Scott in Bellingham Posted January 20, 2009 Share Posted January 20, 2009 (edited) Building up a EA82 for offroad, would like to get more travel, would like to know what struts for the front and what springs/shocks for the rear I could use to do this, I remember seeing some long travel front struts I think from australia, anyway just trying to get as much flex out of the car as possible, the CVs will take more angle but the stock struts/springs wont allow it , any thoughts, even retrofitting something else would be fine, Edited January 20, 2009 by Scott in Bellingham detail Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigo1966 Posted January 20, 2009 Share Posted January 20, 2009 I ran rear overload air shocks on the buggy, they kicked rump roast, about 13" of travel. Im still stupmed on the front. I think the best bet for the front would be hydraulic slave cylinders mounted in there like an air strut. Thats my .02. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brumbyrunner Posted January 20, 2009 Share Posted January 20, 2009 The problem with the camber change rear end is that the inner bush binds up and limits wheels travel to about 6 or 7 inches. The only way to fix this is to replace the inner mounting point with a bush that shares the same axis as the outer bush. Then you will have as much travel as your driveshafts will allow. All the front needs is a longer travel strut but finding one to suit the unique Subaru upright is a challenge. Converting to the 5 stud upright opens up more possibilities. You won't get more than an inch or so of extra down travel out of the driveshaft but depending on your body lift you can gain that much in bump travel. The cheapest method would be to find an IFS Macferson strut 4wd that has more travel than the Suby and adapt it to suit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
970subaru Posted January 21, 2009 Share Posted January 21, 2009 (edited) i was looking into this a while back, i was going to try and find some longer strut inserts then put some long coilover springs on them. couldnt find anything that was much longer than an outback insert. some later pathfinders have struts in front but i couldnt find inserts and dont know how much travel they had. maybe a regular shock could be used inside a strut like an insert. dunno if it would be strong enough in bending. it would be pretty simple to built a little adapter from the shock eye bushing to the strut top though. if you could get ahold of somebody at koni or bilstein or some company that makes strut inserts, they could probably tell you what was the longest one they make that would fit. Edited January 21, 2009 by 970subaru Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monstaru Posted January 21, 2009 Share Posted January 21, 2009 thats funny, iwas building some of these today.well, i got the first stages of one built.needs assembled.if she has jury duty tomorrow,i will build the other one..if not, i will have to wait until this sunday. i will get it put together later tonight and take a pic.i need to add some reinforcement.but none the less.....cheers, brian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbbvw Posted January 21, 2009 Share Posted January 21, 2009 I've also been thinking about this and I was looking at VW Rabbit/Golf struts and springs because they seem to have quite a bit more travel. The bottom mount would have to be modified (they have a two bolt mount simular to Impreza) but they do take an insert so that wouldn't be a big deal and they're readily availible. I havn't gotten around to playing with this idea, but would like to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monstaru Posted January 21, 2009 Share Posted January 21, 2009 here ya b........ i am going to put tubing around the entirity of the housing.it will have to be cut to do it but the weldeing will tie it all together nicely.they will be hell for stout. the cartridge=vw the spring=vw the housing (with addition of the bottom of the ea series strut.)=vw strut top=ea actual mount to knuckle=ea very soft,so i have come up with the idea of an inner spring,to act as a bumpstop.....more on that later. i built my original one about 2yrs ago.the last couple of days have had thoughts off it again.i may have to have one more prototype before i manufacturer the proper set for the rig..cheers, brain Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott in Bellingham Posted January 21, 2009 Author Share Posted January 21, 2009 Monstru how much travel that thing have and how much does the stock one have? