I'm a bit lost on the meaning of these terms. I have posted a question before on basically rockcrawling with full size TTB. One of the arguments was the TTB won't get the articulation of a solid axle. Camburg off-road offers a kit to get 21" of travel out of TTB. I do know TTB is a weaker axle due to the extra u-joint, so please don't smack me around on that point.

Basically what do these terms: Flex, Travel and Articulation mean to the off road world?

To me, travel and articulation are the same: suspension movement. Flex would incorporate suspension movement and the frame "flexing".

Thanks

 

when someone says there truck can flex they are saying that theri suspension is finely tuned to be able to hike one tire up on a rock or tree and the other 3 remain on the ground. an RTI ramp (ramp travel index) measures a vehicles flex (articulation is the same as flex) depending on how far up the ramp they get, the degree of the ramp, and the wheelbase of the vehicle. the farther the more flex (articulation) the truck has and thus a better RTI score!

now travel is the measure of how far the suspension goes from being compltely unloaded (tire hanging in the air) to comelptely stuffed (tire or suspension componenets limit any more stuff) the more travel is not always good as if you get too far you can start bending and breaking parts due to misalignment.

hope that helps some!

this is my bronco 'flexing' or articulating on my gooseneck...



-cutts-

 

double post! please delete

 

cutts covered most of it, but there is something to say of travel depending on how you are going to use your rig. Camburg is know for making great suspension systems for desert racing. In desert racing you want a lot of travel to soak up the whoops and jumps at speed. A whole different perspective compared to rockcrawling. Articulation is the name of the game in rockcrawling whereas travel is it for desert racing. The TTB is actually very good to build for desert racing and is revered there. Go over to Pirate now and see how a lot of the guys are changing their tune now that Lance has got into desert racing.

 

Thanks guys. That does help me.

I'm not going to build my 85 f150 w/ttb for rockcrawling due to the hassle of upping the strength of the front end. I'm just planning on a sas with a big axle up there.

My 89 bronco on the other hand is going to get the front beefed up thru a camburg system.

Wouldn't more travel = more flex?

 

Rockcrawling you want solid front and rear axles. Walker Evans tried a rock buggy with independent suspension front and rear which failed in competition. However even the rockcrawlers have found that too much flex is bad in some situations and they will limit it by using their winch to snug their axle down.

Desert racing where you are hitting things at high speed the trend has been independent suspensions at least in the front and sometime in the rear too. The TTB has been copied by other manufacturers as it provides huge travel and can be beefed up easily. A-arm suspensions are gain in popularity now that it is norm for the vehicle manufacturers.

I thought that cutts' explanation about flex vs. travel is spot on. I don't know how else to explain it better. Maybe someone else can?