suspension mods (low ride height for hwy, high off road)

[stillsearching]

For vehicles that MUST have off-road competence...

I was hoping i'd catch the eye of maybe someone who has interests in both areas.


Assuming i'm willing to also swap tires and play with aero (things like a fender flare for the big tires replaced with a partial tire covering for highway), what kind of options are there to (perhaps substantially) change ride height and suspension travel? I'm looking for a way to potentially fit tires as large as 40 inches for off road while going back to normal stock ride height on towing type tires, or possibly even lower. I've no clue what's even possible. (and neither does anyone on 4x4/offroading forums, nor on vehicle-specific dedicated forums)

Considering off road vehicles can have very long suspension travel using adjustable coil overs (but I don't know how they adjust/have no experience with) are there ways to limit suspension travel and alter spring rates to ride low?

Is there any way to do things with hydraulics or pneumatics to raise or lower the vehicle? (in ways suitable for long range driving, not some "show drop" screwing up the alignment)

I'd even consider options of some kind of lift kit that could be removed before long trips - if it saves a dozen gallons of gas it's worth putting in an hour or two for a cross country trip.


Anyone that's thought about this please pitch in ideas... i'm curious about both 'mostly highway' vehicles (say a vehicle that could go from -2 inches stock to +4 above stock) and 'mostly offroad' vehicles (one that might still be +4 stock minimum dialed down, but up to +12 in max travel mode for instance) just to get an idea of what the options might be. I'm pretty sure once people start using crossover steering and such it's going to be too difficult to convert back (doubting i'll see one system do -2 to +12 even if that's an ideal) but maybe you have ideas I can't figure out. :)

[oil pan 4]

Helper Air bags for leaf springs, incoil helper air bags coil springs or do a coil to air bag conversion for coil springs. But not that much.

To properly increase suspension travel and lower it that much for towing a heavy trailer it sounds like you are going to need a mechanical engineer if none of the 4x4 off road guys know the right way to do this.
Most of the off road mud tire guys just hook up a trailer on their 40 inch tire lifted 12 inch suspension travel mud machines, cheat death (most of the time) and get 6 to 8 mpg, towing or not.

It could be done, I don't know how and I think reliability would suck and cost would be astronomical. Suspension and lift kit installs take all day, plus with that much lift you are likely looking at drive shaft changes too. There is nothing I know of that can do that much of a radical change in such a short time.

Sounds like you need 2 vehicles.

[CargoBoatTails]

The smartest way to do this would be a an adjustable suspension. My experience has only been with the Koni Coil overs for R&T. I'm sure there is something similar for off roading and you may not even need to switch tires with something like the LRR Michelin LTX.

[oil pan 4]

Those adjustable shocks are only good for a few inches of change.
He wants any where from 6 to 14 inches.

[backpacker3]

Coilovers. They'll do exactly what you are looking to do.

[Frank Lee]

Tie down a scooter in the back of your macho 4x4 and use it on the road.

Or tow a dirt bike on a Harbor Fright trailer behind your Insight.

[Cobb]

Are you just concern about vehicle ride height, suspension travel?

[Superfuelgero]

Cut to fit the 40's, I got 37's on this way. Combine these with:
Option #1, Coilover style Air springs for the rest. If its not 4 linked now, its going to get pricey.
Option #2, removable wheel spats, and belly pans. Leaving it high.