4wheel underground 3Link Build (1 Viewer)

[Noahrob]

Hi,

My name is Noah and I live in Socal. My '89 4runner is already SAS'd, and works great, but it is time to go to the next level, a 3Link front. Not sure if this would be interesting to anybody else, but I thought a detailed (painfully so sometimes) recount of what I am up to might help the next guy, and also give me a chance to ask for help...anyway, here we go...

One thing I should mention, as it might help someone else, is that my fabriciaton skill level. If the range is from newbie to journeyman, I am somewhere in the neighboorhood of novice to intermediate. I built the bumbers etc... on this and my other truck but have just been learning as I go and as need dictates. In other words, I ain't no pro...


First pic is what the truck looked like. Specs are 22re, 5 speed, dual cases, diamond in the back and an axle out of '83 in the front. Becasue I usually run 37's, I had to put the doughnuts on to fit the truck into the garage.

 

[Noahrob]

I'll post some more pictures as soon as I shrink them down.

Lower links are 2.25 OD .250 Wall DOM with a 1.25 Johnny Joint on one end and a 1.25 Heim on the other.
Upper link is 1.75 OD .250 Wall DOM with a 1.00 Johnny Joint on one end and a 1.00 Heim on the other. Turns out that I need a 7/8 Heim so I need to cut the link, get a new bung and a new heim...arggh...but such is life.

Links were hand me downs so luckily the upper link is plenty of long.

Shocks are FOA 14" with a 16" lower spring and 12" upper. The valving is medium (I think, I'll have to double check) and the springs are 150/250.

Also, before I did anything I got a FROR cross member since I was running a trail gear under the transfer case style. Becasue my truck used to be IFS, I had to cut off the torsion bar brackets...nothing is ever easy or straight forward, however, the plasma cutter made life easier. One thing to note is that on my truck, the fule line and brake lines go right in front of where the FROR frame brackets mount and exactly where the 4wheel underground frame bracket goes. I did not want to take all the lines off so simply removed the bolts that hold them to the frame and tucked everything out of the way and protested them with a piece of sheet metal.

 

[Noahrob]

OK, so after I cut the cross meember bracket, I spent a fair amount of time trying to determine exactly where the frame side bracket goes. The holes in the bracket do not line up with the holes in the frame and even if they did, the bracket is straight and the frame is not. I finally settled on 17.5" forward of the stock cross member that runs right in front of the gas tank. This spot got the bracket pretty tight to the frame on the top. I may end of moving them back an inch so as not to push the front axle too far forward, we'll see once we get everything mocked up and in place. Got the axle out and ready to be preped. I'm not sure what to do about the arms so will take them to be bored out tomorrow and run GM TRE's, assuming they are the same size shank as the Toy's...look like 7/8 but I will check in the morning.

Not super thrilled about welding to the stock Toy housing as I have heard horror stories, but we'll find out soon enough.
I am still undecided about what to do for the upper shock mount. Some ideas include, lengthen the hoops I have, bend new hoops (although I only have a 120 degree die) or use a piece of 1/4 plate adn build a tower. Regardless, the old hoops have to come off.

That's it for day 1, not much, but a start. At this rate, plus the fact that I had two kids, a wife and a full time job, I will be lucky to have my truck ready for Swamp lake in March...but I didn't want to wait.

Feedback <flamesuit on> welcome!

 

[2ndGenToyotaFan]

I look forward to following this thread!

 

[85+92]

plus the fact that I had two kids

good call you'll get much more done now!!

lookin good!

 

[nocents]

Great start keep us posted!

 

[Noahrob]

OK, made some progress today. Ordered the heim I needed for the upper link and the GM TRE's for the tie rod. Also, my buddy let me borrow the reamer so I can adjust the steering arms to have the tie rod mount from the bottom. Of course, I failed to take into consideration that the 23mm Toyota thread and the 7/8" GM thread are different. Not sure what to do this yet.

I also got the bracing welded to the frame, outside only on the passenger and three sides on the driver side to support the push from the panhard. This took a long time due to the amount of grinding and coffee invovled.

Posted a pic of the frame.

 

[hudyhue]

Nice so far ... Buy a star and keep the pics coming seems like it's going to be some good reading

 

[Noahrob]

OK, today was 'supposed' to be a work day, but as it turns out, I ended up hanging with the baby in the morning and then again in the afternoon, which is cool, she is a lot of fun. I did get a few things done though. First, I picked up the tube to make my panhard bar and also a stick of 1.5OD .120 DOM for bumpers and roll cage re-enforcement. The full stick of 1.5 was 22 feet long instead of 20ft and doesn't fit in my garage. I am hesitant to cut it until I know exactly what I am building...that always bites me in the end. Also, the 1 3/8" tube for the panhard was almost 4x more expensive per foot than the 1.5" because of availability.

