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- Feb 5, 2022
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- California
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- Bronco
- Your Bronco Model
- Black Diamond
So lets say I have a stock 4 Dr, MT Black Diamond. If I didnt want to buy spacers, and wanted to run 35” tires my best option would be to buy Sasquatch Coilovers? And if so, what else would I need if I wanted to run +35 or +25mm offset wheels?I learned a ton about IFS and Ryan from 4WP, in both his video(s) and his conversations here, really opened my eyes to some things.
I come from the jeep side where a "budget lift" is a regular and appropriate things.... with a budget lift you basically just put some spacers on top of the suspension to give you some quick increased clearance for larger tires.
The problem is that with an IFS, when you add lift in that way, without taking other things into account, you reach the limits of the front axles and CV joint angles.
The weird thing is that you can "safely" budget lift the lower trims but not the upper trims...
Ryan was able to shed some light on something that didn't make intuitive sense to me at first but it an important point:
On the Base-OB the shocks themselves don't have a very large range of motion. On the yellow bilsteins (BL and Sas), the travel is so much greater and you're already lifted, that they basically already allow for near maximum droop as far as the CVs are concerned.
What that means is that counterintuitively, it's easier to "cheaply" lift a lower trim Bronco than an upper trim....
The lower trim shocks don't allow the wheels to drop enough to create a problem if you add some spacers to raise the vehicle, so you can get a base up to squatch height pretty easy with a budget boost. On the upper trims if you add more lift with spacers the wheels can drop so far that you bind the axles and can create serious problems.
Ryan's point was that if you want to eventually get to a 3" lift for 37s... even if it's only a small increase over your BL or Sas height, you're already at the end of the CV capability. Starting with Sas doesn't mean you get to save money by just adding cheap spacers for the 37" clearance, you have to swap out coilovers and UCA anyway... So, if your plan is 37s, it may make more sense to *not* sas from the factory since you're going to have to replace those components anyway.
Granted, the Bilsteins, with their longer range of travel mean better articulation off road, but if your goal is to just lift your Bronco fast and cheap, it could potentially make more sense to go with a lower trim and add spacers.
(Of course, if you want to lift your BL or Sas, and aren't worried about damage that may occur if you were to hang one of your front wheels in the air... a spacer may be worth it to you... or if you're worried about damage but don't mind limiting droop, you could put limiter straps in or something... I'm sure we'll see plenty of different solutions once Broncos become more prolific.)
The more I think about this more clear (I think) things become to me.
Basically, here's the breakdown as I see it:
- If all you want is lift to clear 35" on the street, it's almost certainly cheaper to get a Base-OB and add a budget boost.
- If you want maximum off-road capability for 33-35" it's probably cheaper to Sas.
- If you want maximum off-road capability for 37" it's cheaper to go base and upgrade coilovers and UCA.
And here's the link to the video where Ryan very quickly talks about how a "level lift" (budget boost / spacer) wont work because of CV angles on the "Yellow Bilstein" (BL, SAS) equipped Broncos:
https://www.bronco6g.com/forum/thre...-37”-tires-on-2021-bronco-4wp-explains.16623/
I know that’s a loaded question, I’m just a little green in this area haha. All help is greatly appreciated!
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