Need some input on suspension for my build

[GOAT]

I am at a bit of standstill on the swollen goat build. I was committed to running standard coils, but keep drifting back to coilovers or airshocks as I am tired of doing things twice with this jeep. The rig is for slow crawling only, and next step is some sort of suspension.

Kiel and Herzog are having great luck with airshocks, but most seem to hate them. Coilovers seem like a PITA to setup for LCG in a stock body rig. Coils just seem ghetto at this point no matter how stable they are.

My question is: Based on your experience, what would you run and why?

A. 2.5 Fox Airshocks

B 2.0 Coilovers (FOA)

C. STD coils/shocks.


Thanks in advance,
Marcus

 

[Anchor_Mtn]

I run 2.0 SAW coilovers on my rig and I love them. (14s up front, 16s out back). The 14s fit very easy under the hood without modifying the frame. The 16s are a bit tall and come a long ways through the rear fenderwells. If you want to keep seating room in the back, coils or short coilovers(~12") would be a better option.

 

[utah340six]

goat
what tpye off front end do u want.
when i stared mine i went several times with dennis from tera flex.
asked what he hated most about his.
coment was front end to light.
always hooking winch to front end to keep it down.
so i did leaf over and shakle reversal on front end.
did coils rear with 4 link was ok bt coils kept droping to far.
last year put on foa coil overs on 2 inch.
best money i spent.( ps they were very helpful of what spring rates to use.)
ride on back roads tons better.price on foa great.
so i would use coil on rear.

 

[GOAT]

I run 2.0 SAW coilovers on my rig and I love them. (14s up front, 16s out back). The 14s fit very easy under the hood without modifying the frame. The 16s are a bit tall and come a long ways through the rear fenderwells. If you want to keep seating room in the back, coils or short coilovers(~12") would be a better option.

Thanks for the reply. I may hit you up for some pics of your steering setup.

Here are a few specs on the rig as it stands and a build thread.

97 TJ 4.0/auto
Fullwidth HP60/D70U
Custom linked F&R
42" MTRs

http://www.rockymountainextreme.com/showthread.php?t=48591

 

[RockMonkey]

I've always preferred coilovers. My original competition YJ build was leaf front and coil rear. The coils worked great on the rear, but they took up a lot of room, and ended up too close to my upper control arm mounts. They rubbed and made a lot of noise.

Coilovers work better, are much easier to tweak, and are much easier to mount.

I think coilovers work better than air shocks, but both are good options, and a lot of people really like air shocks.

 

[choptopbII]

i run fox 2.0's on my rig and i love em, yeah they take a little trial and error and tuning to get em' perfectly dialed. but after you do there smooth as butter and work great. im now even considering running them on the front of my rig.

 

[BEACH]

IMO for going slow and just crawling air shocks. If you plan on going fast at all or jumping your vehicle coil overs. The pros of air shocks include: light weight and small so this makes them easy to set up and fit into tight places like full bodied jeeps etc. Cons: Ride height varies on the temperature of the air and the temperature of shocks. If your vehicles weighs alot you have to run higher pressures to get the ride height you want. This higher pressure in the shocks can result in unloading of sprung weight depending on how the geometry of the suspension is set up. If you wanna go faster and maintain a cadilac feeling ride coil overs are the way. The pros to coil overs include: Handle heavier weight by changing spring rates, they are a dual rate setup unlike air shocks whick allows for a better ride slow or fast. Remote res. for cooling. Do not unload easy depending on how the geometry of the suspension is set up. Cons include: They are a little bigger which makes them a little bit tricky to stick anywhere but anything is possible!! Take for example my buggy, it has 2.0 SAW coil overs with 8 inches of up travel. And on top of that it sits very very low with 40's. It is alot tighter than bens with his air shocks and 5 inches of up travel but my buggy performs better at high speeds versus his is lighter weight and is better for competing!!

To answer your question I would back half the frame and run FOX 2.0 Coilovers!!

 

[GOAT]

IMO for going slow and just crawling air shocks. If you plan on going fast at all or jumping your vehicle coil overs. The pros of air shocks include: light weight and small so this makes them easy to set up and fit into tight places like full bodied jeeps etc. Cons: Ride height varies on the temperature of the air and the temperature of shocks. If your vehicles weighs alot you have to run higher pressures to get the ride height you want. This higher pressure in the shocks can result in unloading of sprung weight depending on how the geometry of the suspension is set up. If you wanna go faster and maintain a cadilac feeling ride coil overs are the way. The pros to coil overs include: Handle heavier weight by changing spring rates, they are a dual rate setup unlike air shocks whick allows for a better ride slow or fast. Remote res. for cooling. Do not unload easy depending on how the geometry of the suspension is set up. Cons include: They are a little bigger which makes them a little bit tricky to stick anywhere but anything is possible!! Take for example my buggy, it has 2.0 SAW coil overs with 8 inches of up travel. And on top of that it sits very very low with 40's. It is alot tighter than bens with his air shocks and 5 inches of up travel but my buggy performs better at high speeds vers his is lighter weight and is better for competing!!

To answer your question I would back half the frame and run FOX 2.0 Coilovers!!

The unloading and pressure changes have been my biggest concern with airshocks. That's what keeps bringing me back to COs. My front suspension anti-dive is completely adjustable, and may handle airshocks, but the rear AS will be lucky to go below 100-120.

Hartwig said you are guys to talk to when it comes to buying fox shocks. I'll keep BHR in mind if I go down that road.

Thanks for the info. You guys definitely have your act together over there.

