Long Travel Suspension

Long travel suspensions are the latest rage for sandrails to compliment recent engine advancements. Long travel suspension sandcars have grown in popularity because shock technology and wheel travel have evolved dramatically due to off-road racing over the last 5-8 years.

Funco has been the leading manufacturer of long travel suspension sandcars for years, but we haven't lost focus on what's important, excellent handling. Most people think that "more is better" with suspension travel, but this isn't always true. There's a limit to everything and trade-offs arise when going too far with suspension travel in sandcar applications.

Super long suspension travel (20" and more) can raise the center of gravity (CG) to a point where body roll affects the safety and flat handling characteristics of the car. When the CG is raise too far above the axle centers, the car will naturally lean when pitched into a turn. That's why Funco limits suspension to an optimal travel length, the result of our extensive experimentation with off-road suspensions. This keeps the car flat and safe when turning at high speed.

So don't assume that maximum suspension travel equals the best handling car, that's far from the truth. Super long suspensions and long wheelbased cars will soak up whoop-dee-dos pretty good, but they will not have the nimble handling characteristics needed for duning, which you'll find in Funco cars. Read about it below.

At Funco we have found a combination of long travel and low center of gravity that work remarkably well for overall good handling. As an example the BIG 5 Gen3 car above has 18" of travel in the rear. We use a 4 point setup to separate the shocks and air bags. The four contact points are the bolts at each end of the shock and two contact points for each end of the air bag. This allows the use of extra beefy air bags in tandem with heavy duty long travel King Shocks.

The new Gen4 car has 20" of travel and includes new style air bags with rubber bumpers internal to the bag. This extra travel is possible by using longer drive axles without increasing the rear wheel width by using mid-bd hubs. Gen 4 rear axles are 31" long, which allows the wheel travel to increase without increasing the CV angles. Maintaining the CV angles within the spec is important for strength and durability.

The picture below shows how we use the air bags on the front suspension. Since the front end is lighter and less demanding, weight-wise, this allows for our exclusive setup with the air bag surrounding the King Shock. The response time of air bags from a neutral preload far exceed those of other suspensions using coil springs. This is specifically how we get our incredibly smooth ride and flat handling characteristics. This picture also shows how sharp the front wheels can turn for those tight trails, a limitation other A-Arms front ends often have. 19" of travel is provided up front on our new Gen4, but it feels like 25" when you ride. Our cars love to turn, four wheel drifts are predictable and flat, regardless of passenger load. Talk about fun !

Too much travel up front can sacrifice steering geometry and durability. Bump steer can also become an issue, and as we mentioned a very common problem with excessive suspension travel is body roll during turns. Cars that lean during turns usually suffer from a high center of gravity (result of too much suspension height) and use of coil springs on the suspension. This is the key reason we urge you to "drive before you buy". Our design alleviates these pitfalls of sandcar design.

It doesn't take much experience to build a car that goes straight fairly well. Just use a lot of suspension, stretch the wheelbase to about 130”, and your sandcar will go straight pretty good over the big whoop-de-doos, assuming you know how to setup the shocks. Unfortunately a car like that won't turn or handle very good. Longer wheelbase cars lose agility, the longer they are the less agile they are.

For the mathematician.... longer wheelbases = less agility

You'll notice longer cars will feel like a bus on tight trails, having to use an excessive amount of turning brake on tight turns. Since duning is all about turning Funco designs cars with steering geometry ideal for turning, spinning, sliding, and jumping. Once you experience the handling characteristics in a test ride you'll understand the unique abilities of our cars. Find out yourself, firsthand with a ride with Grant!