A few long travel questions

[ckblum]

Im thinking about swapping my axles with explorer axles. I heard the D35 is 2 inches wider which is good. I wanna kinda make a cheap long(er) travel truck. I dont have a lot of money to spend on a camburg kit or something from autofab or anything. Im pretty good with the rear, I might just save for that and drop in a set of deavers and some rs5000s or something.

I need some simple and/or cheap ideas to get more travel, im willing to spend the money on some good shocks because in comparison to a kit it isnt too bad for a good set, probably some fabtech dirt logics or bilstiens.

I hear that extended radius arms help achieve more travel, so is it possible to put extended radius arms on stock D35 beams without issue? Also what else would help give more travel in the front?

 

[4x4junkie]

Lots of people run extended arms on stock beams (myself included). What you'll need though is some lift (at least 2.5") to provide clearance for the arms. This will also give you more travel as well (more room between the axle & frame).

 

[ckblum]

What is a good lift to use for this then? Should I just use a drop bracket type lift for the front or is there another option? I have 1.5 lift coils Im gonna put in which will lift the truck over 2 inches from the height now because my stock springs are bagged. Is it possible for me to just buy a 2.5-3 inch lift for the front only and then do the rear another way?

Edit: I know Skyjacker makes lifts and extended radius arms. Im gonna check some of that out but if someone has a better idea then shoot it up. Maybe I can get a Skyjacker kit with extended arms and lift in one if they make it.

 

[4x4junkie]

I would look at the Autofab Econo kits for your 2WD. They're priced very similar to what a bracket kit would cost.

 

[ckblum]

Yea but they say not for serious off road use. Besides that mine is 4wd and I'm not sure they make anything for 4wd's in the econo lifts.

I was looking at the long travel kits for D28 and D35, 3500 is quiet a bit, but if I got a new job I'd be willing to lay the money down maybe. Does anyone have any opinions on these kits? Or even a simpler way to do something similar/cheaper? Im not looking for loads of travel, just a bit more than stock and without opening up a can of worms with geometry and stuff.

 

[canyoncritter]

what are you looking to do with the truck?

crawling around trails gen offroad, skyjacker is a good kit. about 1200 new with ext. radius arms.

out in the desert, playing around in the dunes, high speed antics etc. is going to run around 1500-2000 new.for stock width.

keeping the stock radius arm in 4wd is almost not a option like the 2wd econo kits. It can be done,but by the time you get it done, you will be at about the same price as if you would had got extend radius arm's.the factory radius arm mount/crossmember get in the way of the front drive shaft.

the very cheapest way I know of, is a small drop bracket like the highrider brackets, longer radius arms,and difrrent shock mount's.and play with coil springs.


What are you going to really use the truck for?

 

[4x4junkie]

Oh, Whoops :banghead: Where the hell did I get '2WD' out of all that? (answering too many dang posts here I guess )

If you want to run extended RAs, you'll be best off buying a kit of some sort that'll give you the coils, axle brackets and pitman arm. You could get a basic kit such as the 3" James Duff Class 1 (or 4" Skyjacker) and then build your own RAs for it to save a bit of coin.