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Racing suspension is here!!!!!!!!!!

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Two questions.



Has the test truck suffered any chassis flex or damage from driving more aggressively off road? Seems like a long stretch of frame between axles.



I've been wondering about towing. How or why is the T-Rex suspension NOT affecting the trucks original ability to haul heavy loads? I'm just not smart enough to grasp the difference between off-road ability and tow-ability. It seems to me one would offset the other.



Thanks
 
Guava,



Good question.



It would seem that we would be thrashing the poor truck's chassis by running it so hard off-road. This was a real problem in the old days before modern shock technology . I remember putting the hurt on a couple of trucks during the mid-eighties. I jumped them so high, the frame bowed between the cab and bed causing the bed to stay bent back toward the rear of the truck. This shaped the cab/bed gap like a big "V". You can still see this now and then someone tries to fly their truck with OE suspension. It's not a "V" that stands for "victory!"



The older trucks were made with "C" channel frames that flexed a lot. The design theory behind this was to make the frame do some of the work absorbing bumps and twisting over terrain - hence the gap between cab and bed. Because of this, you can't believe how plush a T. Rex-equipped First Gen. Ram feels at lower speeds off-road - but don't try to jump it or carve a corner at 90mph. The frame just doesn't offer the strength nor the precision for high-speed work.



Modern design theory has separated the function of the suspension from the frame. Engineers no longer design the frame to work _with_ the suspension; they design the suspension to work _independently_ of the frame. You can see this design transition when Dodge and Jeep went from leaf springs in front to coil springs. The frames got much stronger. I imagine that the new Ford Super Duty 4x4's will also see beefed up frames to accommodate the new coil spring front suspension expected in 2005.



Dodge Second Gen. trucks have a very strong boxed front section and a beefy "C" channel rear section. It flexes, but minimally. One of our original test trucks was a Second Gen truck with an over-T. Rex-engineered King coil-over system on it. We jumped that truck regularly at over 100mph and never bent anything. The Third Gen trucks are hydroformed box section from front to rear. The hydroformed frames are super strong, DO NOT FLEX, AND WE CAN'T BREAK THEM. Believe me - we've tried. We've pulled the bed off our project truck several times to inspect everything - no cracks, stress points - nothing - even around the points where we've, against the admonitions of D/C, welded and drilled. This is a great frame, Gents.



But remember, all this testing, flying and going fast was done with T. Rex suspension. You fly one of these trucks with OE suspension and you may be asking for a combat "V" - among other things!



This brings me to my next point - a very important point that has to do with the very existence of T. Rex Engineering.



T. Rex chose to develop its ultra-high-performance suspension system exclusively for solid axle trucks. The simple and robust design of the tough frame and driveline does not need to be reinforced in order to safely and reliably withstand the high off-road speeds permitted by T. Rex suspension.



We get calls every day about suspension for IFS and 2wd trucks. We don't make products for these trucks, nor do we intend to. When you put long-travel, race-quality suspension on these trucks, that's just the start of the mods you have to make to get them to work correctly. With the big, tough Dodge trucks it's just bolt-on and go - Level Nine.



Throw in the mandatory safety equipment - a cage, five point harnesses, fire extinguisher and a fuel cell...



Get your Nomex and helmet...



Voila - Level Ten.





Cheers,



Kent
 
I asked Kent one time what the heck this Level 9 thing he talks about is and got the following response- this is one of the coolest things I've ever read-



"I suppose Level Ten would be if you put a roll cage inside your cab, auto

fire extinguishers in your engine compartment, four BFG Projects on your

wheels and replaced your windows with nylon mesh, got rid of your windshield

and replaced your dash with an aluminum plate with only a tach, temp, oil

pressure and fuel gage! Basically, for T. Rex, Level Nine is just below a

full-race truck! Of course if your truck was already a race truck, it too

could be "Level Nine" if you used the expression this way, "Coming down the

power pole road to Borrego, the radar caught us at 114, took the left turn

at 90, lost the ESPN chopper, cleared all the asphalt on the way to the

North side of Hwy 3, then floated the whoops all the way to El Chinero!

Totally Level Nine!"



Guava - I have towed 10,000-12,000# quite a bit in the last few weeks and other than a slight sag (I also had my winter sand weight in the bed ~1200#) with the mini leaf pack, I didn't see any adverse effects.
 
Guava,



Sorry about skipping your second question. I only get a few moments each month to post on TDR, so I want to hit everything at once.



Towing vs. off-road capability.



In the case of T. Rex-equipped Dodge Rams, these capabilities are not mutually exclusive. Remember we're not dealing with 30" of wheel travel like a true, purpose-built, million dollar race car. Thus the springs supporting these 8000 lb. trucks still have to be pretty stout. Good for towing. Our coils and mini-paks work more progressively than stock springs - meaning the deeper they get in the stroke, the stiffer they become. Better for towing. Our shocks work the same way - only they're _smarter_ than the springs because in addition to providing more resistance the deeper they go, they also provide more resistance the faster the shaft moves. Even better for towing.