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monstaru Posted January 21, 2009 Share Posted January 21, 2009 the stock one has about 4 inches-ish,and the one i am using is about 6.5 inches of travel. someone claimed at one point to be getting about 8 inches of travel out of a vw strut. but i have contacted KYB and they say the only configuration of that basic insert is the longest they have. the research has just started.i did a bit a few years ago and built the first prototype.it is even possible to make a simple adapter to attach to the knuckle. i cut and welded the two tubes together for lift reasons. i think what i have is going to work, but i did not have a test fit yet.i may have to make it shorter.it is just however big you are going as to how long you cut an ea strut down........in other words the bottom section of tubing is almost all free space.a "false leg" per say.hence me wanting to reinforce it.cheers, brian another photo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Beast I Drive Posted January 21, 2009 Share Posted January 21, 2009 Why not take some of those long-travel Nitrogen charged units like the Monster trucks use, build a plate that bolts to the upper mount on the car with an eye on the underside for the shock mount, then machine an adaptor that the bottom can slide into and secured with the bolt going through the adaptor into the eye of the shock and tapped into the opposing side of the adaptor, then slide it into the EA knuckle of choice? There would be a little machining but it would allow the use of almost anything you want. I plan on doing somthing like that for my Turd wagon, but with different lower mounts. I might try to draw a picture later if I am feeling adventurous -Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcbrat Posted January 21, 2009 Share Posted January 21, 2009 Why not take some of those long-travel Nitrogen charged units like the Monster trucks use, build a plate that bolts to the upper mount on the car with an eye on the underside for the shock mount, then machine an adaptor that the bottom can slide into and secured with the bolt going through the adaptor into the eye of the shock and tapped into the opposing side of the adaptor, then slide it into the EA knuckle of choice? There would be a little machining but it would allow the use of almost anything you want. I plan on doing somthing like that for my Turd wagon, but with different lower mounts. I might try to draw a picture later if I am feeling adventurous -Bill I was thinking the same thing..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monstaru Posted January 21, 2009 Share Posted January 21, 2009 (edited) i also have had this thought,but have you looked at the price of those lately?:rolleyes:a bit spendy for me right now. besides,coilovers are the way to go..........cheers, brian Edited January 21, 2009 by monstaru Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott in Bellingham Posted January 21, 2009 Author Share Posted January 21, 2009 (edited) I can get a set of 4 of these they would be 4 x 20 and they have clevis mounts on the end, and with a on board air pump and a few valves we might have some thing back would be easy, front may be a challenge Edited January 21, 2009 by Scott in Bellingham add detail Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigo1966 Posted January 21, 2009 Share Posted January 21, 2009 Has anyone put a strut back in a subaru with out the spring? I would like to know how much travel is there with out the spring. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Beast I Drive Posted January 21, 2009 Share Posted January 21, 2009 With individual controls for each corner, it would be perfect for controlling your flex and you could do some crazy stuff :cool: -Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brumbyrunner Posted January 21, 2009 Share Posted January 21, 2009 Has anyone put a strut back in a subaru with out the spring? I would like to know how much travel is there with out the spring. The MY strut has 5.5" of travel so depending on tyre offset and where you measure from, you'll have from 5.5" to 6 or 7". You can increase downtravel about an inch but the real gains are in up travel. The driveshaft sits level at full bump with a std. strut thus showing that you're only ever using half the driveshafts available travel. There is a potential for 11 or 12 inches of strut travel but the engine crossmember will hit the ground before the bumpstop if your tyre is too short. Conversely, an adequately tall tyre is going to need a lot of mudguard removed if it can travel up past the bonnet. (translation: mudguard = fender, tyre = tire ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigo1966 Posted January 22, 2009 Share Posted January 22, 2009 sweet, thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TeamCF Posted January 22, 2009 Share Posted January 22, 2009 With individual controls for each corner, it would be perfect for controlling your flex and you could do some crazy stuff :cool:-Bill x2 There's a company in Canada that builds full independent suspension Jeeps and such with a joystick in the center console that controls the long travel air shocks. They can go on some crazy sidehills. http://www.gocms.com/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yo'J Posted January 26, 2009 Share Posted January 26, 2009 x2There's a company in Canada that builds full independent suspension Jeeps and such with a joystick in the center console that controls the long travel air shocks. They can go on some crazy sidehills. http://www.gocms.com/ That is the stuff dreams are made of there! