lookin for mad flex

[jasonmcc]

Hey all

I have been reading a heap of past posts about suspension but im still not sure.

Im getting more and more serious with my zook and I dont want to buy a heap of suspension parts and then do something more extreme a little later.


So what does everyone reccoment. Spring over with standard springs and raised shock mounts.

Or like greg, OME 2/5" rears springs in the front and 1/4 eliptic rear.

Whats involved with putting the rears in the front and the 1/4 eliptic rear.

Thanks Guys

Jason

[redzook]

is it a daily driver? if not id go 1/4 eleptic(SP?) rear and RUF

i drive mine daily and i think it handes an rides alot better then stock

mine is:
spoa
46" spings in the rear

just gotta do somthin with the front either coils or RUF


pics

[SAWZALL]

I'd go coils

Apparently some dude on here is coming out with a coil kit for Sierra's

[bazooked]

hey red wat does ur rig ramp?

[redzook]

dunno

u have yj's yes?

[bazooked]

yes,all round . waiting for the 4wd monthly spread dont no which issue yet...

[redzook]

ur goin to be in 4wd monthy?


post up some pics

[bazooked]

haha id luv to if they sent me a copy.. .anyways back to the original thread.......

[greg]

Im getting more and more serious with my zook and I dont want to buy a heap of suspension parts and then do something more extreme a little later.

I guess the only way to ensure that this doesn't occur would be to go straight to the most flexible setup possible - which i guess would be coil overs front and rear - which is also likely to be the most expensive...

Though i have no idea about how well this would work.

So what does everyone reccoment. Spring over with standard springs and raised shock mounts.

Or like greg, OME 2/5" rears springs in the front and 1/4 eliptic rear.

Whats involved with putting the rears in the front and the 1/4 eliptic rear.

I'm very happy with the way mine is setup now - like you have said - OME Rears at the front - though i am also considering doing a 3/4 in the back...

Something else that may be worth considering would be getting custom spring packs made up - they can be what ever length you want, and you get get bigger eyes put on them so that you can run orbital bearings - this will reduce binding and allow for more flex

Rears up front requires the following:
1. extend the chassis 100mm
2. make some longer shackles
3. make new shock mounts
4. move the brake line mounts
5. move the bump stops...

Sorry - don't know much about the 1/4 rear - check out the spidertrax site - there's plenty on there about them...

My suggestion regarding your suspension upgrade is to keep everything balanced. i.e. there is no point in having a rear that flexes like mad when the front is stiff as a board - this is because the body will follow whichever end is the hardest / firmest... hope that makes sense...

edit: typo.

[Guy]

Re you after Mad flex or a driveable rig on the blacktop as well .

Define "Mad Flex" a bit better if you would humor me .. Quality rear all round with decent shocks and shock mounts will get you some pretty good balanced flex. If you 1/4 elip the rear you will need to get into a pretty serious relationship with your engineer I would guess .. as you would with any major structural mod .. like a spring over .. ( I love my SPOA it flexs very well and handles reasonable considering its a softly sprung light weight vehicle running very heavy rubber ..) ..

Before chasing Mad flex again (what I did to begin with) I would look at good lockers, a bit more power, perhaps a small bodylift bigger rubebr and gears .. Learn to drive it really well and spank alot of the guys that have dropped mega $$$ on their vehicles (like I did)

Have a look at Christover .. he runs most of the same hard tracks as the "big boys" .. on 31's basic OME lift, 2 inch BL and a welded diffs ..

[greg]

Re you after Mad flex or a driveable rig on the blacktop as well .

You could go one better than that and ask "do you want mad flex or do you want a capable rig offroad?" - too much flex is probably a bad thing too...