I imagine that if you were thinking that off-road ability meant soft, mushy suspension, towing/load control would probably be diminished. But remember, for high-speed off-roading, the truck still has to track in a stable manner, turn precisely and give appropriate driver feedback in order to be safe - all of which are products of properly designed suspension. In this type of truck, the same suspension that works well off-road also works well for towing/carrying heavy loads.



We designed the package to be this way because we know that 99% of our customers bought their Rams to do lots of different things - from commuting to towing a 5th wheel to four-wheeling to hauling a cab-over - and every combination in between. That's the beauty of the pickup truck - they're ready and willing to tackle any job. If we designed our suspension systems for the 1 percentile guy (you know who you are!) who just wants to go as fast as possible through the desert and dosen't care what his wife thinks, then we wouldn't be in business right now. Adding a suspension system that diminishes load-bearing capability, ride quality or safety would defeat the purpose of the modification. This is why we get a little irked when people call our suspension system a "lift kit" - a term that, to us, means harsh, slow, tippy, incapable, weak, limited and unsafe - exactly the opposite of what the Great American Pickup Truck is supposed to be.





Kent
 
Originally posted by kentkroeker

Our coils and mini-paks work more progressively than stock springs - meaning the deeper they get in the stroke, the stiffer they become.



Hey Kent,

Does that mean they are also more soft on the initial stroke than stock or more stiff in the mid to bottom stroke?
 
I've been running the T-Rex Suspension for over 50,000 miles, which nearly half have been in the dirt. I run in the dirt for miles on end and mostly in Baja and the SouthWest.



But check out this revelation from this past week and you'll know why the T-Rex Suspension is the ultimate suspension package at WHATEVER it costs.



The company I own takes/guides off-roaders on motos & quads to Baja very regularly. Only three days ago we completed a 966-mile off road trip that started in LA Bay and looped from the Sea of Cortez to the Pacific Ocean and back. My Dodge Cummins loaded weighed approximately 11,300 lbs.



90 gallons of diesel, 80 gallons of gasoline, 10 cases of water, a fully loaded across the bed toolbox with every tool, part imaginable for my Dodge and the 15 motos, quads and two off-road cars. Two Costco 160 qt coolers loaded with 5 blocks of ice each and each loaded with meat and perishables etc. Also a FridgeFreeze portable fridge with frozen goods, 10 chairs, 5 emergency gear bags, and all the electronical equipment to talk to the world for 10 days while down south. A full Satellite dish is permanently mounted on a custom rack on top of my roof, complete with fire extinguishers, air tanks, jacks, and you get my picture. My truck runs BFGoodrich Baja T/A Projects (Trophy Truck race tire) which are 88lbs each w/o the wheel. Loaded with my big ass and all my crapola inside along with Jeff Cummings from the BFGoodrich Motorsports program we departed on the trip.



At mile 387. 5 I was out in front navigating and setting the course some 20 kilometers in front of everyone else. We were south of San Cristobal heading towards Bahia Asunscion. The dirt road turns inland from the coast and it APPEARED to be pretty wide-open.



After a few small rolling vados that were easily sucked up by the T-Rex Suspension I opened up the Dodge Ram ATS Stage IV bombed rig. The power level on the box set at #9. I was pulling a fully packed off-road custom built aluminum trailer that is 12 x 8 with a 3/4 ton square tubed axle and running BFG 35 inch Muds on Robby Gordon 17 x 8 wheels. The trailer contained all of our dry goods additional cases of water etc...



I put the hammer down and we were cruising at 78 mph in clear air... until the next vado. By the time we had impact we slowed to 60 ish mph...



We charged over the slight vado which looked like all the rest and should have been a roller vado, which I can take at speed with the T-Rex Suspension.



I was wrong.



This vade had a 16" deep gully at the bottom from the last rain storm and I jammed on the brakes but my EGR race performance stuff was no match for 78mph loaded and at speed.



I stuffed my Dodge Ram "Desert Tank" into this hole like I've never done before! The navigational laptop running OZI Explorer crashed to the floor... it was secured to the center console custom cooler and has never come off previously. The two passengers coffees went flying, cameras were slammed to the floor and everything in the cab ended up flying through the air like we were in space. My Dodge is fitted with MasterCraft Racing Seats with 5-Point Harnesses.



Trust me when I say, it was just a bad deal all the way around.



Knowing that we couldn't stop before we hit this vado, I was on the throttle hard as we blasted through it. Sincerely this was the worst I've ever put the Desert Tank through.



