Rear Suspension Options with poll

Hit up the guys in the LT thread, I'm sure some of them do slower stuff at times and may have some feedback?? I know your flex would be crazy.....I'm in the same situation as you man!

 

That'd be great but OP is looking for Spring under axle kit...

 

Or a good spring over if the feedback on AP is good?

 

the defined kit will be your best bet in terms of over all performance. a SOA leaf set up just can't hang with a performance front end in the high speed stuff, even a mid travel front end, the rear will buck.

i'd def go with the defined kit, and use an OE replacement shock (look into the new Icon 2.5 remote resi shocks). the performance over stock and over SOA will blow your mind with the defined kit and OE replacement shock.

you can still crawl the rocks and do some technical stuff with a SUA set up, just requires some more skill on the drivers parts. in reality, a SUA set up does not hang all that much lower and the stock lower shock mounts on the axle

 

yep, thats what I pointed out to a couple local guys...

 

so if we're both thinking the same thing... and you're old man doug... then i must be wise beyond my years haha

 

absolutely Matt....

 

about 9", a little longer then stock but not quite 10"

and i agree with yall Matt and Doug about them not hanging "that" much lower but i have seen in person numerous times of people with sua setups getting hung up on something because of the extra 4" the springs hang down. And i have never seen someone get hung up because of the stock shock mounting location. The toyota shock mounting spots, compared to say a chevy, are tucked very close to the wheel and out of the way pretty good.

 

I love that pic from AP! If the icon 2.5's are anything like their front coilovers, they will be soooo bad ass back there!

 

Decisions decisions, Its like everything though, at a certain point something is a trade-off for something else. Its just a matter of trying to find a solution that is most best for you.

My problem is that I will research something to death and never make a decision. The feedback definitely helps overall though.

 

rcfreak201 has the defined SUA kit, have u seen his build page?

http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/2nd-gen-builds/151774-rcfreaks-build-120.html#post4817385

maybe he can help ya with any questions

 

true, but with some u-bolt plates similar to what Giant MS offers, the ubolts and nuts can be recessed and protected from damage and the ubolt plate itself can act as a skid and help prevent getting the leafs hung up on a rock.

 

From what I have read, the spring over in addition to offering increased ground clearance also affords better articulation vs the SUA. I guess we all know the SUA is THE set-up for high speed. Conversely most feel SOA is THE set-up for rock crawling. However there are SOME instances where folks have stated they believe the SUA to be just as good if not better for rock crawling. The arguments I have seen generally support SOA for rock crawling though because of better articulation in addition to ground clearance.

Maybe a separate thread is in order for the discussion of SUA vs SOA in rock crawling and at high speeds?

 

Cool, thanks I will hit him up.

 

This would be my main concern with SUA. Rear Leafs digging in to the sand (or other obstacle)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVzDSNYA2xk

 

I've talked to both krish and OP recently about the clearance delema with the defined sua kit speciffically. as matt stated, the slearance directly under the axle really isn't much if any worse than the stock shock hangers. we are more concerned with the clearance of the leaf pack's leading edge (like in the above video. here is a picture i sent krish in refference to the issue. disregard the orange box and myself in the wheel well. the red line indicates the stock soa setup, while the green represents the sua setup. you can see the reason for concern while on the rocks.

 

Exactly. I think the comparison to the lower shock mount is not exactly accurate especially in certain types of terrain. The shock mount is merely a small protrusion sticking down which can easily strike something and be deflected, or if soft sand, dig in and just ride it out with no adverse affects.

I'm looking at the SUA as a much larger obstacle to overcome and instead of being deflected around a rock will either cause forward momentum to cease. or ride up causing the tire to lose contact with the ground.

 

I agree. pure surface area of the springs vs shock mount change the dynamics of hitting an obstacle with one of those components. granted, if you were to hit a rock with the under-axle portion of the springs, you've most likely just missed your line and should back up and retry. however, sometimes you just cant avoid it.....and so continues our debate of the lesser of two evils.

 

As I work through this more and more I think the SOA is probably going to offer the most advantages with the least amount of disadvantages for mixed offroading.

You can still set it up to offer great performance in higher speed situations it just wont be "as good" as SUA but in reality it will probably be more than capable of outperforming the rest of the truck provided your just mid travel or less.

Then in the technical stuff it will be better than SUA. Plus its cheaper overall.

So as with everything it comes down to identifying your primary use for the vehicle or what kind of driving you will be doing the most.

This thread has definitely helped me examine the whole "problem" and lead me towards other articles and sites with similar discussions. I'm not 100% yet but I'm about 70/30 leaning towards SOA.

KING of The Hammers is an excellent way to think of this problem and I think we know what the predominate set up is for them. So thats it I'm going coils all the way around! haha

 

Those giant ubolt plates are tits! And the defined kit really doesn't hang low, like i mentioned in the PM to you, it doesn't require you to weld anything besides the spring perches(a plus if you ever try to sell)
Also the defined kit doesn't require new front hangers. Giant, Engage, and DMZ all require cutting them and welding the new ones farther up where the frame actually dips down, so those sit lower.
The poly bumps in the stage 1 kit are great but they look like they use up alot of uptravel, i would go with a hydro bump or the light racing jouncestops down the road, like you said its great because you can build it in stages.
With whatever setup you get i would pick up the shackle crossmember, the hangers are pretty weak, mine are getting pretty bent up(granted i also cut out the crossmember) but its still an affordable precaution.
http://www.definedengineering.com/products.html