[OVERKILL ENG]

I think you need to work out how much money you want to spend and whatterain you want to drive.
Remembering that shock length is really your limiting factor.A properly set up leave setup will use up all the travel of a 14 inch travel shock which I personally think is more than enough in a short wheel base truck.
The 1/4 elliptic setup is awsum and relative cheap to do we have tested many spring configurations to get one that was stable and stoill travels well and you would all be suprised at how stiff the spring is.
Spoa in the front using Hilux fronts will give you heaps of travel without the spring saging or being to soft and flopppy.
Mick,Mat and I all use hilux springs gto great effect.
I guess in seting up your setup i think you have to make sure that the spring rates are matched front and rear according to the weight otherwise one end of you truck will do all the work and you willl spend more time on your side than on it's wheels we had this problem with my old Zook. Yet the new one is the most stable thing we have driven off road we have had it on a 65 dgree lean and it was still stable.
If you are interested I will take some detailed photo's of my setup for you to look at.
SAM

[Luigi Malone]

Hey all

I have been reading a heap of past posts about suspension but im still not sure.

Im getting more and more serious with my zook and I dont want to buy a heap of suspension parts and then do something more extreme a little later.


So what does everyone reccoment. Spring over with standard springs and raised shock mounts.

Or like greg, OME 2/5" rears springs in the front and 1/4 eliptic rear.

Whats involved with putting the rears in the front and the 1/4 eliptic rear.

Thanks Guys

Jason

I think we need to clarify quarter eliptic and three quarter eliptic.
As stated see Sidertrax site for a quarter lip and see Grimbos rig for a 3/4 lip.
Also I did the RUF without extending the chassis 100mm.
But I used a RRO kit and revolver shackles.
Too much flex could be counter productive too, if it makes you scared of cambers etc. And Highway driving.
My .02 LM.

[skippy]

flex anyone?
not bad for all leaf springs, no folding shackles, nothing special.

[Liam]

Isn't it funny how people with no flex say it's over rated.(unrelated to this topic and anything said here)

Ultimate suspension would be fully adjustable- for ride height, rebound, sway, droop, dive and squat. It would be strong and light and easy to service/repair. This is all great but it'll cost you big bucks, so unless you want to spend $10,000 ( for starters) then you'll have to make some compromises. What do you want to do with it?

[purefmx]

go the spoa!

[Luigi Malone]

Hey all

I have been reading a heap of past posts about suspension but im still not sure.

Im getting more and more serious with my zook and I dont want to buy a heap of suspension parts and then do something more extreme a little later.


So what does everyone reccoment. Spring over with standard springs and raised shock mounts.

Or like greg, OME 2/5" rears springs in the front and 1/4 eliptic rear.

Whats involved with putting the rears in the front and the 1/4 eliptic rear.

Thanks Guys

Jason

Jason mcc you may be able to tell from the replies you've received. Flex is flex and travel is travel. You can get a shipload of flex in a sua setup and you can get a ship load of travel by spending a shipload a money.
Fess up what DO you want.????

[jasonmcc]

Just want some good flex better than standard but not too extreme, just want a better setup than someone buying a ARB for there cruiser or patrol.

Just want to drive some stuff to impress some mates and beat some cruisers.

Dont know how to explain it better

Jason

[Guy]

Your main limiter I guess will be your shocks\shock mounts .. with the rears I have up front I can use up about 12 inches of the slightly angled front shock equates to around 14 or so inches of flex each side and about 10 inches of travel on the heavily angled shocks in the rear with SPOA on I think tough dog springs. Is seems to me to be pretty controlled. Others have diffrent setups that works for them.
As you are a a Northern territorian and I am unsure of your mod laws My advice would be you may be best of staying with a SPUA on quality springs, install a small say 50mm bodylift a bit of trimming of sheet metal and some gears and lockers .. with even a 31 or 32 your zuk should not attract to much unwanted attention and should be a very capable little truck.
The things i would do to make a Zuk more capable are lockers and gears (step one) quality springs, decent sized rubber say a 31 MTR not bad onroad and not bad offroad (tyre choice I guess is a bit to taste) Then start playing with things Like shocks lenghts and modding mounts etc. That way you get to really learn to drive it ..
without lockers flex is overrated
without power flex is overrated
without driver skill the whole lot is overrated ..

I recall NAM tagging along on a day at werribee with the Vic Zuk club .. with just a rear locker (welded rear) and 6:1 T/case gears he went alot of places the like of me on 35's with a 1.6 SPOA custom suspension etc went Sure It may not have been as easy .. but it did it ..