Also, I cut off the spring perches and shock mounts. This was a LOT of grinding and cut off wheels, even after the plasma cutter because I did not want to go through the axle tube. Of course I swept the shavings etc..out of the garage, it rained, and now there is rust in the concrete of my driveway, which my wife thinks is awesome!

I ended up using the reamer on the bottom of the steering arms so I can just reuse the tie rod I have. I went about an 1/8 shallower than the other side and sucked the TRE in with brute force. I will have to tighten a little more once the arms are back on the axle...it will either fit or break, no surrender!

Finally, I started mocking up where the axle brackets would go. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated, both front and back as well as left right. How exact do you think I need to be, I mean is this a margin of error of 1/8" or .001"?

Pics soon...

 

[Mace]

Why are you making your lower links out of material that is easier to bend than your upper links?

 

[Noahrob]

You are so right, I made a typo. The upper link is 1.75 and the lowers are 2.25, both .250 wall.

 

[Noahrob]

A few updaes on this day before Christmas. First, a little feedback on Brian and 4wheelunderground...this guy is first class. I have asked a 1000 quesitons and he has patiently answered them all. As for his product, it is impressive, the fitment is great and does what I wanted it to do, which is take the science out of building a three link. In other words, I was afraid of figuring out anti squat and IC, etc...and by using Brian's kit, I can just put it together...I'll obviously repoort back when it is done so you know how it works, but so far so good.

As for today, I reamed out my sterring arms (again) to get a better fit so I could mount my tie rod from the bottom and then mounted them (although without the preload spacers, which I now think was a mistake). I also cleaned up teh axle to get it ready for some welding, which took a while. Finally, I tacked the brackets in place.

 

[Noahrob]

You can see how well these things fit and also how tight the fit. I think the only thing I will have to adjust is my steering stop by about 1/4 inch so the steering arm doesn't hit the panhard tower.

 

[sparticus]

I wonder why the panhard tower isnt back a half inch or so it seems kinds far out in front of the axle to me. I will be watching because i hope to three link my front in the next year get as much pics as possible

 

[Noahrob]

Great questions, maybe go to Brian's site, 4wheelunderground.com and ask him. I know he posts here as well, under teh user name Tacorunner.

 

[sparticus]

Will do, how long of coil overs are you running in the front? Also with the length your running will you have to come up through the hood or wheel well?

 

[4WheelUnderground]

I wonder why the panhard tower isnt back a half inch or so it seems kinds far out in front of the axle to me. I will be watching because i hope to three link my front in the next year get as much pics as possible

If you pull the mount back, it starts to interfer with the upper link bracket. By pushing it forward it sits down in a small area between the upper link and Drag Link. Allows for a bit more travel clears everything with out having to bend a link. Plus if you go above the diff with the Panhard, your link or bracket starts to interfer with the frame during compression. As it is here, your 37" tire will max out in the wheel well the same time your panhard gets into the frame.

You also have to take into consideration where your coilover will mount and the bump stop, then anti sway bar tabs. There is a lot to fit in one spot.

 

[4WheelUnderground]

Noah

cycle the suspension the other direction, your clearance will get tighter.

 

[jynx]

This may seem like a dumb question, but how are the road manners of the 3-link front end? I really want to SAS my 90 pickup and I am thinking that I want to do a coil-over because it seems that it would be a little better ride and would definitely be better off-road, but I spend a lot of time on the road with this truck and before I drop the coin on parts, I am trying to get as much info on this set-up as possible.

The other reason I am looking at the three-link is that I feel like that with some frame work (maybe trimming and reinforcing to get more clearance over the axle) I could get a lower stance. I like the thought of 35's or even 33's without having a ton of air between the tire and fender sitting level, and coil-overs just seem to offer more tune-ability.

I also like that this kit will work with hi-steer.

I also have an 88 4Runner that I will be working on after I get the motor rebuilt that will be a family wheeler and might get the same treatment.

Thanks and Merry Christmas,

Tucker

**EDIT** Nevermind, I saw the warning on the 4wheelUG website, so on-road is a NO-NO... Oh well, I will keep researching and see what I can come up with.

 

[Noahrob]

sparticus, I am going to run 14" 2.0 FOA Coilovers, I already have them sitting in the garage ready to go. I will probably aim towards having 4-5" of uptravel and the rest as droop.

Noah