80 suspension question

[jondoel]

Most suspension mods tend to stiffen up the suspension - adding heavy duty springs etc. For example the 40 runs much better with 50 paving slabs in the back. Without it it leaps into the air and bounces down the track at the mere sight of a pebble.

How can I soften the 80 so that it can take speed bumps at 30 mph without noticing when unloaded (which is most of the time)?

 

[Jon Wildsmith]

Tell us more about what suspension is on your 80 so we know what you want to soften

 

[Chris]

As Jon says really. But I do appreciate your point about loading up to get the spring more into its working range than when it's fully uncompressed. I have the ironman B springs and they are pretty good unloaded but definitely do soften in ride quality once I have eight in the back. I float over speed bumps rather then crash into them.

Chris

 

[Paul]

Ironman B kit too, seems to work well in all conditions even with trailers that have a little too much nose weight also

 

[jondoel]

The 80 is bog standard. If you look at the racers in the Baja 1000 the trucks hit the humps at 100mph, the suspension compresses and the dampers smooth everything out like they are driving down the road. That's what I want. 80mph over the Beacons

 

[callum]

you can achieve this by spending (lots and lots and lots) of money on shocks.

There was a good video of a racing 80 on mud a few months ago doing quite high speed work over bumpy terrain. He was using king (australian king) springs and either fox or king (american king) shocks. Might be worth trying to find that thread to see what his setup was.

 

[Julian]

I don't have much experience of baja trucks but I have been up close to a few dakar wagons. My observations are
A lot of the trucks will be running 2 dampers per wheel to cope with damper fade
Most of them run fully rose jointed systems
They tend to run smaller types than normal, the 235 85 16 and 255 85 16 are popular, I guess this is to lower drag and bearing overheating
Class leading trucks fend to be ifs front and back
And finally most systems get replaced during the event because they are worn out
I am trying to get a bit of that type of performance out of my 100, it has been pretty expensive so far

 

[BRE Fabrications LTD]

There was a good video of a racing 80 on mud a few months ago doing quite high speed work over bumpy terrain. He was using king (australian king) springs and either fox or king (american king) shocks

Was it this Video?
[youtube:ugqthmyp]phTiAXCNzJw[/youtube:ugqthmyp]
Reckon you could hit speed bumps pretty quick with that setup...

Thing with suspension is that you get what you pay for. So first thing I would suggest is determine how much your prepared to spend. Then go from there and see what your options are. You could easily spend in excess of £2.5k on suspension, which is probably the region you'd need to spend to just start getting the type of performance you want.

Unfortunately in the Uk there aren't really too many off the shelf options for the 80 series. I know JulianV of Overland Cruisers ( http://www.overland-cruisers.co.uk) does a very interesting kit for the 80's so it might be worth speaking to him.

 

[Rob]

The +50mm Ironman B coils are soft but in my experience they are far too short so you will bottom out quite easily, especially on fast dirt roads. Not a nice feeling at all and rather concerning at times. As for dampers I have overheated my OME shocks to such an extent that the truck was almost undrivable but I suspect that this would not be as much of a problem when using them with stiffer OME coils. So if you want your truck to drive like the one in the video above you will need to spend big money as the 2 off the shelf makes you can get in the UK will not be able to provide what you want.

 

[jondoel]

Thanks for the interesting comments and observations. It doesn't surprise me there isn't much by way of off the shelf goodies. The truth of the matter is that probably the 80 starts out too heavy in the first place to be effectively damped like stripped out racing truck..

 

[callum]

Was it this Video?

indeed it was, good work. now you've helped me find the thread...

http://forum.ih8mud.com/80-series-tech/451676-awesome-80-series-race-truck-vid.html

 

[BRE Fabrications LTD]

Now on 35's...
[youtube:1znu1jx3]4mNFFdoa9J0[/youtube:1znu1jx3]