The right suspension kit?

[Big Lig]

I think a Bronco with a nice aftermarket front bumper and winch, and a good aftermarket rear bumper, on 35's or 37's would be very cool looking. As far as capability, I would easily run the Rubicon trail in a Badlands non-SAS on 33" tires. My Cherokee now has 33's and lockers F&R and will easily tackle the 'Con. It also has Deaver Jeepspeed springs and good shocks tuned for the car and trussed axles F&R and does very well in the desert or rough roads. Very fun to drive. On 33's.

Now, would I like to have a Bronco with a Stage 2 suspension and longer travel? Hell yes! But, it needs a good bit more travel than stock to justify the price and inconvenience of it being a daily driver. The thing about go fast Baja style builds is the ability to go faster over bigger whoops and irregularities. Doesn't make it faster on normal stuff, it makes it faster over much rougher roads and bigger whoops. But, to make use of longer travel the shocks need to be custom tuned for the car. On our race cars we spend $600 a day for custom shock tuning, and racing without doing that is pointless. I assume a future Stage 2 suspension will come with shocks already tuned, but short of buying a package like that most 2-3" lift kits will likely have shocks that aren't tuned as well as the stock factory Bilsteins. The stock Bronco has a bout 8.5" of travel. To get a noticeable increase you'd want to go over 10" and the shocks would need custom tuning. It's possible that a stock Badlands non-SAS Bronco could be faster than a 2" lift kit Bronco from an average vendor. The shocks will make the difference.

Our 4600 car had 11" travel in the front and 12.5" travel in the back, and two full days of shock tuning, and I would never drive the Bronco close to as fast as I drove that car. It will be my daily driver and I don't want to barrel roll it. We rolled the 4600 car a number of times, if you're going to go really fast it is just a risk. I also don't want to daily drive a lifted car, and my wife needs to get into it. So, like I said, lots of things are possible, but what do you want and how much are you willing to spend.

So yes, go fast doesn’t mean the 4600 level speeds. It does mean fast enough to get the thrill, but slow enough to lower the roll potential. It’s a balance that I’m not sure stock provides, and positive rock crawler focus lifts are not suited for.

Not sure a full long travel kit is the need, but some more travel than stock would help with the whoops and uneven trails. The hills and deeper inclines would be a much more measured speed.

I feel the Branco BL or WT is the best starting platform out there for this type of off reading. Not really looking for anything larger than 37s, but most likely run 35s.

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[goatman]

So yes, go fast doesn’t mean the 4600 level speeds. It does mean fast enough to get the thrill, but slow enough to lower the roll potential. It’s a balance that I’m not sure stock provides, and positive rock crawler focus lifts are not suited for.

Not sure a full long travel kit is the need, but some more travel than stock would help with the whoops and uneven trails. The hills and deeper inclines would be a much more measured speed.

I feel the Branco BL or WT is the best starting platform out there for this type of off reading. Not really looking for anything larger than 37s, but most likely run 35s.

I'm going to be a bit of a wise ass here, to make a point. I just finished a week long trip to CO exploring around the routes in the San Juan Mtns. Routes included Black Bear/Immogene Passes, Alpine Loop, etc. I was in my virtually stock XJ with 1.5-2" lift and 30" tires, no lockers, and Bilstein shocks. I was running with Jeeps with 35's and 37's and I was faster than all of them. I was willing and capable of driving faster than they were willing to drive. We weren't racing, just exploring and having a good time. But, my point is speed can easily be more in the head, expectations, and abilities of the driver rather than the vehicle.

I think you'll get your Bronco with SAS and 35's and go have fun and see what it can do. It's likely going to have more capability out of the box than you do. Then we'll watch and see what good go fast suspension kits come out. Like you, I like the idea of the Fun Haver Stage 2 idea, since those guys know the shock tuning needs to be good. More travel isn't that hard to do, but shock tuning needs a commitment to get it right. We see lots of upgrades to Raptors, and they're pretty good the way they come, and it might be the same with Broncos. Since the fenders come off easily, a kit with longer A arms (more travel with good angles) and wider track and Baja style aftermarket fenders will be cool and fun.

