Please tell me why hillbillies put "lift kits" on their trucks. They spend thousands upon thousands of dollars...

The ground clearance is not measured wear open says it's from the side of the truck and plus even from the axel where open has it its still probably 1f and a half Which is much higher then stock a lift either lifts the body of the truck or the suspension, in order to make your axle higher you need bigger wheels which the truck in the pic has op is just a retard wanna be who knows nothing of what he's talking about

It's just another variant of stance, like donks.

Break-over clearance

Yes, I understand that. But why is "ground clearance" even a thing if it doesn't include the axle? That truck can't even clear a fire hydrant. I think seat height would be a more accurate term or driving position

isnt it a fact that only 20% of all trucks and suvs ever get used for offroading?

Why would you want to drive over a fire hydrant?

20% is way too high.

Live axle: running over obstacles with the tires

Independent suspension: driving over obstacles

keep in mind that the only way to get the axle higher off the ground is to put it on a taller tire. lifting allows for a larger tire. but approach/departure and breakover angles are also important. breakover especially when you've got a lot of wheelbase as many trucks do.

The real answer is that country girls like lifted trucks.

Not really nice lifted trucks, usually half dead ones from 2007ish. It's to compensate for the lack of a nicer newer truck. They do it all for women, seriously. Need to lift your truck to tow them fat bitches without bottoming out on dem speed bumps.

sorry some guy in a lifted 10 year old heap stole your girl. but you haven't met everyone so it's pretty hard to believe you can speak for everyone.

>What is suspension travel

I will never understand the appeal of this

...

On a serious note
Suspension travel distance is more important than ground clearance and those lifts give far more of the former than the latter, which is what bigger tires for.

2016 =/= 2014

I've always had this thought of a lift where the diff sits up higher then the axle comes down at an angle. I know the mechanics would be super complicated but has it ever been done.

in theory it could be done with independent suspension but it wouldn't be very strong. portal axles are more what you're looking for.

It just always seems people get the big as fuck tyres, but their diff still sits low like op's pic.
Doesn't do shit for clearance. I know cause I got stuck a couple weeks ago and had to dig my diff out of the dirt.

well as stated earlier, the only way to increase diff clearance is to put a bigger tire on it. but even with a 6" lift, say you're able to go from a 32" tire to a 35" tire, you're still only lifting the diff 1.5".

where is this?

That sucks for you. Off roading probably the most fun automotive use

Yankee Boy Basin, Ouray, CO. same trail as pic related

It's beautiful. Do you do it for fun, or does your work take you out there?

Nah most of it is pretty shit. Actual overland expedition stuff is fun but trying to get your wheel on a boulder, failing, fitting a lift kit, succeeding then finding a bigger boulder failing fitting another lift kit then succeeding until you've spent 50k building some retarded mostrosity designed to climb up and park on boulders is fucking retarded and always will be.

just for funsies. I'm a service advisor so I spend 60+ hours a week getting bitched at by cunty trophy wives and running around a shop so I try to escape as often as I can. usually my endeavors also involve skiing or biking but every time I've been to Yankee Boy it's just been for the hell of it.

Dude I'm from south ga and, let me tell you, you're totally missing the point. It's not about how much clearance you're getting at the axle. That kind of kit is about using your tires to climb over shit. You aren't trying to drive over hydrants or whatever. Oh and pic related

Trailriding and mudslinging is where its at. Rock crawling is just too abusive even on good expensive parts

little dirt trails a Geo Metro has no trouble traversing do not count.

Appeal of what? Off road or solid axles?

this

the point of this setup isnt to drive straight over the hydrant, its to be able to drive over it with your tires

Enhances approach/departure angles. Sometimes even breakover angle depending on the vehicle.

>lrn2offroad.

Cause they like it. I lifted mine so I could see further down the highway. Got used to the veiw driving fo a living in a big truck. You be surprised how much shit you can see off the side of the highway as well when you can see over the barrier.

...

That looks absolutely beautiful. I'd like to go see things like that. Is a truck really necesarry for that experience? When you go for the hell of it what do you do specifically (just drive through it?)?

I'm in southern california if that changes the necessary part.

Yellowstone is a lot like that.

OP doesn't know or understand the following key offroading concepts
>approach angle
>departure angle
>breakover angle
>ground clearance gained via larger tires
>body/suspension lift needed to fit larger tires
>wheel travel
>axle flex/articulation

And thus we have here another autistic child commenting on something he doesn't understand on the internet.

So original.

>going anywhere near an active supervolcano

shig dig diggity

I love how clueless 99% of Veeky Forums is about off roading. There's like 10 of these damn threads a day.

Idk, I don't even lift anymore. I just buy a leveling kit and rear blocks for my truggs now. Help a bunch when towing business trailers. And does an okay job with ground clearance.

Nobody on this planet cares about ground clearance from the axle. Driving over stuff involves hitting it with your tires, not straddling it.

Is this like thinking race guns are supposed to have faster bullets?

Why wouldn't one put a thick rubber mat on the bed?

First thing to remember is the lightweight bed is to reduce weight for fuel economy. Durability is irrelevant for "consumer" trucks which are more ass jewelry than work machines.

Horse stall matting is ample to protect the bed but it's not light.

I'd get a sheet of 3/16" steel and cut it to clear the fender wells which is a very old mod common to many work trucks, then I'd bedliner both sides before placing it if I cared about looks. I've done a couple older trucks this way and you can slam whatever you like onto your steel "liner".

After a few years when the paint is gone, the rust will probably make a steel bed lighter.

