Up travel vs. Down travel....

[sirhk100]

I've heard so many arguements about what's good and what's bad for setting ride height in the abailable travel. I'm happy with how mine perfoms and won't be making many changes but just for my personal knowledge and curiosity, what's the best setup? 50/50? More up then down? More down then up? Does it depend on what you're doing? Jumping vs fireroads (Ocotillo style) vs whoops (Barstow) vs whatever? I'm asking these questions based of various conflicting stories I've heard so far.....

Khris

'92 Ford Exploder (work in progress)

[cleartoy]

It depends on what you are doing. With desert, i like more extension travel than compression. When jumping, you want more compression travel than extension, or you will bend your bumpstops like i did off devils slide!~

85 Toyota xtracab 4x4(for sale)
94 Toyota stdcab 2x4
99 Yamaha YZ250

Got Sand??

[1992f150]

if your completely in the air, the suspension will be fully drooped, so would it even matter with jumping?

Azusa: shame of the foothills

[cleartoy]

Yeah, your spring rate will be to soft and you will bottom out hard when you land.

85 Toyota xtracab 4x4(for sale)
94 Toyota stdcab 2x4
99 Yamaha YZ250

Got Sand??

[Jack]

Need more shock.

[Junior]

This is a good thread for Kreg, but I will venture a guess and suggest that up travel is your friend.



Junior
EJR Racing Trophy Truck #44
<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.ejrracing.com>http://www.ejrracing.com</A>

[Gabe_Lara]

With more bump or "up" travel, the ride height is considerably lower, and your CG is as well... your handling will be alot better at high speeds. Look at alot of the TT's out there and how low the CG is. This is pretty much the norm for a full 4-linked truck.

The thing is that in order to get the lower CG, you'd have to do a bit of frame rail modification. ( pie and or notching the rails) out of a stock or street truck.

-Gabe

[michael]

OK Gabe......I'm confused now. I would think just the opposite is true. To get more "up" travel the truck would have to be raised thus reducing down travel....right?
I wanted more droop or "down" travel on my Chevy so I lowered the whole truck. Am I missing something??

Michael <A target="_blank" HREF=http://mkparker.com/goose>mkparker.com/goose</A>

[Steve_HKmtrsprts]

He is talking about doing frame mods to get more "up" travel. Yes by lowering the ride height on your chevy you get more droop at that ride height, than having it at a higher stance.

[Gabe_Lara]

Like this
(See attachment, compliments of Go-Desert)

[Gabe_Lara]

Uno Mas...
And she sits about 1/2 inch higher than stock, on 35's with 27 inches of travel in the rear.
(About 19 up front... for now)

[TDORSloppy]

Yeah, I'm lost too. With more down travel you will have a lowered ride height. Gabe, what is that first picture showing?

[Kritter]

The modified frame

Kris

[michael]

Nice Ranger! It looks like most of that travel will be in the droop direction. So.... on any given vehicle the more droop, the lower the vehicle will sit and the more compression, the higher it will sit....right? Then it appears that the general trend (in answer to the original question) is more droop is better....?
Thanks!

Michael <A target="_blank" HREF=http://mkparker.com/goose>mkparker.com/goose</A>

[Dylan]

with more droop travel it becomes more difficult to get the right spring rate
40% droop
60% compression

[Junior]

Nice truck Gabe. Isn't it about time that you lose interest in it and sell it to me for cheap?



Junior
EJR Racing Trophy Truck #44
<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.ejrracing.com>http://www.ejrracing.com</A>

[Steve_HKmtrsprts]

Hey Gabe, did Newline pie-cut your frame?

[SpareChangeRacng]

I'm not exactly sure if it is a pie cut or not, but SI and Newline cut the rear portion of the frame off about 6-12" before where the stock raise in the frame is (over the rear axle), and then angle/arc the frame up 6" or so. They then tie this portion of the rear frame back into the stock frame and the roll cage. All in all it is VERY stout, and allows for the axle to swing up much higher then if the frame was left stock. I'll see if I've got any good pictures of this lying around. Steve

[John_Bitting]

Yes Steve, Newline pie cut Gabes frame, One to kick the frame up and another to lay it back out flat. Then they cut the frame off just after the axle and made a tubular fuel cell cage. The frame gets kicked about 7-8 inches to allow 27" of travel.

[Greg]

This a loaded question. Up travel vs. down is relative to how you set your truck-up and what your limitations (body, fenders, tire size, ect.). Something to look at is the fact that "ride height" is not the same as "running height". Look at any TT through the whoops, the mean height is much "taller" than sitting height. Therefore to set up an up vs down # is very difficult. I used to think that more "up" travel was needed for jumping or hitting big whoops, I was wrong. Rebound is the key. As you hit whoops the truck wants to keep going straight and as long as the wheels drop into the hole fast enough the other side of the hole will be absorbed by the full copmression stroke. As for srping rate, you will find on anything faster than a long roller, spring rate doesnt do much. One problem with lowering your ride height is that you need either a shorter spring or less spring rate and that goes against slow speed handleing and hurts extension speed.

