Coilovers or Air struts

one80seven · one80seven on Tue Feb 09, 2010 11:32 pm

Ok trying to decide to order coilovers or air struts for the buggy. Id like to here from people who have used one or the other, kinda a pros and cons kinda thing.

Lango · Lango on Wed Feb 10, 2010 9:55 am

Fist off are you talking about struts or air shocks? Two totally different things. For the average wheeler that has enough money to blow on coilovers I would say go with the ori struts. But to each their own. Ori's are very easy to set up and if you dont like the ride all you need is a nitrogen bottle to make a change. On the other hand if your not happy with your c/o's you most likely need to change springs, if you dont have the correct scales it is very hard to get the right springs on the first time. Also the ori's have and internal bump stop so you dont need to buy those seperate. If you want to run c/o's all the way around I would suggest a sway bar like the currie antirock. Ori's control body roll so no need for that either if you go with the struts. Coilovers will unload on climbs and decents just like an air shock, unless the c/o's are dialed in perfectly, which most average wheelers dont have the time nor money to properly set up c/o's. I had a set of coilovers on my cj and they looked sharp and rode great when going over rough stuff, although I had alot of body roll and the unloading bothered me.

On the other hand ORI's will not drop out fast enough to go REALLY fast over the REALLY rough stuff, that is why you see no desert trucks running them. Also there arent that many if anybody running the stuts on the road for daily driving. If for some reason you knick a stut or airshock and a seal or oring goes out you will be sitting on the bumpstop at the bottom of the shock. If the same thing happens on a coilover you will still be at ride height you will just loose the dampening of the shock. This is a great advantage over the air shocks/stuts.

ak · ak on Wed Feb 10, 2010 11:26 am

I've had both on my rig and if i had to do it again i would have went with coilovers from the get go. If you have a hard landing with the air shocks you can blow out the schrader (sp?) valve and once you lose all your charge it's game over. With coilovers if you lose the nitrogen you will have to drive slower but at least you can still wheel and get home because you rely on the spring to carry most of the weight. Air shocks will unload, coilovers wont. Glenn was right. If your front suspension is designed wrong anything you get will unload. There's a reason all the Baja guys run coilovers. They work!

Lango · Lango on Wed Feb 10, 2010 11:48 am

Ak is talking about air shocks, not struts. And coilovers do unload, granted not as bad as air shocks.

shawni · shawni on Wed Feb 10, 2010 4:21 pm

airshocks(not too expensive) set up right will be OK. coilovers(kinda expensive) set up rigt work well. air struts( too expensive for my blood) are the best for most situations. my 2 cents

Nooner · Nooner on Wed Feb 10, 2010 9:03 pm

for me the comparo is struts vs. coilovers.

I went struts for a couple reasons:

1. Tunability - it is far cheaper to change the charge on a pair of Struts than to change the springs on a set of coilovers.

2. Bumpstops - the internal bumpstops in an ORI are rugged enough that you don't need bump cans. I wouldn't run coilovers without air bumps.

PS. Don't tell these guys ORIs don't do good in the fast stuff Wink

:

http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=738099&highlight=ori

http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=742860&highlight=ori

http://pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=766280&highlight=ori+koh

if you really wanna go fast, better be ready to break the piggy bank - triple rates are what you really need.

ak · ak on Thu Feb 11, 2010 10:11 am

Read the threads, sounds like they still unload and your hosed if you lose the charge.

**Digger** · **Digger** on Thu Feb 11, 2010 11:08 am

I am no expert, but I have seen lots of different set-ups and have also seen lots of different terrian. If I was to build a buggy I believe I would go coil overs, because they seem to have the best overall function for rock crawling. I don't think the rock racing thing is for me, so I wouldn't really worry about the go fast so much.

Hey 187

So after reading the feedback from everyone, what are you thinking so far on your buggy build?

What are you running in your buggy? What motor, tranny, t-case, axles, so on and so forth?

JB

shawni · shawni on Thu Feb 11, 2010 12:16 pm

forgot to mention:one of the cheapest and most functinal set up ive seen and used was my old rear buggysuspension consisting of old tj coils and long ass shocks with a 4 link. it worked awsome even with my WAY off geometry and tractor links. trial and error...

one80seven · one80seven on Thu Feb 11, 2010 6:36 pm

Well I am and always have been leaning towards coilovers. Still gunna give it some thought though. As for axles I will be running 2 front rockwells(4 wheel steer Very Happy

) geared to 5.13 I believe. I have an early 90's 5.9 turbo diesel to go in it along with the 5 speed married to it. Still determining on what size tires I'll run but will be buying beadlocks. As for the transfer case I am still undecided. I'll cross that bridge when i get to it. It will have front and rear hydralic steering. It will be a short wheel based rig with more droop than uptravel. I will be starting to build the frame here in a couple weekends when I got time. I'm super excited Smile

btw this rig is for crawling and shit, not racing. Maybe some day I'll build a racer.

**Digger** · **Digger** on Thu Feb 11, 2010 6:51 pm

Your probably going to have to run at least a 44" to clear the rockwells over rocks on the trail. Those things hang real low. But good luck with the build.

Post it in the projects when you get started.

