HMS Beagle wrote:
AH64ID wrote:
The Ford bags must be different, the ones on my dodge have a bit more travel than that and do not limit travel. They are also mounted I board of the rings. 11" at the wheel will be quite a bit less at the bags/springs.
Firestone does not sell a convoluted bag for this market with more than about 6" travel. for example the 224C air spring recommended for all Ford Superduty kits is 2.80" compressed, 8.75" extended or 5.95" total travel. You can find the specs for all of their bags on their website. Maybe someone else does? Don't know how much travel your Dodge had/has but I bet it is more than that.
With a live rear axle, 11" at the wheel is 11" at the spring/bag.
Not likely you could get 11" of travel in a stock 3/4 ton truck. But mainly here, unless someone is baja'ing their truck, the rear axle isn't going to droop on both sides. So when only one wheel droops or compresses, the axle is at an angle so the springs and shocks don't move the same distance that the outside wheel does.
How many of you actually have the axle hanging in the air from jumping?
5-6" of travel is more than enough on a washboard road. Any more than that, and you either do your best or get a truck designed to handle that extreme terrain. I do quite a bit of rock crawling in my Jeep, not in my pickup.
It doesn't really matter how much the rear sags when loaded for the most part; because static ride height is static ride height. What's going to stop is shock travel and bump stops. You'll end up having more droop than compression, and it'll still be enough IMO.
