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Ground clearence when bottomed out.
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Multi69s
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PostPosted: Sat Jun 24, 2017 4:25 pm    Post subject: Ground clearence when bottomed out. Reply with quote

Dusty, I know that you know the answer to this, but I'm sure that others do to. I know that tire size plays a part in this, but for a desert car, how much ground clearance is a good rule of thumb to have when the suspension is fully compressed? Or maybe the better question is what is the minimum with skid plates installed?
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I Ride Sand
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PostPosted: Sat Jun 24, 2017 5:01 pm    Post subject: Re: Ground clearence when bottomed out. Reply with quote

this gets fuzzy really fast. it depends on how much travel, what bump stops, terrain expected, spring rates.... it really involves a lot of different things. in my fairly smooth non-rocky area i feel pretty good with 3" on a lighter car, with lots of travel, and a good hydraulic bumps. the likely time to fully compress the suspension in that case is a jump, and a hard landing after. otherwise it will be only one wheel at a time hitting an obstacle. on a stockish beetle i would want 5-6, as you can cycle the full suspension through whoops and small jumps fairly readily.

of course, this all changes as soon as the terrain changes, or the suspension setup changes, yadda yadda yadda. basically, set that thing up so it has as much up travel as possible, then limit it before it starts to rub or bind. keep the center of gravity as low as possible, and aim for about 40% droop. I.E. if you have 10 inches of travel, you will have 6 up and 4 down at ride height.

this is all my personal opinion, from my experience. your mileage may vary.
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Multi69s
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PostPosted: Sat Jun 24, 2017 6:16 pm    Post subject: Re: Ground clearence when bottomed out. Reply with quote

This is for a custom toy that I'm building, part VW, part not. One of the non VW parts is the front end. It is a-arms with about 10" of travel(maybe). Tires size will help dictate total travel, that and ground clearance. I am well versed on setting up off road suspension, but I am looking for safe parameters. The car will driven at a brisk pace occasionally, but no where near race pace. Think low end RZR.
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Mal evolent
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PostPosted: Sat Jun 24, 2017 8:10 pm    Post subject: Re: Ground clearence when bottomed out. Reply with quote

it obviously depends on the size of the rocks. here in central NM that would be "softball"
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Cul-tech
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PostPosted: Mon Jun 26, 2017 12:08 pm    Post subject: Re: Ground clearence when bottomed out. Reply with quote

I'm building mine so when it sits on the bumpstops there is 3" of ground clearance.
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Multi69s
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PostPosted: Mon Jun 26, 2017 2:04 pm    Post subject: Re: Ground clearence when bottomed out. Reply with quote

I was thinking that it would be fairly low, on my dirt bike there's only about 2" with both ends fully compressed.
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1fastbigguy
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PostPosted: Tue Jun 27, 2017 1:20 pm    Post subject: Re:round clearence when bottomed out. Reply with quote

Our car sites at about 4" in front
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

And about 3" in the rear.
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

The ride height is 16" under the transaxle skid plate.
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Once you factor rocks, whoops and deep ruts... Well let's just say your skid plate won't stay shiny and smooth for to long Very Happy
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dustymojave
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PostPosted: Wed Jun 28, 2017 9:05 pm    Post subject: Re: Ground clearence when bottomed out. Reply with quote

Back in the 1980s, a customer brought me his brand new (1 race on it) Raceco 2 seat 1600 race buggy. I did the prep on it for a couple of years.
This picture shows the car in Mexico near Diablo Dry Lake:
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.


I'm in the right seat and Jeff Hibbard (Baja Bugs & Buggies author) driving.

When the car came to me, it had 16" of rear wheel travel at the tire. Many have told me that is more than is possible with 930 CVs and 0 x 1 arms. They're sort of right. Because at full bump, the bottom of the Yokohama Super Digger 3 tires were 3" above the bottom of the belly pan of the car. Every race the bottom of the car was badly torn up and bottom outs were VERY HARSH. So I added to the bump stops so the tire was flush with the belly of the car at full bump. WAAAYYY better afterward with 3" less travel. It banged the bumps more often, but banged the belly on the ground WAYY less often.

With micro stub hubs allowed by the rules these days and 930 CVs, you can get 16" of travel without getting the tires above the belly.

Most Trophy trucks are built so they lay flat on the ground at full bump.

It's pretty rare that you bottom all 4 corners of a car at the same time. So bottoming one corner is not usually a serious threat to the bottom of the car, even if that brings the belly of the car to the ground at that corner.
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Multi69s
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PostPosted: Wed Jun 28, 2017 10:56 pm    Post subject: Re: Ground clearence when bottomed out. Reply with quote

Thanks guys,

That is what I was thinking, but it is better to ask those in the know, then remake the wheel.
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