I dissagree with you Nissan, as the drawing below will prove that tire size means nothing in your statement, thus negating your point of flex vs tire size.
Now. Allow me to explain. The lowest thick black line is the ground with a simulated drop off with the skinny line showing the "continued" path of the ground. The thick black circles are the "35s" w/ axle lines and the thick red lines are the "33s" w/ axle lines. There are horizontal proportion lines running horizontal from both to show the theorectical path of these tires. With the "33s" being smaller, the axles are closer to the ground which is shown by the axle line from both (the skinny red and black lines). This being said, the blue lines are the approximate line of travel for when the tires drop off of the ledge. You will notice that they are parallel. This shows that the rear supension will have IDENTICAL flex patterns from tire size to tire size, as showing that tire size has no effect on flex patters to a certain extent (obviously once you get to the point of the blue line crossing the point of the drop off and you will get into the area of contact with the frame, but this isnt the study here, so that should be negated from thought).
With 0" of down travel, the rear end will compensate for all flex which will unload the rear suspension much quicker when the front of the truck drops into a hole. The front of the truck is much heavier than the rear which is why the front tires wouldnt just "float" when brought over a hole in the ground, it will drop into that hole, bringing the front of the truck downward to meet the ground, so then your "front locker" argument is as well....mute, the rear locker would be the important one here (in DOWNWARD travel, in upward travel, you are correct, a front locker would be VERY important here). Anyway, the point here is that without downtravel the rear axle would need to compensate for ALL flex where in the situation of having front downtravel, your front would cover for some of that flex. This would make the "blue lines" in the drawing be steeper for a vehicle with no downward travel which would cause the rear tire to lift before the smaller tire would (as shown before the flex patterns are IDENTICAL in both situations).
Sorry for this whole big rant, i just wanted to prove this situation by a simple drawing with an explanation. No hard feelings Nissan, as this was in NO WAY a personal attack on anyone. Still enjoy wheeling with you
. I hope this can clear up any confusion in this debate.
