3-link front on FJ80

actionjackson · 12-14-05, 06:46 PM

Winter is here and I've decided to finally mod my front suspension on my FJ80 to accomplish 2 goals.

1. Correct my castor
2. Give me a lot more front flex.

Quick Stats on my current setup:
94 FJ80
lift 6" suspension + 1" spacers
stock radius arms

Don't laugh at my photo below

These are just ideas at this point. But what if I did a 3 link keeping my existing panhard sorta like my photo below. I've got the room to fab up a good diff hoop link point and I would connect the upper link just inside the frame.

For my lower control arms I would ditch the factory radius arms and go with a very heavy duty bent lower control arm and attach it at the same mount point on the frame and possibly reuse the same mount point on the axle.

Ideas or suggestions would be helpful. Thanks guys!

Tools R Us · 12-15-05, 09:57 AM

Are you going to do something like Brad/Ben's truck, do you still have the pictures of it?

actionjackson · 12-15-05, 10:17 AM

Thanks for reminding me about Brads truck. I did some digging and found the old pictures! This is exactly what I was looking for and didn't even think to look at his truck. I knew Ben did a trick job on both the front and rear but I didn't realize he did a 3 link in the front. These shots are almost exactly what I want to do. Thanks for the suggestion

If no one has any opinions of this setup this is what I'm going to do. I think the only difference is I don't want the lower arms to be that low.

Questions....I know Brad broke one of the heims on one of his front arms. Does anyone know what size he had? They look pretty beefy already but I want to make sure I go larger on mine. What kind of joint is that at the frame? Looks like a bushing. Does anyone have any suggestions of what kind of joints I should go with using this setup? Heims at the axle and some kind of bushing at the frame?

Thanks!

Uncle Ben · 12-15-05, 10:54 AM

Could you do Johnny Joints? They don't break, have plenty of rotation, greasable and are rebuildable. Unlike Heims they have some built in cushion also.

clownmidget · 12-15-05, 12:14 PM

Shawn, hope you make this happen soon! Can't wait to see how it would do.

One thought, if you are going to toss the front sway bar (you may have already) you can "raise" the connecting rod almost an inch by going to heims on the ends and that would reduce how much bend you'd need to introduce to the lower control arms.

actionjackson · 12-15-05, 12:49 PM

I just talked to Joe who has a very nice white Tacoma with our front axle. He did a similiar 3 link setup with the lower arms going over the tie rod instead of under. I'm leaning toward this solution. Now I just need to locate the ideal hardware for the job...

CreeperSleeper · 12-15-05, 03:15 PM

Wow... keep us posted.

clownmidget · 12-15-05, 03:45 PM

Well in that case, if you're going to have the control arms go over the connecting rod then you can do what I did and go to GM-1ton TRE's. You ream out the existing holes on the steering arms and since it's tapered you can "sit" the TRE's as low or as high as you'd like. I did this after seeing folks here getting this setup from Luke Porter at 4x4Labs.

Do you think the control arms protect the tie road? I've always thought so since they get so many scars but maybe Joe's experience shows it just is too close to other stuff to get nailed.

These just sold on Pirate but this size seems pretty reasonable - 2.5", 1.25" thread compared to a 3/4" heim.

Now get busy so we can all mooch off your experimenting

Quote:

Originally Posted by actionjackson

I just talked to Joe who has a very nice white Tacoma with our front axle. He did a similiar 3 link setup with the lower arms going over the tie rod instead of under. I'm leaning toward this solution. Now I just need to locate the ideal hardware for the job...

Waggoner5 · 12-16-05, 08:06 AM

Here are a couple of robbed pics of some upper control arms fabbed by ?. I saved them for future ref. There are plenty more. Go to my sig line and find the folder FZJ45.
Gary

HomeGrown · 12-16-05, 08:23 AM

here are a few pics of joeys set up to help yea out. wish i had so close ups

ridgerunner · 12-17-05, 08:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Waggoner5

Here are a couple of robbed pics of some upper control arms fabbed by ?. I saved them for future ref. There are plenty more. Go to my sig line and find the folder FZJ45.
Gary

Houlster on Pirate. His site: http://www.houlster.com/amigo/

Cool build stuff and axle swap.

ats4x4dotcom · 12-17-05, 10:19 PM

A freind has made his front a 4link, with panhard rod still, and thing gets 4 ft between bump stop, and diff using panhard rod.

This pic is mock up stage, and arms he made have swivels.

actionjackson · 12-18-05, 05:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Uncle Ben

Could you do Johnny Joints? They don't break, have plenty of rotation, greasable and are rebuildable. Unlike Heims they have some built in cushion also.

Thanks for the tips on Johnny Joints. 30 degrees of rotation compared to only 22* with a heim. A lot of other ppl say these johnny joints are very quiet compared to heims.

So far Poison Spider and Xtreme Engineering suggest using 1.5" .25 wall DOM sleeved wtih 1.75" .120 wall for my lower joints and 1.5" .25 wall DOM for the upper joint. I like the idea of using Johnny Joints with the threaded ends so if one ever breaks you can easily remove the old one and replace with a new one. Here are some from Currie that I may go with.

Since my lower arms have a bend in them I'm not sure if I can use 2 johnny joints on each end cause the arm may flop around to much. I may have to use a boulder bushing or something at the frame.

Thanks for everyone's comments. All are good ideas.