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobs97c5 Posted February 2, 2009 Share Posted February 2, 2009 This is an interesting thread. I'm quite interested to see what everyone comes up with as I'd love to get more travel our of the suspension on my lifted EA82 Wagon. I'd love to see a vendor such as SJR offer a long travel sping/strut package for EA82's. I'm good a bolting stuff onto my lifted EA82, but I'm not a fabricator by any means. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monstaru Posted February 2, 2009 Share Posted February 2, 2009 (edited) i do have an idea,but it is not quite to the top of the list.we are on to the pneumatic thing.this should be a look at the systems the lowriders do....... the major offroad shocks are dampened by nitrogen................there are emulsion shocks though.these could be coupled with the "strut out" idea that bigo had. only problem is the subaru strut body is where the spring rests. the vw strut body is where the insert lives.and is actually a body.a spring keeper attached to both ends might be necessary,but it is possible coupled with an emulsion shock it could work. i just don't know what to do about lateral movement of the spring,that would be lateral movement ya?.cheers, brian Edited February 2, 2009 by monstaru Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subafreak Posted February 5, 2009 Share Posted February 5, 2009 A suggestion on the cheaper side, STI rear struts have about twice the travel of most any front strut and they are easy and cheap to come by. Most people end up changing them becouse of the clunking problem that is just caused by dirt build up in the seals and the heavy spring rate the STI's use. you can get ahold of a set of these, clean the seals out and cut and weld to suit your application and spring use. The best part is they are inverted for streaght and you can remove the insert when your doing the fabricating as to not harm the seals and valves and can just change the insert when they where out, not having to refabe a new strut everytime it needs replacement. With there heavy valving combined with a more comliant spring should make them an execlent cheap resource for an off-road strut. I plan on making a set for the monster Legacy soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uberoo Posted February 5, 2009 Share Posted February 5, 2009 I am trying to design a new suspension setup.Im kinda thinking if a set the front diff at 12" of ground clearance with 27" tires,then extended the track width 3.5" per side I could end up with 13 inches or so of travel.However I need to see what the stock suspension and axle combos can make first.To do that I need some measurements. What is the stock front lower control arm length?What is the ground clearance from its crossmember mounts to the ground with stock tires?Anyone happen to how an aproximate angle the suspension/axle combo sits at stock(with height adjusters set low? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobs97c5 Posted February 6, 2009 Share Posted February 6, 2009 A suggestion on the cheaper side, STI rear struts have about twice the travel of most any front strut and they are easy and cheap to come by. Most people end up changing them becouse of the clunking problem that is just caused by dirt build up in the seals and the heavy spring rate the STI's use. you can get ahold of a set of these, clean the seals out and cut and weld to suit your application and spring use. The best part is they are inverted for streaght and you can remove the insert when your doing the fabricating as to not harm the seals and valves and can just change the insert when they where out, not having to refabe a new strut everytime it needs replacement. With there heavy valving combined with a more comliant spring should make them an execlent cheap resource for an off-road strut. I plan on making a set for the monster Legacy soon. Wow, let me know how this works out. I had an 05 STi that made the clunking sounds you referred to and it was very common for STi owners to swap out their struts pretty quickly after buying them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uberoo Posted February 6, 2009 Share Posted February 6, 2009 Ok I took some measurements. a stock EA81 sits about 7.5 inches off the ground under the front diff.the tires measure 22" on the car.Stock CV angles are 11*.Theoretical travel is 7" before axle binds up.assuming a max CV angle of 30* once I changed to the drawing to reflect 27" tires the front diff sits 10" of the ground.If I suspension lift the stock setup 2" to get the 12" of planed ground clearance axle angles become 19*.However once I widen the track width 7" or 3.5" a side axle angles are 14*.At that point theoretical travel is 11.6" before the axle binds up. 11.6" of up and down travel is much better than 7"(stock travel would be about 5" because of various componets restricting movement.) But would I have problems with the extra 3* of axle angle at normal ride height? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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