How Much High Speed Performance/Handling Did You Lose?

How much high speed performance (rough dirt or washboard roads for example) and overall handling (on-road manners) did you lose with your SAS? I have a 2nd gen that has considerable front end damage and will need all new front suspension components except the coilovers, ie everything from the frame out. It may or may not need frame work where the control arms mount, won’t know until I have it apart. I’m considering just fixing it and sticking with mid travel since it’s a 4x4 and I already have Fox RR coilovers, but also thinking of SASing it.

My concern with a SAS is losing high speed performance and road manners. It’s not a dedicated rock crawler, but does an even mix of everything…mud, rocks, technical dirt trails, fast desert roads, freeway driving, overlanding, etc. A SAS will add a lot more travel and let me run a detachable sway bar, which I expect will help, but every dirt racer is IFS for a reason. I’m not sure how much I’ll sacrifice compared to a mid travel IFS setup. Has anyone made the switch who can offer some insight?

 

Yes.

It’s more complicated than that though. I consider mine to drive fine and throw the keys to any non car enthusiast with no extra instruction but it’s definitely not like driving a stock geometry IFS truck. There will be a bunch of body roll, less precise steering and generally just sloppy on the road. None of that is specific to a SA though, you can go SA and run OE style radius arms, and coils/shocks that are street friendly. But why bother at that point?

 

High Speed Performance: this is the area that got affected the most after the SAS. My truck is very slow and underpowered (4cyl engine rolling on 1-ton axles, 40” tires, armor all around including an exo cage…HEAVY!)

On a good day (no strong head wind, no steep hills, etc.), the average top speed on the highway is around 68-70MPH loaded. Some days I can get to 75MPH if the bed is not loaded. The MPG also suffered a lot after the SAS. These things don’t bother me because the truck is not a daily driver.

Road Manners: no significant losses there. The truck actually drives very nice and smooth. It has a 3-link suspension with coilovers, and everything is dialed in pretty good after trying different sets of coil springs until I found the right ones. The hydraulic assisted steering (“hydro assist”) makes everything feel effortlessly, responsive and predictable.

However...it took sometime after the SAS to learn how to drive the truck with the same level of confidence I had with IFS. Full-width 1-ton axles changed the steering radius significantly. Simple things like doing U-turns, parallel parking, backing into a tight parking spot, etc., were completely different.

I would say, if you plan to daily drive your truck a lot, you might want to think about keeping your tire size at 37" max, selecting lighter/narrower axles, etc.