Mine is going to be a daily driver and light wheeler that I pull behind the motorhome, so likely will stay stock, especially since I like doing more with less. But, who knows how tempted I might become.

 

[BlueBronco]

I'm doing badsquatch, 35s are good on and plenty off road. But they will be Nitto Recons

Yeah, If Nitto would ever bring the 17" Recons to market. I was told sometime this Fall by Nitto reps. Only reason I haven't given up on them and gone with Trail Grapplers is because the 37" r17's are also sold out and won't be replenished until sometime this Fall. Meanwhile, my brand new 4wp coilovers, uca's, rear track bar and 1" wheel spacers sit in the corner of my garage collecting dust.

Edit. And just like that my Discount Tire guy calls and says the warehouse just got some Trail Grappler's in stock. Got'em ordered and should be here next week.

 

[Silver-Bolt]

Hold off for a few months. Look for offerings from Fox, King, Sway-Away, Icon, and others. The good stuff hasn't hit the market yet. I would expect all of the above to offer a mid-travel kit. Looks for SVC, Camburg, RPG, and others. Let the aftermarket catch up before you invest in suspension.

 

[Deleted member 12876]

Is it that simple? Is the SAS the best way to start, or non-SAS BL?

Even with the Sasquatch you’ll be pulling the coil overs for new ones. Cool thing about Sasquatch is the lower gearing you get that’s really required with them larger tires like 37‘s or 40s.

 

[Silver-Bolt]

Here is one worth waiting for. This company is local to me and their shop is amazing. The quality of work is top shelf. Not the cheapest but well worth the money. They made their name in the Toyota world and now taking on the Bronco. https://www.metaltech4x4.com/ford-bronco/

 

[Mannysouza]

I think if you can exercise some patience there will be a lot of option and reviews. When the smoke clears there will be a standardized setup that everyone will follow suit with, just like the Tacoma’s and Jeep’s.

 

[Werkedperformance]

Soooooo.....

I've talked to:

Camburg : Long travel/ other stuff in the works

RPG :"UCA's, Tie Rods, trailing arms and leveling kits for the new Bronco"

Baja Kits: ''stock replacement upper arm and we have our Prerunner kit. These are similar to what we offer for the F150 excluding the Race kit. "

FOX is doing reservoir DSC setups, and possibly the recirculating reservoir jawns.

King is working with RPG already....

I'm going to reassess after Offroadeo this weekend, but I'm really torn. @goatman said everything really well. Any of the ESCV suspension broncos are going to be pretty rowdy..... You'll need GOOD TUNED coilovers to come close. MAYBE bumpstops and or bypasses to a better setup.

 

[Big Lig]

Soooooo.....

I've talked to:

Camburg : Long travel/ other stuff in the works

RPG :"UCA's, Tie Rods, trailing arms and leveling kits for the new Bronco"

Baja Kits: ''stock replacement upper arm and we have our Prerunner kit. These are similar to what we offer for the F150 excluding the Race kit. "

FOX is doing reservoir DSC setups, and possibly the recirculating reservoir jawns.

King is working with RPG already....

I'm going to reassess after Offroadeo this weekend, but I'm really torn. @goatman said everything really well. Any of the ESCV suspension broncos are going to be pretty rowdy..... You'll need GOOD TUNED coilovers to come close. MAYBE bumpstops and or bypasses to a better setup.

I agree that goatman summed it up well. Gives me a better understanding of what I’d be keeping my eyes open for.

 

[Raptor911]

But then he will have the wrong gears

non sasquatch. If you do that you’re replacing all the Sasquatch parts anyway.

 

[BAUS67]

Just to further the statement about tuning. It is stated by camburg in the comments.





If you look in the comments section they have some interesting statements to the nay sayers.

