hillbillybob Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 Ive done the Jeep coil lift and cranked the torsion bars (soon to get back under it and re-index instead of crank) and at full flex my tire (235/75/15) that is stuffed in the fender well to the point i cant even get my fingers between the tire and the center of the fender well and not just the edge. i am kinda thinking about doing a body lift down the road but for now im looking to get a set of 31x10.5x15 goodyear wrangler authority from Wally World cause they are pretty cheap and from reviews they last a long time on a rig this size. Has anyone made extended bump stops to keep the tire from hitting the inside of the fender well? i could imagine it would rub pretty hardcore with the guys running 33's or is it not an issue because of the body lift? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hillbillybob Posted January 18, 2012 Author Share Posted January 18, 2012 (edited) this is the flex i was taking about the tire is totally stuffed up in there!!! Im not terribly happy with the way the front end is with the torsion bars cranked, i have approx an inch of down travel before it hits the bumpstops up front so my idea is to source some low profile front bumpstops and then re-index the torsion bars 2 splines so that i will have the added ride height with a little less spring rate cause just cranked they seem way too stiff and have hardly any give. sorry about the picture quality, it was taken from a phone and then sent to me, sent to email, and then uploaded to photobucket. Edited January 18, 2012 by hillbillybob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wd21overland Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 (edited) this is the flex i was taking about the tire is totally stuffed up in there!!! Im not terribly happy with the way the front end is with the torsion bars cranked, i have approx an inch of down travel before it hits the bumpstops up front so my idea is to source some low profile front bumpstops and then re-index the torsion bars 2 splines so that i will have the added ride height with a little less spring rate cause just cranked they seem way too stiff and have hardly any give. sorry about the picture quality, it was taken from a phone and then sent to me, sent to email, and then uploaded to photobucket. When i had my 32's on with a rough country front suspension lift and jeep coils in that back i didn't have to do anything with the rear bumps stops i had maybe 1/4 between the tire and the inner fender well. Also with the new control arm and ultra low profile bumps stops i have pretty decent down travel about 3" which isnt bad and that with them cranked some. Remember if you re index your torsion bars your spring rate will still be the same its already been dicussed many times before the only thing reindexing the bar does is allow you to crank it up higher due to the bar sagging.( For example when i got my truck i could crank the driver side bar all the way up until the anchor was as high as it can go and i still would have 2" plus clearance from the bump stop to control arm unlike the passenger side which i only had to crank it a few turn to get the same amount and could easily crank it until the control arm was up against the bump stop so i had to reindex the drivers side bar 3 splines to even out the bars lift. And here is the info about reindexing your bars http://www.nissanpathfinders.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=17038&st=40 Also before you buy your tires think about how long it will be before you put your body lift on so you don't make the mistake i did and buy a nice set of new tires only to put a body lift on 3 months later and now have the look of really tiny tires and the need/want to get bigger lol. At least with me i just gave the tires to my father in law since they had like 4k miles on them I will try to find a better pic of the rear tire stuffed. Edited January 18, 2012 by wd21overland Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MY1PATH Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 Has anyone made extended bump stops to keep the tire from hitting the inside of the fender well? i could imagine it would rub pretty hardcore with the guys running 33's or is it not an issue because of the body lift? No, generally, just let it stuff and rub. The inner lip of the fender can be massaged so it doesn't create a hang up point or threaten to cut the tire. But otherwise, let it rub! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adamzan Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 fskc that I don't want my paint rubbing off starting rust issues. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hillbillybob Posted January 18, 2012 Author Share Posted January 18, 2012 Remember if you re index your torsion bars your spring rate will still be the same its already been dicussed many times before the only thing reindexing the bar does is allow you to crank it up higher due to the bar sagging.( For example when i got my truck i could crank the driver side bar all the way up until the anchor was as high as it can go and i still would have 2" plus clearance from the bump stop to control arm unlike the passenger side which i only had to crank it a few turn to get the same amount and could easily crank it until the control arm was up against the bump stop so i had to reindex the drivers side bar 3 splines to even out the bars lift. the way I understood the difference from cranking to re-indexing is that cranking will add ride height but also increase the spring rate resulting in a stiffer ride. re-indexing will increase the ride height by repositioning where the torsion bar begins to resist the load put on by the lower control arm. so that in theory i can retain a closer to stock spring rate (and ride) with the additional height i want. thats the way it was explained to me by a guy who did the opposite and lowered the front end of something (dont remember what vehicle) while he was road racing. It sounds like a good theory but does it actually work that way? