Up travel in front suspension??

[robert97dodge]

Is uptravel needed in the front suspension? I see jeep all the time on 44's with no up travel at all and they do great. I decided I may redo my front suspension and go with my original idea of moving the stock rear 56's to the front and run them. I put them in today and the truck is now 6"s lower but the crossmember under the motor is sitting on top of the diff. I also need more clearence under the spings between the spring and the steering cylinder. Not sure if this is a good idea or not but what i am thinking about is building some front spring perches that are angled to get my right pinion angle and be about 3" tall or so. They would be welded to the axle and gusseted so they will be really strong and it wouldnt really be the same thing as running blocks in the front. I already plan on having a traction bar on the front to control axle wrap so that wont be a problem. The only thing that I am wandering is if having no uptravel will be a problem. The truck is gonna be for rock crawling and trail riding. Right now the way it is sitting just turned out a little bigger then I was hoping.

This is how I did the 56" springs on the front. I already have 7" shackles and moved the front hanger about 4" forward from the stock location.

This is how it is sitting now. It has 56" long 5" lift springs from the rear of a suburban I believe it was. The reason why I picked them is because they have a spring rate of 420 which was the softest springs I could find. I removed the overloaded and the bottom leaf springs and that lower it about 2"-3"s.

 

[kgblazerfive]

Cut the overload down makes a zero rate thing kind of, if your build the perches up to a point they should be fine. But if your diff is hitting the cross member now 3" isn't going to do any good. Is it a factory cross member can you redo it ?

 

[kgblazerfive]

When you drive off a ledge and the front slams down the front end moves alot. The ORD crossmember for example is alot futher under the oil pan then the factory one.

 

[Hogback Fabrication]

Is uptravel needed in the front suspension?

For some things uptravel is important but for the rocks or mud you don't need much (if any) uptravel.

I see jeep all the time on 44's with no up travel at all and they do great. I decided I may redo my front suspension and go with my original idea of moving the stock rear 56's to the front and run them. I put them in today and the truck is now 6"s lower but the crossmember under the motor is sitting on top of the diff.

Rockwells need a lot more lift than standard axles (i.e. D60 etc.). I am running about stock height with a D60 and am nowhere near contacting the engine crossmember.

I also need more clearence under the spings between the spring and the steering cylinder. Not sure if this is a good idea or not but what i am thinking about is building some front spring perches that are angled to get my right pinion angle and be about 3" tall or so. They would be welded to the axle and gusseted so they will be really strong and it wouldnt really be the same thing as running blocks in the front. I already plan on having a traction bar on the front to control axle wrap so that wont be a problem.

The "welded block" that you're planning on making will make axle wrap worse. If you add a traction bar it will have significantly more leverage applied to it (i.e. it will need to be stronger, joints will wear out quicker, etc.).

The only thing that I am wandering is if having no uptravel will be a problem. The truck is gonna be for rock crawling and trail riding. Right now the way it is sitting just turned out a little bigger then I was hoping.

Uptravel is not necessary for anything other than desert type racing (i.e. jumping). Your truck looks like it has an awful high COG for the the rocks IMO.

 

[robert97dodge]

Cut the overload down makes a zero rate thing kind of, if your build the perches up to a point they should be fine. But if your diff is hitting the cross member now 3" isn't going to do any good. Is it a factory cross member can you redo it ?

I do plan on doing that and that will give me 1". Which with the superlift 5" springs I had in there with that 1" it would be cleared the steering good because the springs had a good arch to them. Well with the springs they are a lot flatter so I will need about 2-3" just for safe measure. Plus like I said I need some more room above the diff.

It is still the stock crossmember under the motor. I am actually thinking about maybe rasining the motor about 2-3"s since I have a body lift and rebuild the crossmember under the motor. Also that will make it easier to run the exhaust since right now I am just about out of room under there.

 

[kgblazerfive]

Look at ORD's build or buy something like that

 

[robert97dodge]

For some things uptravel is important but for the rocks or mud you don't need much (if any) uptravel.



Rockwells need a lot more lift than standard axles (i.e. D60 etc.). I am running about stock height with a D60 and am nowhere near contacting the engine crossmember.




The "welded block" that you're planning on making will make axle wrap worse. If you add a traction bar it will have significantly more leverage applied to it (i.e. it will need to be stronger, joints will wear out quicker, etc.).





Uptravel is not necessary for anything other than desert type racing (i.e. jumping). Your truck looks like it has an awful high COG for the the rocks IMO.

