Torsion Bar Travel

[RangerRocker]

Does anybody have some kind of torsion bar travel numbers? Basically, I plan on doing the fabtech spindle lift set up with some fox 2.0 emulsion shocks which give out about 8.5" inches of travel, which is not bad. Is there any way to increase the travel numbers? I could loosen the tbars some for increased travel. Any ideas? I also pondered fabbing up a custom shock tower with longer shocks for more travel, but I need to know what kind of droop numbers these set ups are capable of before I do this.

Thanks Everyone,

 

[84projectFORD]

well first, if you plan on doing any hard off roading, id stay away from the fabtech spindles. Ive seen those break when out wheeling around and jumping. they are casted and cant take the loads of heavy off road abuse. Id look into a plated steel spindle or something like that. Next, when you do swap spindles, cycle the suspension up and down without the torsion bars in and see where the shocks bottom out or where the a-arms will hit, should it be bump stop or what not. You might be able to massage another inch or two out of the stock arms but you will be running into ball joint limitations very quick along with them wearing out quick if pushed to their limits. You might be better off saving for the Camburgs entry level 6.0 kit or the performance kit that gives you new upper a-arms, plated steel spindles and bilsteins (performance gives you a new shock tower from more travel).

My buddy has the performace kit on his edge and it does awesome through the whoops and jumping. He has about 12-14" of travel to boot too! i really think you would really enjoy that kit more as my buddy has over 10k on the kit now and about 3k of hard off road use w/ no probs

 

[RangerRocker]

Yeah, I have heard great things about that kit. What about a home built coilover swap? How hard would that be?

 

[84projectFORD]

well building the coil tower and hoop is not hard but building the lower ar will be hard. there is alot involved in do that. You have to make sure your camber change is not too much, bumpsteer (for new spindles if you build them but thats a whole new story), strenght, ect. Unless your really good a fabbing and have built a few before, i wouldnt recommend doin it for your DD but rather practice on a truck that will be primarily drivin off road.

 

[RangerRocker]

I will probably sound really stupid, but can't I just fab up mounting tabs to the lower arm I have for the shocks, and then box the stock lower arm for added strength? The shock hoop won't be hard, I agree with you there. To keep the camber in line I keep the shock as vertical as possible correct?

 

[RangerRocker]

I decided to do a coil over swap. My question now is, what kind of coils should I get, I was looking at f-o-a, any opinions? Also, how many psi should I run. 300 lbs, or more? I am new to coils. Just as a reference...I am going to run a shock with 14" of travel with a 16" tall spring. Does this sound correct? Is this going to lift the front of the truck a lot?

 

[Quasi242]

I have not heard anything bad about F-O-A shocks. For a budget build, they should be great. They also seem to have great customer service. A 14" travel shock is way too large IMO, especially for a stock "A" arm setup. The Bilstein 5100 coil over shock that is shipped with the RCD kit has the following specifications:

Extended Length: 19.25"
Collapsed Length: 14.625"
Diameter Body: 2.0"
Spring Rate: 600#
Spring Length: 12"

The 4X4 Dixon Brothers kit uses a 2.5" body 8" stroke shock. A 10" stroke shock can be used, but a lot of stuff will have to be relocated within the engine bay to clear the shock tower and shock. My kit is set up with a 16" 700# coil. It rides fairly well, but I would be interested to see how a 650# coil would feel.

Running a coil over shock will not lift the truck any more that cranking your torsion bars will. Preloading the coil is the same as cranking (preloading) the Tbar. Ultimately, your ball joints become the limiting factor.

 

[RangerRocker]

So you are running an 8" shock with a 16" coil? Thanks for your help.

 

[Quasi242]

Correct. I had the option of running an 18" coil, but that would have required a spring compressor to mount.

 

[RangerRocker]

OK, so here is the plan for the set up. A 10" travel shock from f-o-a. http://f-o-a.com/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=24_41&products_id=22 Followed up with a 14" coil at 650#. http://f-o-a.com/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=16_22&products_id=16


All of this will fit into my current shock tower. I think I will have the lower control arm boxed for reinforcement and have it set up to work with the shock. Mounting tabs? It seems like a good set up for a very entry level system. I talked to Dixon Brothers about uca's and lca's...they said 1850. I am using them because they use ball joints and still acheive 14" of travel. So I will be saving for that for the future. This whole set up will run me 470, plus the time to make it work. Does it all sound up to par?

Also, will this drastic change in suspension destroy my ball joints? I think I ought to have them replaced since they already have 93,xxx miles on them.

 

[RangerRocker]

One more quick question. Since I am converting to coils, I need coil over uca's right? I know it seems obvious but will they work with the factory torsion bar suspension spindle?

 

[Quasi242]

If you are planning on running the Dixon control arms in the future, why buy a 10" stroke shock? That kit is designed around a 8" stroke shock. Also, the 10" shock will extend further into the engine bay, requiring a taller shock tower.

Are you wanting to use a shorter coil because you will not be getting full travel out of the shock with it mounted in the factory coil bucket? A 14" coil will not allow 8" of compression before it coil binds. Hence it is much too short for a single spring setup on a 10" shock.

Another thing to consider, the opening in the stock UCA is too small to fit a 2.5" diameter shock with a 3.0" inner diameter coil. You will want to look at using a 2.0" diameter shock for this application.

Changing out the shock should not have a major impact on your ball joints as long as you limit the travel of the control arms (bump stops and limit straps), and you don't run your control arms at crazy static angles.

 

[84projectFORD]

quasi is correct on that stuff. One thing to add though is that just plating the LCA in will still not be strong enough for the coilovers. you are focusing all the truck weight on one little point on the LCA that was not ment for that. you will need to strategically place stripped sections of flat stock in between the lower plate and upper plate in the arm to keep the arm from bending. without it, the first jump/bump you hit, the arm will fold.

getting a 10" shock will be way over kill for your truck and you may find its way bigger than you thought. you will have to relocated a bunch of stuff under the hood to make those fit. I really think a 8" shock will be plenty for you.

Also, make sure that you make some sort of engine cage to connect the LF shock tower to the RF shock tower. W/o this you can easily tear the frame from all the extra leverage from the shock towers.

Unless your ball joints have play in them, you really dont need to replace them. just watch your full droop and full bump and place limit straps and bump stops accordingly.

One thing to remember, travel numbers out of suspension mean nothing if your shocks are not valved right let alone, you can hit just about anything a truck with huge travel numbers of front travel can hit. As i tell everyone i talk to about this, the old total chaos 1450 truck had 13" of front travel and it beat rangers, chevys and other toys left and right all because the front suspension was perfectly valved along with the rear. valving in a truck and make or break how fast you can go and what you can hit.

 

[RangerRocker]

I still am having trouble understanding why the Dixon kit says it has 14" of travel when it is set up for an 8" shock.

 

[RangerRocker]

One more thing I want to ask. Can I run the fabtech upper control arm? I only ask because this control arm won't increase track width. Can it be bolted to the torsion bar spindle? What are the differences between the two spindle types?...btw I was going to run a 2.0 coilover with 2.5" coils. I figured the 3" would be too big, thanks for the reassurance to my thinking guys.