Flexing the 3 link (9 Viewers)

[thatcabledude]

And that's all you have to add?

Shhhhhhhhhhh!

 

[nukegoat]

It'd beyond level of interest, it's more level of skill, and Booger lives in a glass house.

Have you ever seen his nasty welds?

In all seriousness, it's a major structural component of a 6k missile with bus load of nunnage killing capacity.

I don't fault those that may have reservations.

YOLO

 

[TheBigBoy]

Yeah, that's all Chris.

 

[Delancy]

Yeah, that's all Chris.

I did listen.....

 

[SNLC]

I think in my case it's fab skill and suspension knowledge, not interest. I'd love to start cutting and fabbing new stuff but I just don't have the know-how. Just recently bought a welder, learning slowly on small projects. But it will be years before I'm confident enough to do any suspension work. That means having to pay somebody to do the work and have the truck sitting in a shop for weeks/months. Custom fab work is expensive no matter how you look at it.

In this hobby DIY is a necessity. Companies like Ruff Stuff make it easy with all their pre made brackets, but you still gotta be able to weld and have good knowledge of suspension geometry. I have neither so I'm stuck being a web wheeler. I'm awesome at fabrication inside my head just by looking at the truck. But I can't translate that into real world results.

Suggestion, since you have a small welder now. Learn everything you can from sites like Pirate and guys like Booger. You can set it up yourself even with a little whimpy 110v machine. Now, make a friend with somebody who knows how to really weld and has a bigger machine. Tack everything on yourself and pay/bribe your new bro to help you finalize it. Beer goes a long ways. Eventually, you will buy a bigger machine and be 100% solo.

I am right there with you Chris. There are plenty of folks out there doing suspension work that is beyond their skill set. Taking your own life in your hands is fine, putting the rest of us in possible danger out on the street with them is not.

I agree and disagree. I agree because I have seen some scary ass s*** on some peoples trucks and not just on the internet. I disagree because often on the net people think they know more than they do. Meaning it is a two way street. Many times I seen people who think they know call out another who actually knows. You know how all this kind of stuff goes then. In short, to know if a guy is doing jacked work, you need to know more than he does.

Cheers

 

[SNLC]

I did listen.....

Nice! I hope to do that myself before long and it is 100% for fixing castor which is all jacked up on a lifted 80 and bushings + drop brackets + plates + whateverthehell else is just plain LAME.

 

[Booger weldz]

For sure! Im think im gonna get pulled over for a mistaken drunk driver on friday nights after work. My junks all over the crowned, potholed country roads currently.


[


QUOTE="RMP&O, post: 9190080, member: 4221"]Nice! I hope to do that myself before long and it is 100% for fixing castor which is all jacked up on a lifted 80 and bushings + drop brackets + plates + whateverthehell else is just plain LAME.[/QUOTE]

Nice! I hope to do that myself before long and it is 100% for fixing castor which is all jacked up on a lifted 80 and bushings + drop brackets + plates + whateverthehell else is just plain LAME.

 

[TheBigBoy]

Want to send me the spare side 1 Chris .

 

[Delancy]

Want to send me the spare side 1 Chris .

Billy said he thinks he has arms and hardware he can sell, so assuming I'd be buying a pair.

If that's the case, it's all yours.

Will formalize my order with Billy tomorrow and let you know.

Hoping he still does the inserts for 80 TREs. Not hearing spacers and not running anything but Toyota on this axle.

(Hope the inherent humor was obvious.)

 

[TheBigBoy]

Yeah I spoke to Billy a few weeks ago. Shoot me a pm

 

[joker2040]

For the most part Im done (famous last words) with my suspension and it works good enough for the limits I put on my 80 these days.

I've said I'm "done" more times then I can count. Started with 33s and a 2.5" OME lift.... several sets of tires and suspension changes has left me here. Not to mention all the other junk along the way.

 

[joker2040]

Oh and for the record... the LC rarely sees asphalt. This is my DD/tow rig.

 

[maxamillion2345]

Maybe it doesn't count...


at all

 

[Delancy]

Yeah I spoke to Billy a few weeks ago. Shoot me a pm

Done.

Gonna jack this thread further:

So, I'm readying to tear my chit apart to correct the undesirable mannerisms and handling characteristics, all while fixing the lift issues I don't care for, due to those traits.

Since everyone's so comfy and fuzzy in the thread, no better place, since now is the time to 3 link, if what I'm suggesting is ludicrous.

1. HF Knuckles with 80 TREs.

2. Hydro assist (can finally do if tie rod is on the front, as planned, and box is ported for)

3. Raise the front pan hard at axle to match new drag link angle.

4. Raise rear pan hard at axle to match front pan hard angle.

5. Raise front and rear upper coil and shock to lower to 4".

6. Cut and turn for caster correction.

7. Now this is where debate should abound.

Opposed to a conventional 3 link, thinking of modifying the DS arm mount, effectively rotating it to the back side of the housing, in a vertical orientation.