BiffS · 12-20-05, 05:31 PM

I have the Currie JJs in my FJ 40 - 4 link setup. Yep, they're quiet, and seem to move well, but here's the problem: they need a vice for a trail rebuild. I had a situation where one of the snap rings poped out and the link was loose. On a 4 link setup with no panhard bar, that's a disaster. A trail repair consisted of lots of rocks, grunt, sockets and channel lock pliers to get the bastard back in. ha HUGE waste of time. . . in future i'd go for Rubicon express ends that are made for H**ps, or perhaps one of the other vendors that make joints on this board. I wouldn't use heims for the simple fact that their wear can not be adjusted or comensated for in most cases and they will start to clunk and bang once the nylon, teflon or whatever wears down.

Believe me, with 18" stroke Fox airshox, i don't twist my control arms up enough to need the extra degrees of rotation (30 compared to 22) but one end that could rotate a lot might save some hyperextenstion of a lesser joint. . .

actionjackson · 12-20-05, 05:56 PM

Thanks for the info on JJ. I'm just going to get an extra one for a spare so I can just swap the entire thing out if one breaks or falls apart.

So far here's my list of parts:

Quantity (7) - 2.5" Currie JJ with forged 1.25" 12 threaded stud
Length (10') - 2" DOM .250 walled tubing for lower and upper links
Quantity (6) - 1.25" 12 Tube Adapters
.25" Scrap metal for building mounts/tabs

Working on my diagram now for proper mounting and location of the 3 link. Stay tuned.

concretejungle · 12-22-05, 12:20 PM

Thanks Gary for bringing up putting the control arms on top, i think that's way cool. Plus get's them out of the way.

My vote says put the arms on top and use Johnny joints (just don't smoke to many of them

)

cruiseroutfit · 12-22-05, 12:38 PM

A local favorite joint option.
http://www.summitmachine.com/flex.html

green_machine · 12-23-05, 05:10 PM

I realize I am realatively new to the 80 scene, but I would look at doing a cross-member of some type for the third link. Also the pic above showing the links, I am a little leary of having a frame mount without a boxed design. The amount of torsional stress is incredible.

You might also look at a balljoint style mount to the axle. Also, talk to PIG (polyperformance) before you go johnny joint. The maintenance on them is overlooked alot, and a soft polly will probably do you fine.

PKP80 · 12-23-05, 05:12 PM

Shawn you weren't kidding about getting started on the 3-Link. Looking forward to reading the step by step and eventually seeing the final product flexed. Loving the write up so far.

Sam

actionjackson · 01-10-06, 02:28 PM

Got my joints and tube adapters today! DOM tubing will be here next week!

A full writeup is on my site at:
http://actionjackson.com/cruiser/mods/20060110.asp

milesstarkey · 01-10-06, 04:25 PM

where did you decide to get those joints from and for how much?

actionjackson · 01-11-06, 07:30 AM

I got them from Currie Enterprises for around 36 ea including jam nuts.

Scottb · 01-15-06, 10:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by actionjackson

I got them from Currie Enterprises for around 36 ea including jam nuts.

I would also like to do this to my 1990 toy truck with a FJ80 axle later, so keep us posted on it.
Action jackson, you have a great website.
I was going to do a trail with you and some other guys this last summer with my blazer, but I parted it out, and decided to build my 1990 toy truck instead.

Later,
Scott

AMMO · 01-28-06, 06:48 PM

Shawn,

How far along are you in the process with this????????????????????????????????

And don't forget the pic's!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

-Matt

actionjackson · 01-28-06, 09:36 PM

Hey guys.. Everything is gong great on the 3 link. Sorry I haven't posted up in a while. Here are some progress pics.

Chop Chop Chop..those old axle mounts are history

Started my new mounts which will be above the tie rod.

3rd link tower is just about done...it's exactly 5" above the top of the diff. I will have verticle seperation of around 10 inches between links.

All my buildup pics with high res images are here:
http://www.actionjackson.com/cruiser/mods/20060110.asp

This has got to be the funnest project I have ever done to my cruiser so far. I should be done in a week or 2.

ats4x4dotcom · 01-29-06, 01:19 AM

I can see cross over steering, and new panhard rod mounts coming soon

Waggoner5 · 01-29-06, 07:23 AM

That is nice work. Are you buying the bracketry or making it. If you bought it...from who?
Gary

Eskimo · 01-29-06, 09:16 AM

The Amigo with the Radius arm suspension.. Does that behaive like a RE long arm Jeep setup, where it jacks one corner up when you get on the throttle?

(Just brought my FJ80 front axle home yesterday)

Tools R Us · 01-29-06, 12:14 PM

Looking good!

The diff cover is very thin, I would plate it to spread the load, before welding the upper tower on, something like this?

http://www.marlincrawler.com/htm/armor.htm

actionjackson · 01-29-06, 09:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Waggoner5

That is nice work. Are you buying the bracketry or making it. If you bought it...from who?
Gary

Your just being nice! My stuff looks like crap compared to bought links. Although I will except your kind words...Thanks man!

I made all the bracketry from 3x6 rectangular tubing. I figured it fits my johnny joints pefectly and is already bent. Just a little cutting and your done.

Hard part is cuttin the holes in the steel. Here's an up close shot of the tower.

I am going to be cutting a diff guard very similiar to Marlins to slap on there. However I also want one that covers the very bottom of the housing so I'm still thinking of how I want it done.