Wheel Travel Measurements

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Date: Fri, 16 May 1997 00:11:14 -0700
From: "Michael Medart" 
Subject: Wheel Travel
To: 

Has anyone checked on their wheel travel lately?
I was playin' 'round last weekend with some lift ramps
(the things you drive up onto to change your fluids) 
and did some wood stacking under them and placed
them under opposite wheels (right-front and left-rear).
Stacked enough lumber under the ramps to the sus-
pension was as full compression/droop (one tire was
slightly off the ground and I could "rock" the truck
back and forth).  I then measured the gap from fender
lip to tire on the "drooped" side and subtracted the
number from measuring the other (compressed) side
(assuming your axle/a-arm is on the bumpstop).
If the wheel is stuffed in the fender (which it will be) 
you stick your tape up into the fender and hook it on
the tire and measure to the fender lip.

i.e.:   EXTENDED SIDE is "x" inches
		                minus
  COMPRESSED SIDE is "x" inches
	equals   YOUR WHEEL TRAVEL!

Mine came out to :   Front 7.5 inches (IFS)
		      Rear 15.5 inches
Anyone else?

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Michael Medart, Ventura, CA bigblue@anacapa.net
1988  Toyota  4x4 X-Tra  Cab V-6,  Rancho/Downey
lift,  4.88 gears,  Detroit E-Z locker, ARB Air Locker
Rancho  RS  9000's  w/remote,  Con-Fer shackles/
skid plates and roof rack,  33" BFG Muds. RTI: 651
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Date: Thu, 7 Aug 1997 15:04:46 -0700 (PDT)
From: Kenneth W Emanuel 
Subject: 92 4R Wheel Travel
To: Toy4x4@tlca.org

On Thu, 7 Aug 1997, Farrales, Deo wrote:

> -What is the stock rear wheel travel for 92 4R w/ stock 31's?
> 
 '88 and older trucks have 9" rear travel.
 '89 to '95-1/2 trucks have 9-1/2" travel (they have 4" longer 
 springs than the pre-89's)
 ...and coil spring 4Runners have 11" rear travel.  (Not bad, huh!)

Ken Emanuel
1987 Xtra Cab SR5

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Date: Wed, 24 Sep 1997 16:53:10 -0700
From: Eric Johnson 
Subject: Rear articulation
To: "'sac75830@saclink.csus.edu'" ,

>I repeatedly read posts where people indicate that their trucks only have
>"about 5 to 6 inches of travel." I am curious where people are getting
>these figures.  My '87 brochure indicates that I have 9 inches of travel
>in the rear from the factory, and this figure is about right. Adding
>longer shocks will give you at least 10 and 1/2 inches of travel.

if the springs will droop that much.

> '89 and
>newer trucks have 4" longer springs in the rear and have 9 and 1/2 inches
>of travel.  Coil-sprung 4Runners have 11" stock.  Where are people
>hearing/finding 5-6" of travel?

its frustrating, because there isn't much of a standard, and taken alone, 
doesn't mean much anyways. A lot of travel in the rear doesn't help much if 
the front end is stiff, and vice-versa. The best overall measurement of 
articualtion is RTI, since it is somewhat standardized, and takes into 
account total articulation (front and rear, including frame flex on those 
big american rigs :) and wheelbase.

It also depends where you measure it, and how you define your terms. 
Imagine a truck with massively long springs but a stiff rear swaybar. It 
would have huge travel, but little articulation.

>When a friend bought longer shocks for his 4Runner this weekend, the guy
>in the shop said there is no way his stock 4Runner rear-end will travel
>even 6 inches.  Is this what kind of pitiful factory travel that other
>vehicles out there have?

The guy at the shop is likely a moron. Every 4Runner has way more than 
that. The stock shock on a 89-earlier has around 8 inches of travel, and 
you can use most of it. Its mounted at an angle about 30 degrees from 
vertical at rest, so the actual travel of the axle is quite a bit longer 
than the travel of the shock. On my leaf-sprung 87, I'm running Rancho 
5144s in the rear (almost 2 inches more extension, though it won't quite 
compress as small as stock, which is unusable anyways) and I use all but 
about 1/4 inch of its extended length.

One observation I've had on the trail is that even though 2nd gen 4runners 
have the coil springs in the back (and the ride is so nice!), unmodified 
they seem to have less articulation in the rear than I do and spend more 
time 3-wheeling. My main wheeling partners all have 2nd gen 4runners and I 
can always out-twist the stock ones in the rear, but I'm running longer 
shocks and "sloppy" :) shackles. I know that the 2nd-gen 4runners can be 
built to have huge rear articulation (Chris Geiger has done this, among 
others), but something is limiting them when stock (do they have a rear 
swaybar?)

With all that said, I'd like to get even more travel from my setup. I can't 
compress any further or I'll get tire rub with my 31s. I had thought that 
relaxing the spring clamps would allow more droop, but some tests I did the 
other night showed that they are not a factor. I think I'm just out of 
spring! :) I might try to mate a set from a newer truck or do the 
Mazda/custom thing.

- --
- -- ej@blarg.net  http://www.off-road.com/~ej

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