How much travel?

[cornfedbill]

How much travel does your ride have on the front?

I am setting up my front suspension and am trying to determine how much travel to build into it. I have the number 4 inches in mind. That means the frame would be at ground level at full jounce. I want to make sure I have enough travel so I don't bottom out under street driving conditions.

I will tuck the oil pan, exhaust and everything else above the frame to protect them. There is little chance of damage if I do bottom out the suspension at it's limit of 4 inches.

I am eager to see what everyone else has done.

[andrewb70]

How much travel does your ride have on the front?

I am setting up my front suspension and am trying to determine how much travel to build into it. I have the number 4 inches in mind. That means the frame would be at ground level at full jounce. I want to make sure I have enough travel so I don't bottom out under street driving conditions.

I will tuck the oil pan, exhaust and everything else above the frame to protect them. There is little chance of damage if I do bottom out the suspension at it's limit of 4 inches.

I am eager to see what everyone else has done.

Bill,

Are you talking about 4" at the wheel or are you saying that the frame is 4" off the ground. Or is that the same thing? LOL...

Andrew

[cornfedbill]

Bill,

Are you talking about 4" at the wheel or are you saying that the frame is 4" off the ground. Or is that the same thing? LOL...

Andrew

The frame 4 inches off the ground. My thought process was to have 4 inches of travel at the wheel. The frame could theoretically kiss the pavement. But that's why it is made of steel.

The rubber bump stops should slow things down before any significant contact happens.

I also am a fan of heavy springs. Mine are 700 lbs./inch right now. Even if I back off to 450 lbs./inch springs, the force needed to bottom out is pretty high.

[Motorcitydak]

If you want a smooth ride, the key is wheel travel. BMW's, etc have a lot of wheel travel and properly control that. The less travel you have the firmer you need the setup to be so it can do the same job in less amount of travel. 4 inches of up travel is more than enough to give you a nice soft ride if sprung and valved correctly. With 700 springs, I highly doubt you would ever get to that bump stop. How much down travel are you going to have?

[astroracer]

Bill I would shoot for 6" total travel. 2" of that will be ate up in "rebound" which leaves you with 4" to play around with for jounce.
Mark

[cornfedbill]

If you want a smooth ride, the key is wheel travel. BMW's, etc have a lot of wheel travel and properly control that. The less travel you have the firmer you need the setup to be so it can do the same job in less amount of travel. 4 inches of up travel is more than enough to give you a nice soft ride if sprung and valved correctly. With 700 springs, I highly doubt you would ever get to that bump stop. How much down travel are you going to have?

With 700 lb/inch springs, I will have a wheel rate of about 350 lb/inch. With a vehicle weight of about 3300 pounds and 50/50 weight distribution, I will have about 825 pounds at each wheel. That would mean the spring is unloaded at 2.35 inches. That is the most downward travel I could have.

If I soften the springs to 450, which I am considering, the wheel rate would be about 225 lb/inch. That would give me just over 3-1/2 inches of potential downward travel.

I will give it as much downward travel as the springs allow. But I don't think I will ever have more than 3-1/2 inches of downward travel no matter what I do.

[cornfedbill]

Bill I would shoot for 6" total travel. 2" of that will be ate up in "rebound" which leaves you with 4" to play around with for jounce.
Mark

Mark,

That looks like about what I will end up with based on the spring rate I have. I will set the bump stops to give 4 inches of jounce.

[David Pozzi]

If your frame hits the ground before the bump stop hits, then there is no use even having bump stops.
If you are using stock bump stops, the A arm travels about half as much as the wheel, so would see 2" total travel. If you want the bump stop to begin working at 3" bump, then have a bump stop gap of 1.5".

[cornfedbill]

If your frame hits the ground before the bump stop hits, then there is no use even having bump stops.
If you are using stock bump stops, the A arm travels about half as much as the wheel, so would see 2" total travel. If you want the bump stop to begin working at 3" bump, then have a bump stop gap of 1.5".

Thanks Dave.

I was planning to have the bump stop hit for the last 1 inch of travel, just as you suggest. Thanks for your input.