'bag location -- rock crawler

i know that with an on road veh. there are advantages to mounting the bags as far out as possible from the center of the truck.. could a guy get away with tucking them inward,, to maby 6 inches between the bags to get better articulation? would there really be much advantage to a set up like that? i dont want to one one bag centered because i want to run each wheel independent.. thanks Max (or any one else)what other issues will i come across when tring to get 30" of travel?This is my first shot at a rock crawler...thanks again!

have you thought about getting a different type of air bag? i imagein that rock crawler mean a lifted vehicle with more room to play with than a body drop. there is a semi truck parts place near me that has a variaty of different air bags. some have 12 inches of useable lift and lift way more than any truck. long bars plus the bag more toward the lift point means alot of lift. i have got 17 inches out of a ranger with 2600 lbs bags, but it was soft ride but a larger bag would lift more weight. just a thought i dont know how much room you have to use.

Hmm...

There have been a few different schools of though that I have seen used on rock crawlers. If it is a pure trail rig, then you can get away with some weird stuff that would never work on the street. I have driven a few street/trail rigs that were a bitch to drive on the street unless all you were doing was driving straight.

So the big question, would less roll compliance be an advantage on the trail? I don't know if you have ever seen the "scorpion" back in the day, but it had theoretically no roll compliance and was a fairly dominant force. So based on that theory, I would have to say that yes, less roll compliance would be an advantage. I think that the trick will be to have each end of the vehicle (front and rear) be independently compliant without having a vehicle that leans over excessively. The scorpion used an elaborate linkage to eliminate body roll without sacrificing compliance. Maybe a super tall roll center?

Let me know what you come up with. I'm curious.

alot of guys around here are using 1 links... i hope the transition makes it to minitrucking!!

hey max have you built any rock crawlers?

I have not built any crawlers myself, but there are a good handfull of them in the local area and I've helped a few out with design and some small fab stuff.

Hmmmm indeed, lots of good tidbits to think about.. I'm just happy to be able to make you (Max) say " Let me know what you come up with. I'm curious." Better than just flat telling me what a dumb ass question it was hahhahaaa
I'll deff keep snooping around gathering ideas and bounce a few things off of you all later..
b.t.w. i believe that one link is refered to "The 'ol uni-link" originally made popular by Markie Barbados of the "Uni-Wheeled Bicycle Rumblers" the first biker gang in the turn of the centery new york streets. Markie- known mostly for her froggy tendencys to go to fist-i-cuffs and her sexual exploits. The gang's initials "U.W.B.R." were eventually loosly translated to the term "Uber cool" which was very popular in the 80s..
just a little history lesson for ya.........