SA-Front Suspension

[Dust]

Over the next year I'm looking at building 4 solid axle front suspensions in deference to the TTB I'll call them 'Go Quick and Survive' rather then 'Go Fast'.
Two of these are going to be fairly simple in that I am stuck using the Ford "C-Bushing" system and two are wide open.
All of them will be Coil Bucket designs and without the Bypass option though they will be using 2.5" Rezzys and bumps of some type. Each of the owners has said they are not looking for Prerunners as seen on the GFB site but rather something that is more suited to the terrain in Oregon and points north, and yet each has said they would like to haul ass.

On the two build from scratch I'm thinking that the RA will be set up much like the ones in the above picture... (if i just cross linked it right) obviously the axle end will be different.

Just curious what the few other SA runners have done?

Dust

[Polarcub]

I dont have alot of input on the SA set up but cool builds to watch....One of the things I have enjoyed with the Ultra 4 KOH rigs is seeing solid axle rigs go fast, it can be done. Cant wait to see the progress

[ChaseTruck754]

My thought in the past was to make something like this (sorry for the crappy pic - 1st thing a google search came up with) which is more of a 2 part radius arm with heim attachments at the axle end as well as the frame end.
Disclaimer: I haven't really looked at this in depth it was a bit of a passing fancy...

[bigJake]

www.wcb4x4.com These guys make extended radius arms for the older solid axle broncos.

[ChaseTruck754]

Here's a direct link to them since it took me a minute to find.
http://www.wcb4x4.com/mm5/merchant.mvc? ... y_Code=SSP

You could always 4 link the thing Dust... Here's a little "backwards" version a buddy did on a '71 bronco. And NO, that mount for the upper link is NOT done.

[SteveG]

If I were building a solid axle front end, I think I would just copy the newer Ford front suspension... rubber and all. Heims are great, but it seems like bushing deflection would be your friend in a radius arm solid axle front end.

I'd also have a hard time not using a coil-over. A single 2.5" shock would suffice for most trucks and as cheap as you can buy them (and coils) use these days, it would be hard to pass up.

[Dust]

My thought in the past was to make something like this

Yes I am leaning that direction combine this with the camburg I linked at the top.

[Dust]

You could always 4 link the thing Dust...

I've looked long and hard at this option.
I could still talk myself into it but... I'd only do it with a Panhard and at that point there is not much of an advantage over the RA, and the RA while it generally has huge anti-dive numbers is to me a known quantity, or I've BTDT decades ago and made it live.

[ESHALLBETTER]

Here's a direct link to them since it took me a minute to find.
http://www.wcb4x4.com/mm5/merchant.mvc? ... y_Code=SSP

You could always 4 link the thing Dust... Here's a little "backwards" version a buddy did on a '71 bronco. And NO, that mount for the upper link is NOT done.

Steve,

Can you post some more pics of this thing in the early bronco section? I would love to use some ideas on mine!

Thanks

[Dust]

If I were building a solid axle front end, I think I would just copy the newer Ford front suspension... rubber and all. Heims are great, but it seems like bushing deflection would be your friend in a radius arm solid axle front end.

Yes I hear you on that one and this part of the materials equation is far from settled in my feeble mind. IME with the SA I don't notice the bind issue at speed or on the highway, in fact it might be a desirable effect. Going to the Two Piece design above would allow one of the short link bolts to be pulled and then there would be virtually zero bind if I wanted maximum articulation. The reality is my 79 B ran for years at 18" of travel and it only bound up at full droop and opposite side stuff. No I never ran Baha*, but then none of these rides ever will ether.

I'd also have a hard time not using a coil-over. A single 2.5" shock would suffice for most trucks and as cheap as you can buy them (and coils) use these days, it would be hard to pass up.

LOL! Yes and no and I understand and it is close, but... For the application coil-buckets and new shocks are good enough and cost less all things considered.

*Phonetic gringo spelling

[ChaseTruck754]

Steve,

Can you post some more pics of this thing in the early bronco section? I would love to use some ideas on mine!

Thanks

If I must... It's a cool truck and I might as well share.




Dust - another thing I like about the 2 piece radius arms is the caster adjustment it allows. Not that it's a major benefit one way or the other but if you decide you need more caster you turn that upper link and you got it...

[Dust]

Dust - another thing I like about the 2 piece radius arms is the caster adjustment it allows. Not that it's a major benefit one way or the other but if you decide you need more caster you turn that upper link and you got it...

The main reason that I would build them that way!

[Dust]

A bit of a review: one of my builds, my 75, which is not a "Go Fast" as in PreRunner and yet has been on many occasions well over the century mark on dirt, suddenly had the budget eliminated; something about finishing the house, she said...
No budget combined with conceding to the fact that there is just not the space for a coil bucket design making it:

I'd also have a hard time not using a coil-over

something I can now agree to.
Oh how I grow weary of this economy

My question is what, if any feedback I can get on Doetsch shocks for a street trail application specifically a 2" coilover.
They can be had cheep enough but I know nothing about them.


Dust

[AussieRod]

My thought in the past was to make something like this (sorry for the crappy pic - 1st thing a google search came up with) which is more of a 2 part radius arm with heim attachments at the axle end as well as the frame end.
Disclaimer: I haven't really looked at this in depth it was a bit of a passing fancy...

Can someone please explain to me HOW this setup articulates? It looks like a drag car's ladder bars. They definately dont have any articulation. Those upper links should be longer or separated to make that work correctly.

[Travisfab]

I like that first picture!

[Dust]

Can someone please explain to me HOW this setup articulates? It looks like a drag car's ladder bars. They definately dont have any articulation. Those upper links should be longer or separated to make that work correctly.

Looks like a Jeep axle which has the rubber bushings pressed into the mounts on the axles so you can not see them in this pix.

[Dust]

I like that first picture!

Yup.

[Dust]

So any input?
They have been around for a long time.
But (again) I know little of them.

Me

[BajaBronco13]

http://www.wcb4x4.com These guys make extended radius arms for the older solid axle broncos.

Here is the link to the Radius Arms. Don't the Moss Bros run these on the their Class 3?

http://www.wcb4x4.com/mm5/merchant.mvc? ... y_Code=SSP

Chris