front bag size questions

so, i read the MT section you did in the one with the green and white ranger, and you mentioned you try to setup a front suspension to have 10" of lift idealy. so, that taken into account, if you were to set something up...would you perfer to use a smaller bag farther in gaining leverage or a larger one farther out loosing leverage. say an RE6 vs RE7 in a mini, or RE7 vs RE8 in a fullsize. for the sake of argument, both would be set to have 10" lift. what are the pros and cons to each? i would assume that the larger bag rides a bit softer, but might have a bit more waveyness to it over bad roads. and the smaller one would ride a bit stiffer, but have less bounce or bodyroll.

but, correct me if im wrong. im mentally planning how im going to do my 78 toyota. and i havent taken measurements yet, but i dont plan on having a huge amount of lift. id rather it ride nice. maybe a bit firm. i like that. i dont even care if it untucks all the way. right now, i tuck a couple inches of tire on a 225/50/16 and i static it like that. and i get full steering lock.

I almost always prefer to use a larger bag rather than over-leverage a smaller bag. When trying to get as much lift as possible, the larger bag is helpful. The "waveyness" that you refer to is called "wallowing" and can be controled with high quality shocks.

If you want as nice of a ride as possible (my oppinion of a nice ride), keep your travel below 8" for both front and rear suspension and use good shocks all the way around.

The shocks are the key and I can't express that enough!

Absolutely KEY! I couldnt tell you how many smiling faces i have seen from something as simple and putting shocks on the front of the truck. And good shocks at that. Alot of lift is fun. but its a price you pay when you are using air bags. They become Mushy and too soft. Cruising half way up, hit a woop in the freeway and see what happens. The whole suspension climbs to its max point then compresses down to about 1/4 of the way up and almost all the way back up. then finally settles. KP link setups are notorious for this. Its a rollercoaster ride. Good shocks (not stiff shocks) are key.

yeah. im deff one of the "shocks are good" people. its a bit more work to make them part of the system, but worth it. thanks for the answer max. what are some good shocks that are on the varying price ranges you like to use? like anything in the 25-30 range each? i know that stuff like remote res shocks and QA1s are nice. but spendy.

There is no such thing as a good $25 to $30 shock. They work, but are more wal-mart(ish). Don't take that wrong, there are many folks using cheap shocks and are pleased with their performance. A good shock can cost about $100 each and they don't necessarily need to be resivor shocks.

I have said it many times in the past and will happily say it again... I love Bilstein shocks for bagged vehicles. They are affordable and come in several different valve rates depending on what you are doing. I use racecardynamics.com for my Bilstein stuff.

ill check into that. personally, the best low price shocks ive used were the 10 stage vavled ones from napa. i dont know if that makes them special, but they helped alot on my old truck. it wasnt bagged though. do you have different recommendations for a non bagged truck? or certain specs you pick like stiffness or size?

That is why I use Steve Duck over at RCD. You can tell him what you are working with and he will give you a good starting point, from there he can swap you shocks until you get what you need. It's a big help when you are looking for the best ride possible. I have built a few systems with shocks that were "user serviceable" and done my own valving, but that costs A LOT more money and takes more time than most people are willing to go through.