I am in the planning stages for how I will be setting up the suspension on my stretched 40 project that will be running 80 axles. I have no experience with linked suspensions, especially fabbing a properly setup 3 link from scratch. While I am a fairly quick learner and would probably figure it out alright, the idea of a pre-engineered 3 link setup, even if I have to pay extra, is attractive.
4WU makes a 3 link kit for the 80s. Comparing with my 80 in the driveway, the area on the 40 frame where the link mounts would land is about the same inside width as the 80, maybe a bit wider. However, the mounts land where the frame is not parallel like on the 80 frame and are widening on the 40 frame. This could be fairly easily remedied by making a thin wedge on the inner frame rails to make a parallel section of the correct width matching the 80 frame. Alternatively, I can utilize the 4WU axle mounts and links and make my own frame mounts that mimick the 4WU mounts geometry. Seeing pics like these make it look like it would be easy to slap the whole setup on easy. This would just leave me with the panhard to figure out.
One issue I can see is the top link will interfere with the 2F passenger side bell housing mount. I will be running a 60 4 speed, black box and split case, so I could remove this mount in favor of the 60 cross member. This may be why most 40 link setups (not many with detailed build threads) I see have the top link on the driver's side. My understanding, however, is that the top link would ideally be located near the diff as on the 4WU kit for pinion rotation reasons. I am also running the exhaust down the driver's side.
Thoughts? Better off starting from scratch? Maybe see if they would sell me just the axle brackets? I will be doing a lot more research before making a decision. I'll have a bare frame to stare at and take measurements on in a few weeks.
4WU makes a 3 link kit for the 80s. Comparing with my 80 in the driveway, the area on the 40 frame where the link mounts would land is about the same inside width as the 80, maybe a bit wider. However, the mounts land where the frame is not parallel like on the 80 frame and are widening on the 40 frame. This could be fairly easily remedied by making a thin wedge on the inner frame rails to make a parallel section of the correct width matching the 80 frame. Alternatively, I can utilize the 4WU axle mounts and links and make my own frame mounts that mimick the 4WU mounts geometry. Seeing pics like these make it look like it would be easy to slap the whole setup on easy. This would just leave me with the panhard to figure out.
One issue I can see is the top link will interfere with the 2F passenger side bell housing mount. I will be running a 60 4 speed, black box and split case, so I could remove this mount in favor of the 60 cross member. This may be why most 40 link setups (not many with detailed build threads) I see have the top link on the driver's side. My understanding, however, is that the top link would ideally be located near the diff as on the 4WU kit for pinion rotation reasons. I am also running the exhaust down the driver's side.
Thoughts? Better off starting from scratch? Maybe see if they would sell me just the axle brackets? I will be doing a lot more research before making a decision. I'll have a bare frame to stare at and take measurements on in a few weeks.