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nismothunder Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 Real trucks Rub, thats the end of it. Hell I stuffed my minis on a 12" thick log. Look up Timbrens, thats what a lot of Plow guys use. They suck off road since it limits the amoung of travel before the axle bottoms out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MY1PATH Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 the only way to increase spring rate is to use a stiffer spring. If you put a spacer under a coil the vehicle becomes taller but the spring rate is the same. If you put a lift block under a leaf spring the vehicle becomes taller but the spring rate is the same. If you rotate a t-bar either by re-indexing or tightening the adjuster the opposite end rotates proportionally, the vehicle gets higher but the spring rate is the same. The ONLY exception to this is when you tighten it against the bump stops; you loose all you down-travel, and the opposite end has nowhere else to go so instead of rotating proportionally it increases the preload and your ride goes to crap because you are riding on the bump stops. In all 3 instances the only thing you are changing is the resting point of the spring. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MY1PATH Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 fskc that I don't want my paint rubbing off starting rust issues. Your fender wells are undercoated to protect against road debris. Its much tougher than your exterior paint job. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hillbillybob Posted January 19, 2012 Author Share Posted January 19, 2012 that makes more sense. but i guess im also comparing to guys with chevy pickups that crank the torsion bars and say they ride like hell, thats not from more load on the spring having to lift the vehicle farther up? in that case i would assume the stiff ride comes from the geometry being off with the A-arms now angled down and not level like they were designed to run? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SchizophrenicMC Posted January 21, 2012 Share Posted January 21, 2012 Like MY1PATH said, the only way to stiffen the ride is to increase the spring rate. Moving the spring doesn't increase the spring rate, it just moves the spring. However, putting the suspension into conditions where the spring isn't allowed to do its job (resting on the bump stops) means you end up riding on whatever you've jammed into the way. If you're on your bump stops, you're essentially on an object with an effective spring rate greater than the mass of your truck, so there's no compression and no travel, so it's hard. When you do anything, your springs aren't making your truck ride higher up, it's whatever you've put under, or on top of them that is. The springs will have the same at-rest compression no matter where they're moved, vertically. When you begin to move the vehicle from rest, to conditions where a wheel is higher than another, the springs will compress to counter this. They compress until their travel bottoms out, or something with a greater effective spring rate comes into play. For example, bump stops or damper housings. If you want stiffer suspension, get stiffer springs. Want it soft, get softer springs. Wanna increase ride height with stock spring rate, put spacers underneath the springs, lift the body, correct geometry changes. That's how springs work. (Why Nissan thought they could stiffen ride height using adjustable dampers is beyond me) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr.510 Posted January 23, 2012 Share Posted January 23, 2012 No, generally, just let it stuff and rub. The inner lip of the fender can be massaged so it doesn't create a hang up point or threaten to cut the tire. But otherwise, let it rub! ^ This. fskc that I don't want my paint rubbing off starting rust issues. If you wheel your truck frequently enough the tire will also rub the rust off! My 33" KOs stuff hard into the inner fender at full compression and there's no paint left. My 33" Swampers are almost an inch taller and will require spacing the bumpstops down from the frame about 3/4" to keep them from stuffing hard enough to hurt something. You can add spacers between the bump stops and frame but they need to be as wide as the surface they are resting on. In other words, if you use a stack of flat washers to space them down the bolts will shear off because the load on the bump stops is rarely straight. When mine hits the axle is at a huge angle relative to the frame so there's quite a bit of side-load on the bump stops: 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nefarious Posted February 19, 2012 Share Posted February 19, 2012 I like my option better. Use rims with a wider offset and cut your fenders up. I can flex out my 33x12.5 duratracs HARD and i have no rear sway and 3" longer shocks with v8 cherokee springs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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