Cool
A lot of this is repetition but some more elaboration too...
Anyway, correct the drawback is the larger tires. That is the bigger drawback. There were only a couple times when I wished I had lower height but only wanted it slightly lower, within the range of a SOA. But again if you can get the gearing to match and lockers you literally have an unstoppable combo. Again hang with the big boys but still expedition. For this reason I'm going a hair lower with the FZJ80 chassis (I can get lower with the coil springs) but am still going to run 35s. And this time ATs as well. Learning from the Expo guys I suppose. But it won't be too much smaller than your standard SOA, 4" instead of 5" or so I figure... You might also want to check out this thread, this would be my technique for SOA but with less height. There is some skepticism in the thread but I think it should actually work awesome:
http://forum.ih8mud.com/60-series-wagons/247232-thoughts-inverted-springs-soa.html
Also check out this thread/post which runs over my leaf spring setup.
http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showpost.php?p=4725895&postcount=45
You also might dig the whole buildup thread if you haven't seen it... Runs through *all* of the work that I did to that damn pig, and was really my big learning curve on cruisers and fab etc etc...
http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=410514
But keep in mind a lot of those photos are "glamour shots" where the rig looks its best and represents none of its worst. That said here are a couple more good pics, shows the overall stance (photos below). Again it would cruise solid as a rock (and way better than it ever was stock, and in some of the SUA 55's I've ridden in that really lean). But no matter now much I dialed it, partly because of the old rattly 55 body parts, but partly because of the suspension as well, I could never get it dialed for hauling *** on dirt roads. It worked well but was hardly better than any old Land Cruiser in that it was bouncy and sensitive over the small stuff. So this is where the coils (and radius arm suspension in my opinion) come into play. If you get them dialed then you have the best of both worlds, solid axle but great at hauling ***. What I'm learning from
my new mini truck project is that it really isn't hard to build a solid coil spring setup. Also the parts I'll be using (Ballistic Fab parts designed for TJ Jeep coils) also work for 80 series springs
.
I hope it helps. I'm a big proponent of people going bigger because this is the states (and the west), we wheel bigger stuff/rocks with all the terrain we have and we are not exploring like crazy. I see pics of guys in discos with 235/75/R15s and they are pushing their rigs and using sand ladders over tiny little logs that you could walk right over (on feet, or 35's
) and it doesn't appeal to me. Reminds me of "scrambling." That said my little DD'er and the the current "expedition vehicle" (the mini truck) is more in this style, the smaller 33's that are narrow and a little more oriented. It was really fun spanking something with a smaller, less capably vehicle than what everyone else had. But that was also what it was like with the 55 handing with the big boys, and yielded the funnest wheeling I've had in my life. And I enjoy wheeling but it has hardly been what I enjoyed the most, I definitely like the exploring more...
In the meantime, here are more of those glamour shots showing the best of both worlds. Also when the paint was fresh and the truck looks low I had thin wallowy springs. If you could get this height but stiffer springs (using the SOA inverted technique I was mentioning) you would be fully styled. The last pic shows 4 people and tons of gear including overnight stuff, coolers etc. The height there was great... I hope it helps... Andre