 

[goatman]

One of the things we haven't talked about yet, and might be in the Camburg comments (couldn't read them), is the issue of how hard for how long we might be wanting to go fast in the desert. I have no doubt that for most of what Bronco buyers will do the stock position sensitive shocks will be more than adequate. Now, if you want to go out and play with your friends in well built prerunners or Raptors and run hard for a longer period of time, then a larger diameter shock with larger reservoirs is going to be needed. Shocks get really hot when run hard, and need to dissipate that heat. Run hard for a bit, and they can handle it and then you slow down and they cool off. But, if you want to run hard for a long time then the shocks can overheat and they start to fade and cavitate. Shocks need to be bigger, both diameter and length, to be able to handle more heat, and they need bigger reservoirs with much more fluid so heat can dissipate through the much larger volume of fluid and surface area of a larger diameter and longer shock body. A 2" shock only has so much capacity to dissipate heat. A 3" shock (diameter of the shock body) has much more capacity to dissipate heat.

This is what we'll get with good quality, longer travel kits. The longer travel will increase the size and comfort of bigger whoops and rougher terrain, and the larger diameter shocks with bigger reservoirs will better handle the heat from running harder for longer. But, the shocks need to be well tuned, which good companies will do before offering the kits.

Regarding position sensitive shocks (or bypasses) the valving gets much stiffer at the ends of the stroke to resist and better handle bottoming out on big hits, and to resist and better handle topping out over jumps or anytime the wheels come off the ground (which happens often and quickly when going fast) and damaging the shock. It basically creates a hydraulic bump stop inside the shock. Even with good valving, bump stops are required for bottoming and limit straps are required to not damage the shock when topping out especially when going to a non position sensitive shock. Any really good kit will deal with this. If going to a basic lift kit that replaces the stock shocks, there should be shaft bump stops (soft poly around the shaft) to handle bottoming and limit straps to handle topping out. You don't want the snap rings that hold the bottom cap on the shock body to bear the load of the shock internal piston hitting the bottom cap at full extension at high speed over and over again, it will damage the shock.

 

[BAUS67]

One of the things we haven't talked about yet, and might be in the Camburg comments (couldn't read them), is the issue of how hard for how long we might be wanting to go fast in the desert. I have no doubt that for most of what Bronco buyers will do the stock position sensitive shocks will be more than adequate. Now, if you want to go out and play with your friends in well built prerunners or Raptors and run hard for a longer period of time, then a larger diameter shock with larger reservoirs is going to be needed. Shocks get really hot when run hard, and need to dissipate that heat. Run hard for a bit, and they can handle it and then you slow down and they cool off. But, if you want to run hard for a long time then the shocks can overheat and they start to fade and cavitate. Shocks need to be bigger, both diameter and length, to be able to handle more heat, and they need bigger reservoirs with much more fluid so heat can dissipate through the much larger volume of fluid and surface area of a larger diameter and longer shock body. A 2" shock only has so much capacity to dissipate heat. A 3" shock (diameter of the shock body) has much more capacity to dissipate heat.

This is what we'll get with good quality, longer travel kits. The longer travel will increase the size and comfort of bigger whoops and rougher terrain, and the larger diameter shocks with bigger reservoirs will better handle the heat from running harder for longer. But, the shocks need to be well tuned, which good companies will do before offering the kits.

Regarding position sensitive shocks (or bypasses) the valving gets much stiffer at the ends of the stroke to resist and better handle bottoming out on big hits, and to resist and better handle topping out over jumps or anytime the wheels come off the ground (which happens often and quickly when going fast) and damaging the shock. It basically creates a hydraulic bump stop inside the shock. Even with good valving, bump stops are required for bottoming and limit straps are required to not damage the shock when topping out especially when going to a non position sensitive shock. Any really good kit will deal with this. If going to a basic lift kit that replaces the stock shocks, there should be shaft bump stops (soft poly around the shaft) to handle bottoming and limit straps to handle topping out. You don't want the snap rings that hold the bottom cap on the shock body to bear the load of the shock internal piston hitting the bottom cap at full extension at high speed over and over again, it will damage the shock.

Sorry thought the link would work.