Searching for damage:



We stopped only 1/2 kilometer away and immediately got on the radio to warn the other support trucks of this vado. I crawled beneath my truck's front end prepared to see some bad news. What I saw was amazing. NO FRIGGIN' DAMAGE!!!



The King Shocks had been compressed all the way possible as we could see the clean 7/8" shaft. We put a laser level on the axle to measure for any noticable axle damage such as a bent axle etc... NADA-nothing in spanish.



I examined the shock towers, the bolts, the coil springs and yet again... NO DAMAGE.



Our location at San Cristobal was between Bahia Tortugas and Punta Abreojos basically in the middle of nowhere.



Without the T-Rex Suspension... my Dodge would have had a totalled front end rendering me stuck in Baja.



BFG Motorsports Guru Jeff Cummings said, " I cannot believe your truck survived that impact. " I said, "It's all about T-Rex Suspensions. "



In my humble opinion, if my Dodge Ram did not have the T-Rex Suspension installed and working to perfection, my truck would still be stuffed into that vado in Baja. Whatever the cost of this race-proven/baja-proven suspension is... . IT'S WAY WORTH IT!!!



Oo. Oo. Oo. Oo.
 
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Hey desertbull, that's an amazing story and a testament to the no-compromise solution that T-Rex offers. I was wondering tho... do you have a web page with some pics of your rig loaded up? That sounds incredible, as well as a lot of fun... I can't wait until I get a chance to get down that way and explore Baja!
 
Here is an update on my T-Rex on the '97 2500 w/ Banks stinger+ and BD converter mods. 9-15-03 was the date that I had the suspension installed. 15K non-racing miles later, I am truly impressed on how the suspension has kept me from damaging my truck w/ surprise holes, dips and the like on the dirt roads in Arizona. Fear and common sense keep me from using all of the suspension travel . What I'm trying to say is I can go fast enough to scare myself and smooth out the road and not break my truck. It is the best . Kent why dont you get Dodge to offer it as an option from the factory? If you still want those photos of the '97 getting air the truck is available. You're driving of course.
 
Originally posted by kentkroeker

... Our shocks work the same way - only they're _smarter_ than the springs because in addition to providing more resistance the deeper they go, they also provide more resistance the faster the shaft moves...



The King shocks are internal by-pass? Aren't all shocks speed sensitive?



Brian
 
I have the T-rex system on a heavy camper rig and pull a trailer with a dune buggy, boat and motor and two kayaks and other toys. Although the trailer is not light, it also not a super heavy 5th wheel. My only problem with the setup is that the T-rex system allows my truck to go much faster over rough ground in Baja than the trailer should go. I am having to rebuild my trailer with King shocks because I blew the brand B shocks apart on my Christmas trip to Baja. So be careful your T-rex truck will be able to outdrive your trailer!
 
Ok, I just got back from RockStarTrux in San Jose. Ordered the Fox kit w/ rears. Figured I had to do it before all the magazine articles and everybody saw it in Vegas, because then I'd have to wait forever. Anybody got a couch I can sleep on? I'm telling the wife in a couple hours. ;-)

But it's worth it if I can race Baja and not spill my martini...

TP



p. s. If you don't hear from me for a while, I'll be nursing the bump on my head she's gonna give me...
 
Tony,



That's an epic typical Desertbull story... My wife now asks me regulary how much my truck is worth... I just tell her, "Much more than all your jewelry!"



After just arriving home from Baja only days ago... I went to CostCo and bought the wifey a new washer and dryer then told her it cost as much to install it as my new Mastercraft Race Seats... . she believed it.



(Yes, Kent when you called me I was right in the middle of wrestling with the old washer/dryer)



Now I'm the hero and I'm ready to upgrade something else to my Dodge...



I call it W. A. M. also know as Walking Around Money... money your wife/girlfriend doesn't even know you have...



Everyone should have WAM... a new Cummins exhaust only cost $150 dollars out of the family account cuz I subsidize it with WAM... . everything for the Dodge should cost $150 dollars the rest is funded with WAM... .



Hey, don't knock it... it works!!! At least for me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



Kent... . hope Sarah Mae doesn't read this thread... otherwise you're toast buddy!!!:--) Oo. :--) Oo.
 
Yep, I use a variation of the same system, as well as having two "off-shore" accounts existing from before being married. Amazing how little stuff costs for the truck. But then again, she did grab a fat cashiers check I received from selling some music gear. So much for the crate hemi in the convertible...

TP
 
Tony Try to survive until you can take your wife on a really bumpy road, then she will think it is the best thing you have done. But I forget some of you don't have wives that go on bumpy roads with you! Mine does and loves the T-rex system. From your address I see you are fairly near me here in Monterey, I have the Fox T-rex setup if you want to see it, and are you interested in extended trips in Baja? Next Baja adventure for me will be in Dec and Jan. George
 
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