Air bumps onto a comp crawler

[Scott@Rockstomper]

Knowing some of the intense situations and dropoffs involved in rockcrawling, we added a set of SwayAWay (http://www.swayaway.com)4" travel air bumps.

Start out by mocking things up a bit:

http://www.rockstomper.com/images/products/custom/shopjunk/mantis4/winter06/IM000393.JPG

A little cardboard template work makes life a lot easier:

http://www.rockstomper.com/images/products/custom/shopjunk/mantis4/winter06/IM000394.JPG

Cardboard cut into metal parts and tacked in, then we got to attaching the air bumps to the chassis:

http://www.rockstomper.com/images/products/custom/shopjunk/mantis4/winter06/IM000399.JPG

And everything welded up, painted up, (had to mask the shocks and hydro cylinder to keep paint off):

http://www.rockstomper.com/images/products/custom/shopjunk/mantis4/winter06/IM000402.JPG

In the front, having proper bumpstops was of the essence. With the new SwayAWay shocks in, we found a little more compression travel available in the suspension.

Full bottom-out:

http://www.rockstomper.com/images/products/custom/shopjunk/mantis4/winter06/IM000405.JPG

Fortunately, the Diamond Axles are shaved top and bottom. That's a big chunk of where the extra room came from. :)

http://www.rockstomper.com/images/products/custom/shopjunk/mantis4/winter06/IM000407.JPG

Striker pad next to the diff:

http://www.rockstomper.com/images/products/custom/shopjunk/mantis4/winter06/IM000410.JPG

Air bump on the chassis:

http://www.rockstomper.com/images/products/custom/shopjunk/mantis4/winter06/IM000431.JPG

All pretty:

http://www.rockstomper.com/images/products/custom/shopjunk/mantis4/winter06/IM000433.JPG

http://www.rockstomper.com/images/products/custom/shopjunk/mantis4/winter06/IM000451.JPG

[J Kimmel]

How are you liking the SAW airs instead of FOX? I am using those in the rear of my new pickup.

[Ghettojeep]

Nice, I've always wanted to play ewith those. Adds another dimension to your suspension dampening and ways to tweak it. Do you think you will play with the other shock at all now that you added those?

[Scott@Rockstomper]

So far, the SwayAWay air shocks seem like a pretty nice setup, fairly controlled, predictable.

The air bumps do add another dimension to the suspension; it's interesting to tune on the air bumps and shocks separately, but I will still be tweaking with both individually. Already have been tweaking with the shocks, and plan on some more tinkering with the air bumps as well.