Ground clearance

Alright, I was wondering what yalls opinions are on mid travel suspension setups with the most ground clearance?

 

a suspension lift will give you better approach/departure angles, and better clearance under the majority of the truck. your rear axle is likely your lowest point. taller tires are the only way to get you ground clearance there. the taller tires will also get you better clearance in the areas that a lift does.

ground clearance is good. high center of gravity is bad. find a happy medium that fits your driving style and the type of terrain you will be driving over. the "most" ground clearance isn't necessarily the "best".

 

Remember, the lift is to fit taller tires, as it is the tires that determine the ground clearance beyond stock.

My stock suspension truck with 265/70-16 tires had 9.25" of clearance (measured under the rear differential).

With a 1" taller tire (no lift needed), 265/75-16, the clearance increased to 9.75 inches (1/2 the diameter increase of the tire).

More clearance would require taller tires, and that would require a lift.

 

I do not understand why everyone is so obsessed with clearance under the diffs. Its not that much of a hinderance. Further, sure you can increase tire size but there is a point of diminishing returns as larger tires neccesitate larger ring gears and thus housings. Look at all of the ultra 4 rigs, their diffs are not that high and they run the hammers just fine.

If you are really worried about it, swap in some portal hubs.

ETA: I would like to see someone shave the bottom of the housing, that would truly impress me

 

KOH rigs running 40'' tires have a ton of GC under their diffs. you also can't compare a KOH truck to a Tacoma. if they get a diff hung up on something, they can take a run at it with some more speed, and bounce off it (sometimes breaking the rock they just hit). a Tacoma is not built to take that.

a number of folks on here have shaved their diff housings. don't believe it's been done on a stock housing, but then again, I'm not sure how much spare room there is on these axles.

 

Maybe Ultra 4's are a bit extreme but I maintain it still isn't that great of a difference.

How about the everyman challenge then? Last year at chocolate thunder, a toyota with stock axles and 35's (max) walked right up it making it look easy compared to full tube chassis buggies.

I really can't think of a better metric than Johnson Valley for what works and what doesn't. The number of low clearance solid axles still vastly outnumber everything else.

My only point is that everyone need to quit getting so hung up worrying about diff clearance (pun intended).

 

I agree, it's not something to get hung up on, however, it is one of the many pieces to the off road puzzle we're all trying to put together when we build our trucks, and should be looked at depending on where and how you wheel.

 

That being said...

35's are 4.5" bigger than the stock tires on a 4x4 tacoma...
that's 2.25" of additional clearance at the diff. A 25% increase of total clearance over the 9.25 stock

 

For the record, I obviously believe as much clearance as possible is a good thing, I just see WAY too many folks around here stressing out on it and I am dumbfounded by the paradigm that 3" kits have more clearance than the DB kits. That is true only under the front diff which is not the only concern.

Also for the record, I am not a DB fanboy, OME is in my near future.

ETA: Going 6112's instead of OME, they are on the way.

 

Thanks for all the help, I'm not meaning I want a crazy amount of ground clearance but I would like to get what I could have, just to make things easier, and my db is starting to get on my bad side it will be coming off soon

 

Well, if you ever come down to Baja or the desert, we have a reason for wanting more than 9 inches of ground clearance!

The Widowmaker Grade near Mission Santa Maria is just one example...

 

I am no stranger to the rocks, and I understand the need for ground clearance. I do my crawling up in the Sierras though (outside of the annual pilgrimage to KOH of course)

Your truck appears to be tackling a fairly tough climb and yet is doesn't seem to have lots of clearance.

ETA: I would love to check out those trails and maybe hook some chains with you lol

 

My truck is stock... and the photos above are of just one of three Tacoma trips over the Widowmaker (2003, 2007, 2010) in each of my three Tacomas ('01, '05, '10), all stock with the BFG Rugged Trails 265/70-16 in '03 and '10 and Cooper Discoverer STTs 265/75-16 in '07.

Look up Widowmaker, Baja on You Tube.