companies like solo use a peice of dom running the full length of the bottom of the links.