Long Travel BS Thread

so the major drawback of this sus is the plunge amount of CV or axle shaft limits travel, unless you use a floating center... but then its basically a floppy live axle.

it seems like a way to run/simulate a live axle in an application where no live axle assembly is made.

 

I don't know for the money it would cost to put a toyota front suspension in the back you could have a really good and reliable suspension setup with more travel and less parts to worry about being able to find in BFE.

 

So I took a first crack at both a 3-link with watts and a 3 link with panhard to compare, both geos use a full parallel setup to see how the lateral control methods compare.
Watts top view and results:

the software really limits setup potential... it assumes the watts link is perfectly in line with the chassis, and I can't change that.... the axle shift is very small, up until it starts to freak out (see blue mark), the watts links need to be longer but I can't figure out how to make that happen in the software. All in all it probably has significantly less axle movement than a panhard bar when configured correctly.

Panhard rear view and results:


3/4" of a shift at full compression and 1.125" at full droop, in the same direction however, this is with a 36" bar.

Kinematically, neither of these are superior to the conventional triangulated 4-link found on almost all TT... but for us trying to get travel out of the rear end without a back half, theres probably something there with the watts link.



*edit duplicate pictures

 

Yea pretty much. I think it would be doable with a small number like 13-14in of travel paired with 10 in the front like my-mid travel/SUA pairing i have now. Even LT i'd only aim for like 4-5 more than that. Maybe have to switch the CVs to something better at that point but it wouldn't be a bad compromise

 

I mean yea my SUA setup is dialed, probably 60% of the way there as far handling, and easily quarter of the work. I agree with you the up front cost might be a bit much. BUT the cool factor of that would be at least 17 more betterer on any scale and that goes a long way Also a disk brake setup as simple and quality as the front brakes on these trucks is hard to find on the front or rear of any make or model. Spares for the front are spares for the rear. Wheel speed sensors still work if you fancy ABS. Camber and toe adjustments if the truss is made with rod ends. A lot less unsprung weight which goes a long way in comfort/handling. Keep the gas tank compared to links. Coils compared to leafs. There's a lot more pros involved than it seems

 

Really neat. Thanks for taking the time to do all that

 

Has anyone tried adding vents to help with the fiberglass panels that act like parachutes? Been driving the project truck more than I probably should be, got caught in a couple monsoon wind storms and it’s fun getting whipped around. I’ve had times before where my front end gets light and fights me in windy conditions before, is there anything we are doing to fight this or just doing more steering wheel wrestling?

 

This is where we argree to disagree. I think having an IRS rear would be cool but I wouldn't want to start with Tacoma parts to do it. If you are already going through the trouble to build a new rear frame (or sub-frame) to house a diff in the center and have to build custom driveshafts, custom frame mounts/bulkheads to attach some control arms to I see no reason to put OEM or even Tacoma based control arms and uprights onto the truck. At that point you are fabbing everything else why not build your own upper and lower control arms and build them using commonly available bushings, ball joints etc. Even if you used the coolest LT components available for the truck it would still result in less travel at a higher cost for a little bit of "wow" factor. If it's a Sema build sure, do it for the likes and accolades but if you are doing it to have a truck that is as much fun to drive as it is to look at do it by starting with something better than Tacoma based products.

 

Or buy a humvee

 

No factory control arms, potentially more travel. A DeDion is pumpkin mounted on frame, cv axles, the rest is connected by a truss with lower trailing links and coils mounted somewhere in the mix. Same as solid axle and solid axle handling characteristics with like half the weight which is the biggest problem with solid axle. I'd build the truss between factory front spindles only so the hubs and brakes are the same. The mount points off the spindles are void

 

Yall musta skipped the picture and link i posted. It's not IRS, not IRS handling or travel characteristics either

 

It seems like lowering and widening the outer pivots of the watts link would help with issues on droop. Possibly shrinking the spacing on the center pivots would help too, depending on the angle at droop.

I've considered doing this a few times but haven't gotten around to it.

I've seen multiple vehicles with holes they cut out using a hole saw.

also adding the valance to my front bumper made a HUGE difference.

 

Can aftermarket extended axle shafts be used in conjunction with an aftermarket cv joint?

I had a fricken pair of busted oems but I threw them away last year. Trying to save 700$ on axle shafts vs already built ones.

 

Don't count on it, splines/shaft diameter are usually different between different manufacturers. Only way to be certain a CV joint will be compatible with a long travel shaft is to get OEM.

 

Thats what I needed to hear. Thanks!

 

The 2015 Gravely Atlas side by side has a funky De Dion type off road rear suspension. My brain imeadiately started spit balling the first time I saw it. Check it out...



The 2nd Gen Sequoia rear diff and possibly CV axles would be a great base for something. 10" ring gear, 36 spline 1.457" stubs, gears and an e locker are available.

 

Some cool packaging there. I wonder how it handles?

 

Sweet hopefully I can get the bed cage and fuel cell in over the next couple weeks.

 

I’m hoping to start this process in the next few weeks. Been playing with the Calculator a ton. Can’t seem to figure out how to stop a huge delta in pinion angle. Trying to be a sponge on all the forums and videos of people building 4 links.