>has it ever been done
Yes. Don't really know why tho since simple portals seem like a much better option than some weird independent axle within a solid axle shitfest

They are

Wouldn't be that hard to do, actually. Just use the magic of Cardon joints or Rzeppa joints

Sure but you'd have to have some nasty angle on them to have any advantage over portals. And I'm no offroader but I'm pretty sure simple and sturdy are considered good things in these circles

didnt the vw bus have portals? pic not related obviously

why does this exist

WTF is that? How does it even works?

It's not as bad as you think. That looks like about 15 degrees of angle on each joint, well within the capabilities of either type of joint.

But yes, portal would be better. Tried and true in Unimogs and forklifts the world over.

It's designed to give you tinnitus

It's a cartridge you retard. You pull tell trigger of the gun you put it in, and it goes fucking bang. Couldn't be fucking simpler.
>WTF
You are not welcome here.

It's definitely not a .17 eargesplitten loudenboomer.

It works by rapid chemical reaction and expanding gases.

Because somebody had a dollar and a dream.

To spend time between shooting guns in the air and making love to their sister.

I've seen this picture here before.
Hello again.

Increases approach, breakover, and departure angles. It also allows you to fit larger tires which increase the clearance to the diff pumpkins which is actually a fairly unimportant metric if you know anything about offroading.

Holy punctuation, Batman.

I'm not an expert in off roading but the ground clearance looks pretty good to me, it only looks bizarre because he lifted a lot the truck.

Lol either this is a tiny bullet on a regular shell, or a giant shell with a regular bullet. I cant tell

>differential clearance is everything

I think it's .50 BMG casing necked down to .223 so the first one.

The casing is .378 weatherby IIRC

I hate rednecks - especially affluent suburban rednecks - just as much as the next guy, but why the fuck not? Car ownership and modifications being cheap as shit and inspections being absent in half the states and a joke in the other half is the only redeeming thing about driving in the US, so you better get your money's worth out of it.

You're saying that like any three of those is a bad thing.

So you can drive straight at a 45 degree angle.

If I'm not mistaken, this bullet was made to set some kind of speed record somewhere in Eastern Europe, there were only a few made

>Not the eargensplitten

doesnt fucking matter, if yellowstone blows, 90% of north america is fucked anyway

it's sad how many people don't understand this
although truck pictured does look super douchey

After growing up in the midwest and having a lifted Wrangler, I can tell you it's almost exclusively about appearance rather than performance. The few guys who do rock crawl will spend whatever it takes to get the clearance and articulation they want, but most guys settle for el cheapo body lifts and block spacers on their shitboxes. To most guys around here, or at least many that I work with, a stock height truck just looks.. boring. There is something about a lift and large tires that looks right. Most stock trucks have comically small tires with huge, gaping spaces in the wheel wells. It looks ridiculous such as in this pic. They are cute little donut tires that looks as if they're being swallowed up by the mass of the truck towering over them. A nice, fat tire helps to fill the void and on many trucks like the one in OP's pic, they require enough lift to sit below the wheel well because they are too large to fit. This is also acceptable and desirable.

Sounds like the same argument against every form of motorsports.

>dont spend money on what I dont like booohooohoooo

Parts to go 1/10th faster, an inch lower, farther up this trail, farther out into the wild, win this car award, eek out 1 more mpg, and so on and so forth.

It's because fat girls can't jump that high. Also, driving stuff like this never fails to put a grin on my face.

While that is probably a pavement princess, here's a few things about suspension for off road.
1. Less shit to drag through the mud. Mud sucks. By putting most of the vehicle above it, a mud pit is much easier to get through if only the drive train and wheels are in it.
2. Axles operate differently than independent suspension. An axle pivots around a central area, so every time a wheel goes over a bump, the ground clearance actually increases. You'd need to have low spots on either side and a high spot in the middle to "beach" an axle.

It's called bedliner, dozens of different kinds exist. I have plastic in my Ranger.

driving round and round in circles is better than up and down rocks

there are parts of the trail where they recommend only high clearance 4x4 vehicles, but my sister has driven her Mazda3 up the majority of it because she doesn't give a fuck. having something a little taller definitely helps but it isn't 100% necessary. but yeah when I've gone up Yankee Boy it's just been because a) the drive is fun and b) the scenery at the top is awesome.

there are lots of places in this part of the country that rent Jeeps and also offer guided tours and shit. I would imagine it'd be a lot more fun in something like a Jeep.

>go to the bar
>get really trashed
>pull some swamp donkey
>go out to truck
>brotruck wont let her in, she's too fat
>truck is bro
>too drunk to stay on road back to house
>ground clearance allows you to roll over anything
>wake up hungover, but not next to a dugong
>stick horny dick into horse
>end

not the only way, but the only non-pipedream way for most

I love Yankee Boy Basin. We go to Ouray every year. Camped at American Basin (near Cinammon Pass) this year. Freaking gorgeous. Pic related is part of the Alpine Loop.

I can't wait to go back there some day. I did the 2013 Ouray Jeep Jamboree and recognize those trails. I haven't done much travelling beyond my cozy little corner of Kansas, but that was by far the most beautiful place I have ever been.

the front break off easily

are you drunk or american?

fuck man, I'm gonna go there next summer. Should I be okay in a stock Jeep wrangler with Firestone AT's?

Yeah. Most of the trails the are moderate at best (gravel with the occasional minor obstacle, rut, etc.) I did much of it in a stock Geo Tracker (with 30s). You'll be fine in a Wrangler.

muh 'uge painis

>muh small benis

underated gloat