Building or rebuilding a drop axle lift?

[jroyster06]

Ive got a 36v TXT that I am almost done with an AC swap and 48v swap on it. Obviously the speed is going to be dramatically different than before. Ive built a couple of carts. The last one I built was 48 volts and ran 30mph and was a little unstable. Being as how my personal cart will be much faster, I would like to fix that problem.

I have some RXV's waiting for rebuild that I thought about scabbing the front suspension off of. Thinking maybe the bump steer stability was due to the straight axle. Made posts elsewhere and some suggested adding caster, which I didn't consider.

Currently it has a cheap 6" drop axle lift. The camber is off. I have thought about cutting off the spindle baskets and fixing the camber and adding caster by tilting them a couple of degrees. I would likely widen it as well, adding 2-4" over all, for stability, then matching the rear with simple spacers.

For added stability, I thought about fabricating a steering stabilizer and potentially adding ladder bars and front traction bars from a center point under the frame with hiem joints. Maybe its over kill?

Eventually this cart will be 72 volts. Would like to build a suspension for it that is overkill and stable as heck. Just curious if anyone has tackled a project like this with success and can offer guidance.

[StoveBolt]

Wouldn't a long travel lift kit be a better choice?

[jroyster06]

Not if it doesn’t have the proper geometry. I would be in the same boat. Plus, this is a pavement queen. Not an odd road cart. So no real need for long travel. Additionally, they are hard to find right now.


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[StoveBolt]

[slonomo]

I'm a big proponent of a double wishbone/dual a arm style front suspension. I've used the Jakes LT and like the way it handles and it can be adjusted to some degree. With the right parts it can be fully adjustable like a race atv suspension. If you don't need the long travel, just set it up a little more on the stiff side. The steering difference at speed is amazing with a rack and pinion unit.

Another thing you could try is to graft in an atv suspension. It sounds like you're not afraid of fabrication and this wouldn't be as difficult as it sounds. I've done it and it was the single best modification I ever did. The handling at 43 mph was fantastic, super stable, no bump steer, no wandering. The turning radius was also excellent, much better than stock. I usually drove it on smooth terrain so I used slightly stiffer coil overs and it worked beautifully.

I've owned several TXT's and none of them handled great with soft suspension. The stock leaf springs are too wobbly at speed. If you swap out the shocks for a set of VW coil overs it's much better but now there's no suspension movement and it rides rough over bumps. At 30 mph it's sketchy, wouldn't go any faster than that. 25mph is ok.