LOBO OFF-ROAD STAGE X FRONT SUSPENSION KIT

[BigMeatsBronco]

@87-Z28 well think about the lower shock mount. Its like trying to squeeze a spring between two fingers. Lot more lateral load than you would initially think. Its now mid mounted between to links pushing forces everywhere! I have no clue how to even calculate this. Modeling software might be able to get this figured out but I would want a lot of testing.

I would love to run this, but I would want a trailer and a tow rig.

I agree The Leverage between the two joints must be incredible especially because they are so close together.

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[popo_patty]

Modern electric power steering systems generally have a returnability cal, to naturally drive the rack back to center even with limited caster effect. But I would still be curious to see how perceptible the change in returnability might be. At end of travel the caster-return force is very high (just hold your steering at lock and key off to see). I wouldn't mind a slight reduction in that effect, but I imagine some caster return is still present if the virtual kingpin axis isn't perfectly vertical.

I confirmed, almost no natural return to center on steering wheel. Still an interesting concept. Not for me though.

 

[87-Z28]

Most basic FBD of LCA with normalized for aft wheel loading shows 25 % increased bending moment to react at LCA frame mounts. From 20” long arm wrt 16” oem arm. LCA frame mounts are about 17” apart. So about 21” of separation required to maintain mount reaction forces.

overly simplified but gives some appreciation for the concerns with keeping oem mount points.

 

[PEGB]

I have no idea what you guys are saying mostly, but I love reading it for some reason lol. Returning to mode now…

 

[popo_patty]

I have no idea what you guys are saying mostly, but I love reading it for some reason lol. Returning to mode now…

Haha. Summary:
-Super cool design
-Super wide
-Your steering wheel won’t have that return to center feel. Essentially you turn the wheel and it will stay in that position until you move it again.
-Extra loads on OEM mounts (question is if it’s too much)
-Super smooth feel in steering wheel through whoops.
-Less load on tie rod due to new design of front end.

 

[BAUS67]

Haha. Summary:
-Super cool design
-Super wide
-Your steering wheel won’t have that return to center feel. Essentially you turn the wheel and it will stay in that position until you move it again.
-Extra loads on OEM mounts (question is if it’s too much)
-Super smooth feel in steering wheel through whoops.
-Less load on tie rod due to new design of front end.

Pretty much sums it up.

 

[F-Spot]

I think the uppers need double shear frame mount...the loads to one side must be greater now?

From the looks of it, it seems like there is a bolt for each upper link, on the frame side, instead of one long bolt.

 

[telenerd]

Rough crowd.

 

[PEGB]

Haha. Summary:
-Super cool design
-Super wide
-Your steering wheel won’t have that return to center feel. Essentially you turn the wheel and it will stay in that position until you move it again.
-Extra loads on OEM mounts (question is if it’s too much)
-Super smooth feel in steering wheel through whoops.
-Less load on tie rod due to new design of front end.

lol. Thank you. I think I got most of that, but then there was the scrub radius this and virtual king pin axis that and, well, just about everything 87-Z28 said. I can’t say it enough, it’s a real gift just being able to be around the fire with such an experienced and intelligent group of people. Even if I don’t fully grasp all of it, I love learning from you guys. That and living vicariously through your experiments and purchases lol.

 

[mike8675309]

I think it is great that this kind of stuff is getting available for the bronco. Obviously something like this is not built for the weekend warriors and daily drivers. But if you live somewhere you can go fast across obstacles, have to climb around a bit to get somewhere, and even better if you are competing, a setup like this is perfect and likely a budget buy considering the claim is you don't need expensive custom steering rack hardware.

 

[87-Z28]

Its like trying to squeeze a spring between two fingers. Lot more lateral load than you would initially think. Its now mid mounted between to links pushing forces everywhere! I have no clue how to even calculate this.

now I can’t get this out of my head. Thanks.

Almost reminds me of a classic buckling instability problem. The longer the LCA the more unstable that coilover becomes with small wheel perturbations. Have to think about this more.

 

[TeocaliMG]

The only Advantage I see to the whole design would be to use it with portals, if you could get the scrub to go away that the portals add, or add the virtual Center of axis, out to where the tire center is somehow (with the portal), with this four link setup it would certainly make the portals perform better than they do now with the jumbo scrub radius. That's the only thing really holding me back from buying portals is the ridiculous scrub radius. So this seems like an actual solution to that problem but of course the knuckle would need to be re-engineered with the double bolt design so it's probably a long ways out for that to ever happen.

As long as your kingpin axis is at some non-vertical angle, you could achieve a scrub radius of 0 regardless of offset (wheel or portal), you just have to use a taller tire. Obviously, this has real world limitation with what you can and should use. Folks should still try to keep wheel offset reasonable for the sake of wheel bearings. If you add width, it should be something functional like arms or portals. Regardless though, I like the idea of having a slightly more vertical kingpin axis (virtual), but not sure its worth the potential tradeoff in robustness.

I would really like to see this suspension move with no tie-rod attached.

 

[turbo_jimbo]

2 threads on this subject, and still no clear answer on actual increased track width…

 

[Lobo Off-Road]

Another benefit that has been brought up in a question , is that this kit will work with STOCK wheels. From my understanding others require a higher offset wheel, and knowing the type of unneeded stress on the wheel bearing assembly that causes, we were very adamant about working around the stock wheel configuration, with minimal offset.

For track width, it is 4" wider per side.

I will be posting over the next couple weeks content that may help answer some of your guys questions and have a better understanding the objective of the suspension kit.

 

[Snacktime]

Another benefit that has been brought up in a question , is that this kit will work with STOCK wheels. From my understanding others require a higher offset wheel, and knowing the type of unneeded stress on the wheel bearing assembly that causes, we were very adamant about working around the stock wheel configuration, with minimal offset.

For track width, it is 4" wider per side.

I will be posting over the next couple weeks content that may help answer some of your guys questions and have a better understanding the objective of the suspension kit.

You should discuss it here, video are for giving one sided opinions.

What joints/ball joints are you using?

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