Pirate 4x4 banner

drivers side Front 3-link.... is there room?

16K views 40 replies 19 participants last post by  vetteboy79 
#1 ·
I'm running out of space ! I just finished 4-linking the rear of the Xj and i'm looking at doing away with my RE style radius links in favor of a 3-link. I hastily welded a 3/8 plate truss across the diff of the HP 44 going in. I don't really like the idea of a super-braced pass. side axle mount for a 3- link as i'm worried about the link separation with the center of the lowers mounted at the centerline of the axle tube. That leaves me with running a link on the drivers side. I'm not scared of cutting sheet metal as i already have to worry about covering up holes for a flipped 231doubler to a flipped 300 and two rear upper links :smokin:


Any pics of driver side 3-links? i've found several for tj's but not sooo much luck with the xj.

thanks in advance !
Adam
 
#2 · (Edited)
Not the best picture, but its a picture I guess.



I don't know how well the lower links being at the center of the axle will be. I would imagine if you are going with a 3-link you would want them towards the bottom, so the 3rd link effectively keeps the pinion angle intact.
 
#4 ·
You guys really need to get over the "centerline of the axle" theory. It's bullshit. Having the link mounted at the axle centerline does NOT suddenly create infinite force on the other links, and in fact it's not much different than mounting it anywhere else.

FWIW, I run a single upper link on the driver's side in my XJ, with a passenger-drop diff, trussed all the way across. No biggie. Other folks have done them on the opposite sides too.

I dunno if it'll help your situation much, but here's how I snuck it in there...





 
#5 ·
My upper link is on the passenger side, as is Paul Sinclair's, and we've wheeled the dog shit out of them, both crawling and hauling ass. Mine has been that way for 6+ years. And, my lowers are in the middle of the tube (actually, slightly above center line).

Build it right, make it strong, make the seperation enough, and don't worry about what side it's on. I adjusted mine one time, increased the seperation at the axle to increase anti-dive, and it works well. If you want it on the drivers side, go for it, it can be done....but don't worry that you shouldn't put it on the pass side.
 
#12 ·


;)

As far as I'm concerned, the upper link is pretty much only there to keep the pinion angle correct.
Also, welding the upper on the pumpkin brings up the cast issue, plus if you have a lot of uptravel there might be concerns with contact of parts above it. Had to consider the driveshaft being in that same general area as well.
 
#21 · (Edited)
Here are four links to photo albums of my setup. I put a long arm 3 link on the drivers side of an xj with 4.0L/AW4/NP231/HP D44 front/LP D44 rear. It took some work, but it fit. I did rotate the 231 up just a touch, used a stock tranny mount, have a flat crossmemeber even with the bottom of the frame rails, modified the AW4 shifter a little to put the shift arm closer to the tranny, and redid the t-case shifter so the lever at the t-case points up and there is one link from that lever to the stock tunnel mounted cab shift lever. Some of the above posters have manual tranny's, different t-cases, or run shorter arms. All can be made to work with enough reworking of things. Jeff

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8IbtGzVo3bMoc

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8IbtGzVo3bMo-

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8IbtGzVo3bMpY

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8IbtGzVo3bMp6

I should mention that I used 4x6 box tubing cut in half to plate my frame rails, so the mounting of my crossmember may look a bit different. Here is an album of the frame rail work prior to doing the long arm 3 link front.

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8IbtGzVo3bMqU
 
#28 ·
Nice work Jeff. I've learned to expect nothing less from you.:smokin:

So how are the Dodge rear springs working out? I was amazed about how soft the spring rate was.
 
#23 ·
That's interesting. I feel the vertical separation of the links at the frame is pretty minimal though. My setup puts the link up into the transmission tunnel. I'm not saying your setup doesn't work, but I just wanted to point out the minimal vertical separation of the links at the frame. Jeff
 
#24 ·
When I look at my truck, I fee like if I would have put the upper link on top of the pumpkin that I would have issues if the drivers side ever fully compresses.
I can't really see that upper link not having clearance problems. Maybe its just me?
 
#27 ·
Thanks for the input. Jeff, nice work man. Like i said i know my way around the link calcs after setting up the rear 4-link. I was looking for some pics (thanks jeff) of the upper link actually fitting. Do you guys think that 1.5" .25 wall dom is strong enough? I have plenty of that or 2" .25 wall.....

Thanks !
Adam
 
#33 · (Edited)
(not directed at anyone)

The pinion angle changes in relationship to the TC, the caster angle changes in relationship to the ground. You can't contol both at the same time especially with a long travel suspension. A radius arm suspension is ideal for pinion control and a 4 link will control camber (ideally), you can't have it both ways without IFS.

At least that's how I picture it...:flipoff2:
 
#34 ·
Caster and pinion angle both change angle relative to the ground and to the transfer case, as the axle moves up & down; however, you're correct in stating you can't control their angles independently. You can modify the arm lengths and their relative mount positions in an attempt to point the diff at the transfer case over the range of axle movement, or you can minimise caster changes, but you can't "maximise" both at the same time. On the road, with a stiff suspension, axle movement is minimised, thus changes in caster and/or pinion angle is minimum. Off-road, maximum swings in axle position can easily result in drive shaft joint binding. So I'd approach design to insure minimal binding off-road, while maintaining minimum caster angle (~5*) over the narrow band of axle movement expected while driving smooth roads. I'd think high speed "dessert" driving would require you to maximise caster change control, while also paying attention to u-joint binding as the suspension bottoms out.
 
#35 ·
I was thinking along the same lines as vetteboy, that castor and pinion angle do not change independently from each other and therefore you want your castor to stay consistent throughout the range of motion. In order to do that the links need to be parrallel to eachother and the same length in order to insure that.

And in a radius arm design, the castor angle changes throughout the range of movement. Although the pinion is always going to be pointing to the same spot.
 
#39 ·
hey vette boy,
i need a little advise for the new build of my cherokee......yeah i know my links and stuff are small you told me that last time....so now im putting a 9 inch in the rear with a hp 44 front this time im going to be using 1 or 1.25 hiems at the axle and a poly bushing at the frame for the front and hiems at both ends on the rear.....i plan on changing from a triangulated 4-link front to a 3-link with a panhard bar front....i just really dont know a whole lot about the 3-links ofther than you want to try and get the panhard bar the run in the same plane as the steering linkage....i am thinking of running the upper link on the passenger side.....how exactly will this work in conjuction with the panhard bar going from driver side to passenger side?.....
 
#40 · (Edited)
hey vette boy,
how exactly will this work in conjuction with the panhard bar going from driver side to passenger side?.....
vette is asleep but here my take

the track bar should angle toward the front side of the axle upper link mount

these are great (top of pic)

the offset ones let the track bar tower be in front of the axle centerline

http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=666462&highlight=offset




I cut my own offset into some 2x3 tube
i saw these and figured I could cut some off set into the upper arm axle end also




 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top