Max Rear Suspension Travel Near Stock Style

[Ark]

Hello all,

The title pretty much covers my question but here's what I'm after. I am planning to go to +1" trailing arms in the rear to center up the tires. Other than that, I would like to keep the Thing stock looking but really improve the suspension travel and ride quality as much as possible. I don't mind indexing to get an inch or two of lift but I definitely do not want to chop a hole through the body for a full coil over setup. I end up taking my Thing exploring off road a fair amount so what I'm looking for is trophy truck handling in a stock body (not really, but kind of...)

How much travel is it possible to get out of extended shocks with stock CV's on 1" longer arms and aftermarket torsion bars? Is 9"+ of travel possible with custom shock mounts (not through the body), extended shocks, torsion bars and 930 cv's? I realize this will never keep up with a prerunner or a dedicated coilover rig but would like to make the Thing as plush off road as possible.

Thanks guys!

-Nathan

[ThingOw181]

Hi Nathan,

Since no one has replied I will do my best to respond.

A +1" arm is essentially what the 5/1600 guys run. A lot of this depends on how much you want to spend. For example, with a +1" arm, a decent custom shock setup, and the 930s you can probably get 9+' of travel.

You could also go with a microstub brake setup, get a lot longer axle in place, and get to say 11-12, pushing the limits of the CVs. Depending on what you do up front I'm not sure you will notice the difference.

One other thing to keep in mind is simply speed. Plush is a highly variable term. At 10mph everything is plush as long as you have a lightly sprung and well shocked vehicle. At 50 with a ball joint front end and your +1" arms it's going to be extremely different.

Finally, you will be limited by tire size and the body. For example, even with a 3x3 arm, my 33" tires will hit the body at max uptravel. I am going to have to lose about 2" of uptravel to keep from having things smash. I do recall with a 29" tire and stock arms I was hitting the fenders/body pretty hard in big ruts.

Hope that helps.