The AUSubaru.com.au Forums

I have been told that the L seriess doesn't have a great deal of wheel travel. I have set my mind on getting 8" front and rear, am I dreaming ?

What mods should I be looking at doing ?

The things that limit the travel on the front of an l series are
1. sway bar
2. Fexibility of the radius rod
3. amount of travel in the inner cv cup
4. actual length of strut

Those are the limiting factors on the front, as with anything it all a case of time and money.

Rising sun automotive in adelaide have a bit of info on long travel struts on their website http://www.risingsuncarservice.com.au , also there was a thread by brumbyrunner in darwin with regard to some mods he was working on for his brumby which is only slightly different.

This is also something I have pondered... and given Im a little short of the two essential ingredients (time and money) my solution generally has been "when in doubt, just nail it!"
I reckon 8 inches is achievable for sure

do you happen to know what the rising sun ones will give you in terms of travel ?

In an Independant Suspension situation (ie Subaru), your only usable travel is UP. I reckon 8" of travel is a reasonable goal, but 8" of UP travel will be difficult.

Have you tried letting your tires down to 10 psi or so offroad? This will double the car's capability.

Ok why is my only travel up ??

Correct me if I am wrong here but the only real limiting factor in travel on the Subaru is CV travel and axle length ?? yeah ?

So if I set up my rear suspension so that on full down travel it is just before the CV binds and full up travel is just before the CV binds then that should give me max travel but it will be in both directions.

I see that the body may get in the way here so lifting the body will help and then maybe spacing the diff down a little as well.

Are there longer struts availible in the rear ?

Monroe long shocks will do that for the rear in L series, they jack up the ass end quite a bit. Some ppl don't like them, but I think I'll replace with the same.

I sure would like to know if there is something one can do about the front?
currently have King Springs and gabriel structs(yuk), my now option is gonna be KYB struts, but I think they are just your standard height?

What other options are there out there for L series front?

The reason that usable travel is only UP on an IFS vehicle is that when the suspension droops (ie downtravel) the wheel has no weight on it (other than the wheel and suspension) - nothing to push it down so you have traction there. In a live-axle front end this isn't such a drama as the inherant articulation forces the wheel down.

Mind you this is probably not as hard-and-fast as I've stated here either - downtravel does play a part, especially on road. Also, depending on the road surface, even drooping wheels can scratch up some semplance of traction.

Now as for how you can increase the traction that you have:

The standard L-Series front strut has far more available travel than the current suspension setup can yeild; your main drama are the Radius Arms. There are several things you can do to improve this however:

• *Make sure your Radius Arms sit as level as possible. If you have to put bigger lift-blocks under the tranny then that's what you have to do.
  
  *Use softer rubber Radius Arm Bushes in place of stiff Nolathane units - handling won't be as good, but you will get more travel.

I have experimented in the past by replacing the pins on the end of the Radius Arms with rose-joints, however this solution was neither here nor there as it reduced their length so actual travel was about the same.

Another thing you can do with your front struts is use the standard springs. While King Springs are taller and stiffer than the OE fitment, the softer original springs are more flexible - you can compensate for lack of ride height with bigger strut-top extensions right? Also make sure your strut height is set all the way down.

As for the rear - with the competition buggy scene booming at the moment, the cost and availability of coilover and air shocks has meant now even poor Subaru have access to these brilliant pieces of gear at a reasonable price. Pick up and issue of Dirt Comp magazine to find a stockist near you. For a 3" L series I think you need about a 400mm unit (pin-to-eye length) - just check that on your car though.

Food for thought?

I am pretty sure the car has king springs and KYB struts, haven't looked yet as I am still collecting info.

I had it on the hoist breifly and the amount of wheel travel it has is not real impressive.

I have heard of a few people making hybrid struts from holden stuff with springs from other models, anyone done this ?

fred-sub wrote:Monroe long shocks will do that for the rear in L series, they jack up the ass end quite a bit. Some ppl don't like them, but I think I'll replace with the same.

I sure would like to know if there is something one can do about the front?
currently have King Springs and gabriel structs(yuk), my now option is gonna be KYB struts, but I think they are just your standard height?

What other options are there out there for L series front?

Ahhh....that bit about long shocks at the rear, maybe thats what is in mine? I thought it had higher springs.
The front seemed pretty flat, so new King Springs have gone in since this photo and only pushed up the front by an inch roughly. (see pic)
Do really need new front struts as they are soft as. KYB struts - is that the pic for most peoples?

You also can also end up with the rear sitting high if your spring/shock combination isn't correct. The adjustable rear shocks in the early L-Series wagons are slightly shorter than the non-adjustable shocks found in the later models and use a different spring. The high back end comes when the spring from the later model rear shock is squeezed onto the shorter early series shock, putting more pre-load on the spring so it doesn't compress down so far when the vehicle weight is put on it. So you may find that your high rear end is actually due to short shocks than long shocks

Ok so after spending some timeon the phone with Steve from Rising Sun ( thanks for that) and a bit more with the RX on the hoist I am starting to develop a plan.

Can anyone tell me what the max angle is for a Subie CV ?

At this stage I will add some longer struts and spring, custom adjustable radial and control arms.

If the Subie CV's are up to it let them stay if not replace them with some 7 series BMW or porsch units with custom stub axles and drive flanges.

That should give me the desired effect of travel while still keeping my geometry at the right tolerance.

Brad, you havent mentioned Lift Kit with you set up. What height have you settled on with longer travel, as this would have to be a suitable balance?

Thanks to Gremlins for your reply to me, I will do some measurements now and compare to others. (thats if anyone else can post these differences up).
I like the fact the rear sits up and the diff is high, and would workout with the lift kit I will fit. Might have to be 3" in the front, and 2" in the rear. Does that sound right with long shock arrangement? The old MY has this combo with pump shocks and pushes the wheel down to balance the height, but the ride is harsh. The L rides firm compared.
(Sorry Brad hijacking your thread)

just to let you lads know, I had: king springs, I had Standard height fronts, 1" Lifted rears, all on a 3" Liftkit.

One day, I decided to get 4" Strut tops front and rear. After I did this, I found that I dramatically shortened CV Driveshaft life, and noticed that the car was behaving undesireably onroad and offroad, namely with reduced downtravel (because the driveshaft angles were already stressed)

I returned to the 3" Strut tops, and found the car behaved much better.

I urge you to not to increase total strut length by any more than 1", unless you decide to go with some custom driveshaft setup...

but damn, it looked hella good!! :P

I have 3" front and 2" rear in the car as that is what it came with.

Will leave this is for now but I am thinking it will change. Body blocks will stay but I should get the strut blocks out.

if your willing to spend the cash on a real suspension setup, ditching the strut top spacers is definately the way to go. Theres 3" more possible up travel in those tops.

Will be interesting to see what you end up with Brad.

We put Liberty front struts in the rear of Bretts Vortex with no strut tops needed, will take a photo if I head around there.