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I did a few searches earlier and I’ll do one again when I get home but what’s the rule of thumbs on vertical separation at the axle and on the frame for triangulated 4 link suspension?
4 Link Vert. Separation
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The biggest rule of thumb I've learned from building link suspensions is that there are no rules of thumb. Every vehicle is going to be different and for that matter every driver is going to like somthing different. A lot of times following the "rule of thumb" on this board can get you into a mess. Just my $.02
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Your separation at the axle should be 25% of your tire dia. 40" tires should have approx. 10" of separation at the axle
You want as much as you can get. Extra verticle seperation at the axle does not prevent you from dialing in any of the good performance features of a link suspension. The only place it hurts you is in making things clear. The good thing it does is reduce the forces, stresses and deflections that the links, joints and tabs see.
6 inches could be fine if you use big heims, with rubber bushings you would want more. the ratio formula from tire size is good it will keep you out of trouble, but if you need to use less for clearance reasons you can design around it, and if you can fit more you should use it.
6 inches could be fine if you use big heims, with rubber bushings you would want more. the ratio formula from tire size is good it will keep you out of trouble, but if you need to use less for clearance reasons you can design around it, and if you can fit more you should use it.
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I had never seen this until the Petersens article, and looking through any book, I've never seen any formula that could be turned into this. I'd love to know where this one came from, as I rarely have seen this much vert separation.badboyblazer said:
As usual, I like Gordon's answer better.
not to pick but...wouldn't the mounts/tabs see more stress in exchange for less force on the links/heims?Gordon said:
The 25% tire thing is just a estimation, a pretty good one. Throw all these rules of thumb out the window and just use the damn 4-link calculator!!!
CJ Lagos said:
the frame side mounts see less stress, since the links see less stress.
on the axle mounts, the highest bending moment on the mount, is at the part closest to where it attaches to the axle. If the lower links are in the same place and the upper link is moved up to increase the verticle seperation then this bending moment remains the same. So for a similar designed bracket the stress would remain the same on the axle side mounting brakcets. If you increase the verticle seperation by lowering the lower links then even those stresses are reduced.
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Isn't the 25% of tire diameter formula missing a link length variable?
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The 25% thing is new to me but I knew about (for the most part) on the axle, more seperation the better. What about at the frame?
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I'm thinking 140%-160%... Somewhere in there
the 4link calculator makes link suspensions so much easier and so much less to learn, but if you want to make things even simpler than that, I've heard many people very pleased with their suspension following the rule of upper links 75% of the length of the lower links and seperation at the frame 75% of seperation at the axle.
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