Why More Brakes?
It's a Matter of Physics
When you lift a truck in this manner, you're fighting three major changes in the braking dynamics: rolling inertia, tire diameter, and weight transfer. When using a much heavier, larger-diameter wheel and tire combo, there's a lot more rotating inertia compared with the stock wheels. As the larger tire is rotating, it takes more energy to stop the rotation compared with stock. Secondly, the increase in the tire diameter also changes how effective the braking force is. Braking force is F=T/R (T is braking torque; R is radius). Braking torque isn't changing if we don't change the brakes, so as you increase the tire radius, your braking force goes down. Last, lifting the suspension changes where the vehicles mass center is relative to the suspension. This effectively increases the weight that is transferred to the front wheels, making the brakes work even harder. So, when lifting a truck, there's more to consider than just how cool it looks afterwards.
Slalom:
The Kelderman truck exceeded our expectations when hefted through our 600-foot slalom test. We saw a best of 55 mph, which for a stock heavy truck is great, but on a lifted monster? It's great! The best truck we've tested is a modified Dakota running 64 mph. The truck showed a fair amount of body roll, but the Bilsteins, stabilizer bar, and stiff side-walled Nittos still gave a great performance. Every part of the suspension contributes to the handling characteristics of the truck, and this system is well executed.