I planned on using poly bushing for the ladder bar for the front. The way it is gonna work is at the frame end it will actually be mounted to a shackle so that way it will let the axle move front to rear more but will control axle wrap. Because as the axle drop it also moves forward. And also when I come up to a rock ledge it wont put so much stress on the ladder with the shackle because it will just push the shackle back.

Also the jeeps that I was referring to with no uptravel and sitting really low are on 2.5 ton rocks with rear steer.

And finally yes the truck the way it is sitting now will have a high COG for rocks so that is why I am wanting to change it. It will be a while before I get to some real serious rocks where it would really be a problem but if figure I might as well go ahead and change it now.

 

[muddermilitia]

I would avoid rasing the motor, that's just going to raise your COG. Your going to need some uptravel to absorb bumps when ya hit ledges, logs, etc.

 

[robert97dodge]

Look at ORD's build or buy something like that

I just looked at the crossmember and it looks pretty bad ass. I could easily build one of those. But if I raise the motor then I can get a crossmember even higher than that one.

 

[robert97dodge]

I would avoid rasing the motor, that's just going to raise your COG. Your going to need some uptravel to absorb bumps when ya hit ledges, logs, etc.

That is true but it will allow me to lower the truck about 6-7 inches then wouldnt it be worth it?

 

[kgblazerfive]

Well what if you moved the motor back three or so inches wouldn't that do the same thing? What about moving the front end forward three inches ?
The problem with moving the motor up is the COG thing lowering the truck down 6-7 would help but it will still move all the main weight of the vehicle that is up further away from the frame.
If you can do it I would go for the moving your motor back which would help in every way.

 

[robert97dodge]

Well what if you moved the motor back three or so inches wouldn't that do the same thing? What about moving the front end forward three inches ?
The problem with moving the motor up is the COG thing lowering the truck down 6-7 would help but it will still move all the main weight of the vehicle that is up further away from the frame.
If you can do it I would go for the moving your motor back which would help in every way.

Distributor would hit the firewall. I will take a look at that though. Also as for moving the axle forward I would love to do that but the only to do that would be go with coil springs. I have thought about that too.

 

[kgblazerfive]

Nothing that a hack saw and some sheet metal couldn't fix Depending on you space you could move it back and lower it

 

[Hogback Fabrication]

Nothing that a hack saw and some sheet metal couldn't fix Depending on you space you could move it back and lower it

X2

 

[robert97dodge]

Bad thing about that is if I ever have to remove the disitributor for anything I would have to pull the motor. I am thinking that it would be better just to go ahead and one link the front too and run coils.

 

[kgblazerfive]

See you not thinking out of the box if you have to cut the firewall then you can build a cover that is removable to get to the vital parts. Think van/trans tunnel.

 

[robert97dodge]

See you not thinking out of the box if you have to cut the firewall then you can build a cover that is removable to get to the vital parts. Think van/trans tunnel.

That is a lot of sheet metel work on the inside. Buidling a tunnel to for the distributor to go in and building a hole dog house on the inside that is removeable is a big difference.

 

[kgblazerfive]

Yeah it is but no as much work as redoing the whole front suspension and alto more beneficial in the end

 

[robert97dodge]

Yeah it is but no as much work as redoing the whole front suspension and alto more beneficial in the end

Yeah true but I would also benefit more from a one link suspension up front too. But on the other hand I had planned on one day rebuilding the factory dash to a all custom dash with aftermarket gauges. So what I may end up doing is just go ahead and put the truck together with the 5" 56"s springs and then later on start collecting all the gauges I will need and stuff like that to reuibld the dash and move the motor back.

The places that I will be wheeling for the next few years the truck sitting as high as it is wont really be that big of a problem. But later on when I start going to places like hot springs arkansas and other places with real rocks then it would be a problem being that high.

 

[robert97dodge]

I went out and looked at it a little more this morning and I think that I can make it work. I am gonna raise the motor about 3" which I should have plenty of room to do since I have a 3" body lift. Then I can rebuild the crossmember under the motor to where it is flat across the bottom of the frame or really close to it. I know that raising the motor will make the COG higher but this is the only I see to get the truck sitting low like I originally wanted and get some up travel. By the time I get done I am thinking I should have about 5-6"s of up travel on the passenger side and even more on the driver.


This is how it sits with the 5" lift 56" rear springs.

This is where it is sitting now with the stock rear 56" springs moved the front.