Granted I don't know much about custom suspensions but I do keep my eyes open. Another solution to your problem could be something like this where the person nickname "Hellbender" (dunno if he comes to this board or not) posted pics of his 4 link.
That would help from bashing the arms, but my current lower arms are at about 18 degrees with no weight in the Jeep, and I want to lower that angle to as low as possible with minimal lowering of the frame mounts. The reason I am doing this is with the spooled rear, the suspension forces body lean in corners, and flatter arms will help solve that.
Want to see something funny? Here is a shot at a diagram of what I want to see if it would work. I obviously suck at drawing stuff on the computer, but this kinda shows the axle, links and mount locations.
How the fawk would this work? I thought that you needed your lower bars as close to parallel with the ground as possible.
like this \_
not like that ^
WTF?
Do they both work the same? Could you just flip that same design upside down? Mine were bent the opposite way, but if it would work, I would flip them to save ground clearance.
Rock Taxi- Are your top links a lot shorter than your lower links? If so won't your pinion rotate down as your suspension droops and as it stuffs? The way I see it the arc your upper link swings will be shorter than the lower link arc causing the top of the axle to rotate forward.
Shaw I don't think the geometery of the link matters, the suspension only "sees" the straight line between the mounts. If you look at drag racers rear suspension, they adjust the mounting postion of the lower link front mount to help the suspension work with the specific track conditions. If they want to plant the tires hard they adjust them up, if they want to soften the bite, they move the lower link front postion down. By moving the front mount of the lower link they are in affect moving the instant center the rear supsension sees, or the weight transfered to the rear wheels. Not really applicable here, but it gives you an idea of what the 4 link is capable of.
Yes, you are correct. They are somewhat shorter, and it does change, slightly. It seems to be not enough to matter. I don't have driveline bind yet....
There is no real downside to mounting those to the top of the tube. Doing this will decrease arm angle inturn improving antisquat values and probably lowering the IC/decreasing roll axis angle. You just want to take intoconsideration the load is now gonna want to peel off the tabs. Make sure to get the welder nice and hot. Also it may be a good idea to use some 3/8" and/or make the tabs wrap around the axle tube more than usual. Good luck.
How the fawk would this work? I thought that you needed your lower bars as close to parallel with the ground as possible.
like this \_
not like that ^
WTF?
Do they both work the same? Could you just flip that same design upside down? Mine were bent the opposite way, but if it would work, I would flip them to save ground clearance.
While not suspension terminology literate enough to explain how it works, I am highly familiar with the abilities of that jeep. The owner is a good friend of mine and he drove it out from MO last year to run the Hammers with me.
Ran 4 trails in 4 days and drove it back home. Seemed to work just fine. btw- He never hung up on his arms once.
We ran Sledge, Wrecking Ball, Aftershock, and Claw.
Nothing really new to add, sounds like you guys have covered everything, except that to note that when you mount the control arm above axle centerline you are now trying to "stretch" the control arm, rather than "squish" it, make sure your rod end's threads are up to the task.
I was just surprised to see Jeep_TJ_Freak quoting me in his sig.....damn, wish I could have typed that day, nothing like quoting me fat fingers an all, and I've had some better lines that that, but thanks anyway, it's kinda flattering, you guys like me, you really like me!
there was a thread on the Gen4x4 discussion that this was brought up, it might be worth searching on. somebody had some formulas that showed how much more stress would be put on the axle brackets if they were above the axle.
it's been a month or two since I saw it, but there was a bit more stress. nothing that overbuilding couldn't take care of.
btw - tradin1 -> try a search and don't pile on another guys thread with off-topic questions.
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