"11-12 inches of travel ......for now" was one reply.

someone asked if they were 2.0's ........... "bigger" was the only reply so my guess would be 2.5 as that seems the going rate. I have seen Slawson's new Hammers rig has 3.5's and he said this years winner had 3.0's. Just trying to connect the dots here. You would know more than I.

I have always thought of Camburg as more of a Trophy Truck kind of shop so my guess would be they would be tailored more toward the "baja" style of off road. I could be wrong though.

 

[goatman]

Sorry thought the link would work.

"11-12 inches of travel ......for now" was one reply.

someone asked if they were 2.0's ........... "bigger" was the only reply so my guess would be 2.5 as that seems the going rate. I have seen Slawson's new Hammers rig has 3.5's and he said this years winner had 3.0's. Just trying to connect the dots here. You would know more than I.

I have always thought of Camburg as more of a Trophy Truck kind of shop so my guess would be they would be tailored more toward the "baja" style of off road. I could be wrong though.

Yeah, I think a Camburg Bronco long travel kit should be very well done, and for Baja style more than rocks. However, we found a good while ago that a suspension tuned for desert still works very well in the rocks. I agree, most likely 2.5's. Camburg must think there would be a big market for it. Looking over their website they have product for quite a few applications, prerunner to race. I think 11" travel front and 12" rear on a Bronco would be bad ass and a ton of fun. I haven't had a look at the 4600 Bronco yet, that Brad Lovell is driving. It wasn't ready yet for KOH this year. I'll see it in Feb (I'm retired racing, but now I'm a tech inspector at KOH). Will be interesting to see how much travel they got out of it with the class restrictions for 4600, can't cut or modify the frame in any way. Pretty cool that they used 74Weld portal boxes on the front, that solves the CV shaft angle problem...but those bad boys are $8k per side.

3.5's is big for an Ultra4 car, but those top guys are really going for it. It's a sprint now pretty much all the way. Randy doesn't do the series, he just goes for King of the Hammers. It's a race to see who can be the first four time winner.

 

[Big Lig]

One of the things we haven't talked about yet, and might be in the Camburg comments (couldn't read them), is the issue of how hard for how long we might be wanting to go fast in the desert. I have no doubt that for most of what Bronco buyers will do the stock position sensitive shocks will be more than adequate. Now, if you want to go out and play with your friends in well built prerunners or Raptors and run hard for a longer period of time, then a larger diameter shock with larger reservoirs is going to be needed. Shocks get really hot when run hard, and need to dissipate that heat. Run hard for a bit, and they can handle it and then you slow down and they cool off. But, if you want to run hard for a long time then the shocks can overheat and they start to fade and cavitate. Shocks need to be bigger, both diameter and length, to be able to handle more heat, and they need bigger reservoirs with much more fluid so heat can dissipate through the much larger volume of fluid and surface area of a larger diameter and longer shock body. A 2" shock only has so much capacity to dissipate heat. A 3" shock (diameter of the shock body) has much more capacity to dissipate heat.

This is what we'll get with good quality, longer travel kits. The longer travel will increase the size and comfort of bigger whoops and rougher terrain, and the larger diameter shocks with bigger reservoirs will better handle the heat from running harder for longer. But, the shocks need to be well tuned, which good companies will do before offering the kits.

Regarding position sensitive shocks (or bypasses) the valving gets much stiffer at the ends of the stroke to resist and better handle bottoming out on big hits, and to resist and better handle topping out over jumps or anytime the wheels come off the ground (which happens often and quickly when going fast) and damaging the shock. It basically creates a hydraulic bump stop inside the shock. Even with good valving, bump stops are required for bottoming and limit straps are required to not damage the shock when topping out especially when going to a non position sensitive shock. Any really good kit will deal with this. If going to a basic lift kit that replaces the stock shocks, there should be shaft bump stops (soft poly around the shaft) to handle bottoming and limit straps to handle topping out. You don't want the snap rings that hold the bottom cap on the shock body to bear the load of the shock internal piston hitting the bottom cap at full extension at high speed over and over again, it will damage the shock.

Excellent point. Does the weight of the Bronco (she's a big girl) factor in as much as I think it would? That's like a body builder who never does leg day....

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