 

[BEACH]

The unloading and pressure changes have been my biggest concern with airshocks. That's what keeps bringing me back to COs. My front suspension anti-dive is completely adjustable, and may handle airshocks, but the rear AS will be lucky to go below 100-120.

Hartwig said you are guys to talk to when it comes to buying fox shocks. I'll keep BHR in mind if I go down that road.

Thanks for the info. You guys definitely have your act together over there.

Thanks. We are trying our best to positively serve the four wheel drive community any way we can! I would love to help you out more if needed. Give me a call at the shop if you have anymore questions.

 

[Tacoma]

I'd run coilovers. The learning curve is kind of steep on them, but they can be set up to do exactly what you want through the various combinations of spring rates (dual rate rocks!), and rebound/compression damping. I got way into that crap when I was racing mt. bikes, made me giggle with joy every time I turned a wrench on the shocks. And then there's oil weight and different valving... etc etc. These days mt. bike air shocks are very good though, and I'd imagine that we will see a similar progression with the current crop of manufacturers... BUT, still, lose a seal in an air shock and you have no shock... lose a seal in a coilover and you have no damping, but still have a spring to get home on....

Anyway. Plus they fit where you already have space allotted, kind of.

 

[LT.]

BUT, still, lose a seal in an air shock and you have no shock... lose a seal in a coilover and you have no damping, but still have a spring to get home on....

Anyway. Plus they fit where you already have space allotted, kind of.

This is the whole reason I went with coil overs. I wanted a rig that was more of a trail rig. Keeping everything as simple as I could but, still get the flex I wanted. I can honestly say that if I can use coil overs then anyone can. They really are not at difficult to deal with as I once thought.

LT.

 

[Matt]

for slow crawling i would run airshocks and never look back!

 

[ChestonScout]

why not run the new hybrid shocks from Ballisitic. Best of both worlds.


You get the performance of a coilover but the simplicity of a air shock. You dont have to guess as close for the springs since the air shock will cover the rest.

They are priced very decent to
If I had any money.....I would replace the coils on the back of the Scout with them.

 

[Kiel]

Wheres the spot for just finish the damn thing!!

 

[I Lean]

why not run the new hybrid shocks from Ballisitic. Best of both worlds.


You get the performance of a coilover but the simplicity of a air shock. You dont have to guess as close for the springs since the air shock will cover the rest.

They are priced very decent to
If I had any money.....I would replace the coils on the back of the Scout with them.

You won't get the performance of a coilover--you'll get the performance of an airshock, because you're still limited by the size constraints of an airshock. (smaller piston/larger shaft, smaller oil volume)

 

[Anchor_Mtn]

You won't get the performance of a coilover--you'll get the performance of an airshock, because you're still limited by the size constraints of an airshock. (smaller piston/larger shaft, smaller oil volume)

yup. Performance of an airshock, load capicity of a coilover. The coil will also help a lot with the sway problem of airshocks.

 

[waynehartwig]

IMO for going slow and just crawling air shocks. If you plan on going fast at all or jumping your vehicle coil overs. The pros of air shocks include: light weight and small so this makes them easy to set up and fit into tight places like full bodied jeeps etc. Cons: Ride height varies on the temperature of the air and the temperature of shocks. If your vehicles weighs alot you have to run higher pressures to get the ride height you want. This higher pressure in the shocks can result in unloading of sprung weight depending on how the geometry of the suspension is set up. If you wanna go faster and maintain a cadilac feeling ride coil overs are the way. The pros to coil overs include: Handle heavier weight by changing spring rates, they are a dual rate setup unlike air shocks whick allows for a better ride slow or fast. Remote res. for cooling. Do not unload easy depending on how the geometry of the suspension is set up. Cons include: They are a little bigger which makes them a little bit tricky to stick anywhere but anything is possible!! Take for example my buggy, it has 2.0 SAW coil overs with 8 inches of up travel. And on top of that it sits very very low with 40's. It is alot tighter than bens with his air shocks and 5 inches of up travel but my buggy performs better at high speeds versus his is lighter weight and is better for competing!!

To answer your question I would back half the frame and run FOX 2.0 Coilovers!!

Pretty much what I was going to say..... But another pro for air shocks: CHEAP! and another con for CO's: EXPENSIVE!!!!!!!!and some more!!!!

I'm running coil overs front/rear on my rig for that reason. They are more expensive, but have more adjustability and load handling. I have 14" out back and 12" up front. With a different upper mount, I could easily run 14" up front. With the 14" out back, I have lots of room betweem the frame and tire, with no rubbing either way and the coil over doesn't go through the tub.

Since your front is what it is, I bet it would be hard to get enough up travel with 14's, unless they go through the hood a bit. I say that because yours seems lower than mine and as of right now, I have about 2 maybe 3" of uptravel on mine. Just thinking out loud since I haven't actually measured it out...

 

[GOAT]

Big thanks for all the feedback.


I definitely want to stay with Fox if I end up running airshocks just based on reputation alone. Fox seems to be diversified enough that they stand the best chance of being around two years from now. Other manufacturers don't seem to be as economically stable. JMHO.

I have no problem sticking shocks through the hood and they most likely will end up that way as it wont have much uptravel with 42s and LCG. I would like to also have a reasonable amount of droop that a regular coilsprings wont be able to provide.

My gameplan is to get everything under the rig in the next week or so, and go from there.

 

[Shawn]

You have seen mine and how I drive. I run shox on all fours.

 

[Gravy]

just finish it...