Jon-
I have 2 long lower arms on both sides of the truck. The 3rd link is on
the drivers side arm. This is a new design idea we came up with. Seems
to work great. That way everything is moving in the same arch. And yes
the longer you make the links the better your articulation.
I used Jonny joints for my link ends. The have steel sleeves that are
surrounded by urethane. I know what you are talking about with the 3
point hitch. That is more like a rod end. I used all rod ends on my
steering links.
And yes, we made everything adjustable. This is not necessary, but gives
you some"dial in" room.
Tom
jon@dakota-truck.net wrote:
>biokiller@ameritech.net wrote:
>: Jon-
>
>: Go here http://swayaway.com/Suspension%20Frameset.htm This is all the
>: math part of it.
>
>
> Thanks, Tom! Good info!
>
>
>: As for a coilover set up. I put a 3 link on the front of my truck. You
>: can have a 4 or 5 link to. but that's when you have to watch for binding.
>: On a 3 link, the links stop the axle from rotating, and then you have a
>: track bar that keeps the axle from moving from side to side. If you put
>: a 4 or 5 link on, you could get ride of the track bar, and the upper
>: links need t obe triangulated in so to stop axle movement from side to side.
>: You can put the links pretty much anywhere, you just need to watch
>: binding. It is best if you have a fork lift to check this out.
>
>
> I've been checking out your offroading and bumper pics - it looks
>like you have a link on either side which ties into the frame, then
>goes to the bottom of the axle on each side, with a sort of drag link
>off the top of each bar (adjustable, I would guess?), that goes to
>the top of the axle, to create a sort of "Y"? Looks like those two
>links alone would keep the axle from rotating, stop it from moving
>back and forth, and keep it from twisting at the same time. I like
>how they extend back to almost the midpoint of the door - that should
>allow a wide arc as the axle raises and drops to allow it to articulate
>quite a bit and still keep the tire located nicely in relation to the
>wheel well. That idea is also something I hadn't considered before.
>(long links = big movement before binding)
>
> I haven't been able to figure out where your third link is though,
>unless it is that bar I see connected near the passenger side shock,
>that extends up towards the driver's side frame rail.. Some designs
>I have come across in my research have a V or Y that ties into both
>frame rails for the 3rd link so that is kind've what I was looking for.
>I don't know a whole lot about this stuff yet, but I would guess that
>the longer you make that 3rd link, the better your articulation can be?
>Seems like you would want to locate one end, say on the passenger side
>frame rail and the other end to the housing or axle on the driver's
>side (or vice versa - I suppose you would want to link it on the
>opposite side of the axle from the pumpkin). I assume you used some
>sort of pivoting fixture on all of the link ends? I'm not exactly sure
>what they are called, but coming from a farming background, such
>fittings are common on the 3 point hitch of a tractor.
>
> Thanks for letting me mine your brain for info! :-)
>
> If I ever decide to do something like this, I might try to mock
>it up in 1/8 or 1/16 scale first; that should allow me to physically
>try a lot of different designs without spending much money.
>
>
>
>
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Fri Feb 06 2004 - 11:45:43 EST