JB

Nooner · Nooner on Thu Feb 11, 2010 9:38 pm

one80seven wrote:Well I am and always have been leaning towards coilovers. Still gunna give it some thought though. As for axles I will be running 2 front rockwells(4 wheel steer ) geared to 5.13 I believe. I have an early 90's 5.9 turbo diesel to go in it along with the 5 speed married to it. Still determining on what size tires I'll run but will be buying beadlocks. As for the transfer case I am still undecided. I'll cross that bridge when i get to it. It will have front and rear hydralic steering. It will be a short wheel based rig with more droop than uptravel. I will be starting to build the frame here in a couple weekends when I got time. I'm super excited

btw this rig is for crawling and shit, not racing. Maybe some day I'll build a racer.

that sounds like a STOUT rig!!! Consider Knightstalkers?

jackson76550 · jackson76550 on Thu Feb 11, 2010 10:25 pm

one80seven wrote:Well I am and always have been leaning towards coilovers. Still gunna give it some thought though. As for axles I will be running 2 front rockwells(4 wheel steer ) geared to 5.13 I believe. I have an early 90's 5.9 turbo diesel to go in it along with the 5 speed married to it. Still determining on what size tires I'll run but will be buying beadlocks. As for the transfer case I am still undecided. I'll cross that bridge when i get to it. It will have front and rear hydralic steering. It will be a short wheel based rig with more droop than uptravel. I will be starting to build the frame here in a couple weekends when I got time. I'm super excited

btw this rig is for crawling and shit, not racing. Maybe some day I'll build a racer.

regearing those rocks is gonna break the bank......i dont think you can even get a 5.13. there may be 2 different ratios now? last i checked its about 1200 bucks per gearset. have you looked into it? the 6.72s are priced the best Very Happy

you can shave them down pretty good......but i wouldnt go smaller than a 44" tire with that big chunk of axle. and running a diesel with a steering axle in the rear..... id at least cary some spare shafts.

if i was going to build a rig that heavy.......leaf springs! Twisted Evil

air shocks would be out.....not sure how much the oris can stand. coilovers would be your best bet.

Lango · Lango on Thu Feb 11, 2010 11:29 pm

ori's are rated at 1300lbs.....

WHAT ARE YOU LOKKING AT SHOCKS OR STRUTS?????????????????????????

I agree with Tim, No matter what coilovers are the only way to go when your talking about wheeling a dump truck.

one80seven · one80seven on Fri Feb 12, 2010 1:21 am

im pretty sure they are already geared but ill have to check. Cant remember what the boss man said. But yea with a 45" tire ill prob be best at running a 130-135" wheel base.......

Glenn · Glenn on Fri Feb 12, 2010 9:17 am

Just my $.02, but if I were gonna build a crawler w/ a 5.9 cummins (which I wouldn't), I'd run leafs. If the struts are only rated at 1300 lbs per Carl and the engine itself weighs 1000 lbs. not sure how that would work out once it was out on the rocks.

jackson76550 · jackson76550 on Fri Feb 12, 2010 10:52 am

i really wasnt kidding about the leaf springs. at least in the front due to the weight. and if it was my rig id save the diesel for the tow rig. diesels are cool and all........ so you get the 45" tires the same place you get the 5.13 rockwell gearset? Very Happy

.

shawni · shawni on Sat Feb 13, 2010 10:01 am

why would you want to wheel with a cummins? the novelty of it is cool i guess but it wont be a good idea at all. WAYYYY to heavy

one80seven · one80seven on Sat Feb 13, 2010 11:12 am

Ok so if the 5.9 is gunna be too heavy and over load the coilovers then I guess my second plan was to use a 4BT. Just about as light as a big block with way more torque

Lango · Lango on Sat Feb 13, 2010 11:49 am

Do you know the difference between an air shock and an air strut? or are you just ignoring the question as to what you were asking about in the first place?

Carl

Glenn · Glenn on Sat Feb 13, 2010 1:46 pm

Doubt he's talking about air shocks, I've never heard them referred to as "struts", only struts referred to as "struts". But who knows.

jackson76550 · jackson76550 on Sat Feb 13, 2010 2:35 pm

i have a feeling hes talking about air shocks........i think if you post up some pictures of each and ask option A, B or C. we could get to the bottom of this.

i would also think twice about the 4bt. who cares about torque when you have a 2500 rpm redline? theres going to be plenty of times your gonna want a bit of wheelspeed that you just cant get out of a diesel. a have a friend with a 4bt in his rig.......i think with a plain ol 350 chevy his rig would perform much better. if the diesels made great powerplants for buggies and trail rigs. you would see a lot more of them. they are cool, and somewhat unique but wouldnt be my choice. due to the weight and price and lack of go fast. the one rig i have seen work pretty good with a diesel is running 42" tires......and 3.55 gears. and its far from stock. but hey.....its your rig.....or plans

Nooner · Nooner on Sat Feb 13, 2010 2:40 pm

Knightstalkers are about the only air shocks that I would be comfortable running on top of Rocks and with a Diesel.

I think you are being pointed in the right direction be steered towards a gasser. If you wanna be unique why not do a propane big block? Would probably cost less than a diesel(particularly a b-series Cummins).

Btw - if you have a nice 6BT you wanna sell me drop me a line! I still have the lagging desire to repower my Deuce with one!

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