I'll have to see how you do your steering... like I've said before, this is all info gathering... the work will get started in a couple years (sooner if I find a place with a garage/get some extra cash).

And yeah, I imagine gearing would help out a lot more than steering would offroad.

Has anyone thought that the cv operates in a spherical environment and if droop is the limitation one way for the inner cv (it'll be different for the outer cv), is it possible to get enough flex to be too excessive during compression to have the inner cv bind?

Just as adding a spacer to the strut to get better droop travel with better compression travel (basically lowering the static location of the strut), why not think the same for the cv.

 

1.   Has anyone thought that the cv operates in a spherical environment and if droop is the limitation one way for the inner cv (it'll be different for the outer cv),

2.   Is it possible to get enough flex to be too excessive during compression to have the inner cv bind?

3.   Just as adding a spacer to the strut to get better droop travel with better compression travel (basically lowering the static location of the strut), why not think the same for the cv.

1.  Yes they mirror one another thru the suspension travel.   They are weaker at the extreem angles.  My only extreem angle is at full droop.

2.  Yes it is possiable to modify the CV's for flex and arm travel (Longer) so that they will not pull out, thus be stronger at full droop.  This could cause them to bind at compression to shaft horizontal (the Cv's shortest legnth).

3.  Dropping the axle would minimize the Droop bind if their were no increase in over all travel.  


Basically I have tried to maintain the stock CV and steering Geometry while increasing tire size and ride height.  Keeping it simple for now.    

I'm stalled on experimenting with mine at the moment as I have hurt my back (again). If the front Calmini springs are too stiff then can't you source softer springs, cutting them down will only make them stiffer. Surely fitting softer springs is a lot easier than all the work involved in widening the front to get more leverage. I will try the calmini springs on mine but I suspect I will stick with my existing +2" springs to keep the flex.
I measured up the travel in my CVs, there is around 1/2" of 'spare' movement with the driveshaft straight. It only goes straight just before it hits the bumpstop (edit - stock A-arms and axle mounts) so there is lots of potential travel to gain if you drop the diff further but you will be sacrificing ground clearance.

But won't softer springs that are as high as the calmini ones make the front  sit lower than you want??? if you lift a vehicle  you probably want to put larger tires under it and get more travel downwards at least... so if you use the same spring rate as standard (wich is higher in front as in the back) you'll get lift but no extra travel.... I think. And if you use softer springs with more wraps to add the height, you wont get extra travel either because of the extra wraps....
So an option might be finding springs for front and back that will make the flex even.... I think.
But I might be wrong... I'm just using my experience (what experience )  

But won't softer springs that are as high as the calmini ones make the front  sit lower than you want??? if you lift a vehicle  you probably want to put larger tires under it and get more travel downwards at least... so if you use the same spring rate as standard (wich is higher in front as in the back) you'll get lift but no extra travel.... I think. And if you use softer springs with more wraps to add the height, you wont get extra travel either because of the extra wraps....
So an option might be finding springs for front and back that will make the flex even.... I think.
But I might be wrong... I'm just using my experience (what experience )  

Downward travel isn't really what I need... I'm driving around at just above full droop because of how light I have my kick, and the fact that the Calmini springs are set up to have a couple hundred pounds of crap up front. So, I figure that if widening the front end out (adding leverage) doesn't help with flex/ride quality, then I'll just find some slightly lower spring rate springs... not to the point that I'm riding around on the bump stops all the time and have a ton of downtravel, but enough to have a nice ride with decent amounts of up and down travel from where the arms are at with weight on them. If ya know what I'm saying

so there is lots of potential travel to gain if you drop the diff further but you will be sacrificing ground clearance.

I keep hearing this same question and I think that dropping the diff is the correct answer...

     As long as you are:
1. gaining lift over stock height
2. more usable travel
3. better CV reliability

I think it is the right answer.  I've dropped my diff 4", and still have 11.5 " of clearance and the diff still sits higher then the cross member.  

Now take the diff and drop it more, say another 1-1.5". Build a cradle which ties the diff to your drop subframe, which is tied to the frame itself. You'll be saving on the torsional as well as lateral forces as the cradle will disseminate the force not only into 1-2 points of the frame, but at all mounting locations.
Sort of the idea of a long travel TJ suspension where the arm mounts is the belly pan and crossmember.

I was thinking along those lines but with a centered Toyota 3rd and long A-arms w matching long Yota cv's  that mount in the center like a Trophy truck.

But I'm no where near making that happen, Just dreaming,

  I understand your point.  Securing the diff instead of the 3 points on the diff / housing might reduce stress on the front, But some movement absorbs the extra forsces of shock load.  

After spending a bit of time under the Bronco, it's made me wonder why not just cut the D44 third out of the TTB setup and use it in a 'true' IFS setup? It'd be essentially just the pig with CV's coming out of it... meaning that you could have ~2ft long shafts .

Can this be made to work without modifying the third member off the Bronco too much?

Sounds alot like the centered 9" that is running the 37's.  This leave the door wide open for custom longer A-arms and more travel / flex.  

It would be awsome, BUT it is a big job to engineer it all into place safely under the kick.  You'd be engineering & building the IFS front end.  Not quite from scratch, but most of the same engineering hurdles would apply.  

Sounds alot like the centered 9" that is running the 37's.  This leave the door wide open for custom longer A-arms and more travel / flex.  

It would be awsome, BUT it is a big job to engineer it all into place safely under the kick.  You'd be engineering & building the IFS front end.  Not quite from scratch, but most of the same engineering hurdles would apply.  

All it takes is getting everything lined up properly, right?

I was just wondering that, because of all this centered diff talk. It seemed to be the easiest way to get a centered diff without chopping up a straight axle... plus they can be found pretty cheap with everyone moving from TTB to SFA.

Along the same line I was considering A Mercedes or Jaguar rear end.  Both are center mounted diffs with CV's the jag has the breaks on the inside (less unsprung weight)  I think the Jag might be a dana unit but Im not sure about the Mercedes.  I have no idea about gearing options.

Along the same line I was considering A Mercedes or Jaguar rear end.  Both are center mounted diffs with CV's the jag has the breaks on the inside (less unsprung weight)  I think the Jag might be a dana unit but Im not sure about the Mercedes.  I have no idea about gearing options.

The Ford's 8.8 is a well-supported axle housing in the locker and gear department. Gears are deep as 5.38's. To add, there are independent 8.8 in the rear axle applications. Check out the Lincoln's w/ ind. rear axles. (Do a search on Ebay and see what I'm talking about.) This would probably be a better idea. To add, H1 Hummers uses AMC20 axle housings.

I do have a TTB swing arm, along with ARB and 4.56's in my  TTBD44 that I've pulled from my Bronco for a SAS. I can shoot some pics on the mounting. In using such, you wouldn't need a cv at the housing end, a simple joint would work fine as the travel angle is not great enough. Then the steering joint can be a joint also and thus would eliminate the cv joint all together. Get a set of spline axles like the TTB has on the passenger side, as a spring in the splip to keep pressure of the inner axle to stay in the housing and you got a decent idea.

Military M151 'Mutt' used this concept of u-joint axles on IFS in both front and rear axles. The shaft was fixed length and the axles were full time 4wd applications.
This vehicle was a larger version of the Marine Mighty Mite which was air-cooled, near 1500#'s due to the aluminum body. The Mutt's weight is near 2000#'s.

FWIW, Currie uses the 8.8 gears for their reverse cut 9" housings.