Greg http://prerunners.com/images/assorted/rockdevil.gif

[dezertchick]

Bite me, Junior, Im WAY ahead of you in line for Gabe's truck... so nah!!

[John_Bitting]

I think you are both way behind Rory who wants to trade his four seater for it and to top it off Gabe talks about doing it every once in awhile....

[Gabe_Lara]

Feels good to be wanted, eh?

-Gabe

[sirhk100]

DROOL!!!!! Want to trade for an Exploder!!!! Just think 2-4 passengers to entertain!!!!

Khris

'92 Ford Exploder (work in progress)

[Junior]

RE: Dezert Chick says "Bite me, Junior"

hmmmmmmm........ got a visual! ; )



Junior
EJR Racing Trophy Truck #44
<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.ejrracing.com>http://www.ejrracing.com</A>

[Gabe_Lara]

Here's another just for Junior....

[rdc]

that is tight as hell

Act First, Think Later

[Donahoe]

"that is tight as hell" Translation = Wow nice truck.


NEVER LIFT!!!!!

[sirhk100]

Oh, I thought he was talking about DezertChick...

'92 Ford Exploder (work in progress)

[Junior]

SWEEEEET! You going to bring that Ranger to Primm? I would love to get a chance to spill some drool on it!



Junior
EJR Racing Trophy Truck #44
<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.ejrracing.com>http://www.ejrracing.com</A>

[AaronDixon]

Gabe, does your truck have an in-cab cage? If so, why not tie into the rear tubing? If not, do you experience a lot of frame flex?

[John_Bitting]

Gabe does have an incab cage and the rear cage is tied in with the rest of the cage, just under the window in a not so traditional fashion.

[Gabe_Lara]

Aaron,

I think this one may help a bit better.
You have to look closely just under the rear window for the tie-in to the cab cage, just at the top of the coilover, in front of the shock hoop.

Nestor, John and the crew @ Newline are doing a great job.
Thanks guys!

- Gabe

[JrSyko]

Gabe - Beautiful truck!! Have you done anything to the motor?

See ya in the dirt!

[Gabe_Lara]

There's a 302 that Scott Murphy @ Scott Performance Fabrication stuffed in it before I bought it a while back.
Pretty much stock motor(read:reliability) but it still gets with it!

-Gabe

[JrSyko]

Damn, I think I'm in love!

Please post more pics....maybe of the inside?

See ya in the dirt!

[UndercoverFab]

can i ask who made your fuel cell and if it has a bladder? the whole truck looks clean as hell, very nice.

[John_Bitting]

Gabe runs a fuel safe custom pro cell, its right around 51 gallons.


Fuel Safe Website (http://www.fuelsafe.com)

[dunerking]

Gabe your Ranger is sweet!Maybe one day I will have something like that.Seen that thing rolling around Burbank.

[JeffS]

I'm wondering what the advantage is to keeping the frame rails and notching them (like Gabe's truck) instead of just cutting them off immediately after the cab and finishing the rear with tubing... is it just preference, or is it for legallity in class 7 ?

.

[V8Ranger]

You have to keep the frame for class 7

[billymanfroy]

Very nice, Gabe. Actually, you CAN'T TOUCH the frame if you want to keep it Class 7 legal. You can add material, but you can't remove material, notch it or relocate it like Gabe's. That's why a legal truck with 27" of travel and 35's sits just a little higher than 1/2" over stock. That's also why so many Rangers buck so much. I'd like to notch mine or ditch it completely (especially for short-course), but then I'd have to run class 1!

Billy

[curt]

Actually notching the rails or changing to tube are both not legal to any organization running with the SCORE rulebook, your mileage will probably differ with other racing bodies. Curt

[Gabe_Lara]

Jeff,

Class 7 requires complete and un-modified frame rails... but this is a prerunner, so.
It was an easy decision on my behalf... $$ did have alot to do with it, indeed, but after talking with Nestor, and giving him more input on what I wanted the truck to do, it was a logical decision to simply pie and plate the frame rails for 27 inches of travel... plenty for me, mind you.
My cell would have fit between the rails if I kept them back there, but Nestor wanted to do something different, so I turned him loose on it.

-Gabe

[Gabe_Lara]

And the front, right after it came out of the shop...
Newline kingpin beams &amp; crossover steering package, engine cage, Ron Davis radiator, Fox airbumps, and 3 inch King coilovers.

-Gabe