The arm currently attaches to a plate that is captured at the front of the DS mount, but the arm only connects in a vertical manner. Pic of joint to follow, but all I'm proposing is doing away with the goofy plate.

8. Sway bars that function.

9. Remove any sheet metal that may contact tires at lessened elevation. Won't be much, as there's no rubbing, due to coil bind (have no bump drops), currently.

What I believe I'll accomplish, based on what y'all are saying is, correcting body roll, correcting bump steer, ( for lack of better term) correcting caster, gaining hydro assist, and it all appearing that it was meant to be that way, by eliminating unnecessary bracketry on the axle housing.

Looks matter as this would be the final polishing to establish permanent finish of the turd.

Detractors?

I'm all eyes.

Already bought knuckles, ready to round up the rest as determine how I'm gonna go about implementing.

 

[Delancy]

At the same time, re-coating, re-routing brake lines, permanently, depending on if ABS remains.

 

[Krazytoy]

For sure! Im think im gonna get pulled over for a mistaken drunk driver on friday nights after work. My junks all over the crowned, potholed country roads currently.]

We drove RMP&O's 80 all the way to KOH and back like that all while pulling a pop-up trailer, I though we were going to get pulled over for sure! Oh, and I was drinking most of the way... In the passenger seat!

Maybe it doesn't count...

at all

Dude you are going to die with all that steering in single sheer!
I'm joking of course.

 

[SNLC]

I will come right out an say it....

Mine with roughly 4" of lift is so far out on castor it is crazy. Almost 10*! I put in 3* OME bushings to hold me over for now. When we went to KOH I was out that 9-10*. Worst friggin drive I have ever done! Sucked badly. I still need to gain 6-7* and want to dump the bushings and go back to the new OME ones I have. It still sucks badly with the 3* bushings in there but I can at least kinda keep it on the road. Converting to the HF knuckles should allow me to c&t it to get to the castor I want. I am also going to see if I can raise the panhard, f&r. I am pretty positive I can get it to handle like stock with a 4" lift if we can get the castor correct and gain the needed 9-10* from a c&t.

Food for thought, my buddy and I have talked about heating up the radius arms and bending them in the press. This would allow for the c&t with stock knuckles and steering to gain the 9-10* I need. The arms are cast steel so we think it would work no probs.

I realize this doesn't have jack to do with a 3-link so hijack done.

Cheers

 

[DHwreckage]

Done.

Gonna jack this thread further:

So, I'm readying to tear my chit apart to correct the undesirable mannerisms and handling characteristics, all while fixing the lift issues I don't care for, due to those traits.

Since everyone's so comfy and fuzzy in the thread, no better place, since now is the time to 3 link, if what I'm suggesting is ludicrous.

1. HF Knuckles with 80 TREs.

2. Hydro assist (can finally do if tie rod is on the front, as planned, and box is ported for)

3. Raise the front pan hard at axle to match new drag link angle.

4. Raise rear pan hard at axle to match front pan hard angle.

5. Raise front and rear upper coil and shock to lower to 4".

6. Cut and turn for caster correction.

7. Now this is where debate should abound.

Opposed to a conventional 3 link, thinking of modifying the DS arm mount, effectively rotating it to the back side of the housing, in a vertical orientation.

The arm currently attaches to a plate that is captured at the front of the DS mount, but the arm only connects in a vertical manner. Pic of joint to follow, but all I'm proposing is doing away with the goofy plate.

8. Sway bars that function.

9. Remove any sheet metal that may contact tires at lessened elevation. Won't be much, as there's no rubbing, due to coil bind (have no bump drops), currently.

What I believe I'll accomplish, based on what y'all are saying is, correcting body roll, correcting bump steer, ( for lack of better term) correcting caster, gaining hydro assist, and it all appearing that it was meant to be that way, by eliminating unnecessary bracketry on the axle housing.

Looks matter as this would be the final polishing to establish permanent finish of the turd.

Detractors?

I'm all eyes.

Already bought knuckles, ready to round up the rest as determine how I'm gonna go about implementing.

dibs on the SE arms

 

[jcardona1]

Suggestion, since you have a small welder now. Learn everything you can from sites like Pirate and guys like Booger. You can set it up yourself even with a little whimpy 110v machine. Now, make a friend with somebody who knows how to really weld and has a bigger machine. Tack everything on yourself and pay/bribe your new bro to help you finalize it. Beer goes a long ways. Eventually, you will buy a bigger machine and be 100% solo.

Good advice! I've been lurking more on Pirate lately. Some really good tech there if you can navigate past all the toothless banter that goes on. But I gotta say, Booger's posts on Pirate are pure comedy. He's a totally different person on MUD

So on the welders, everything I've read says a 110v is enough to do suspension work on almost any rig. I have a buddy that's built several rigs all on a 110v machine. His current 4Runner is pretty bad ass. And I was planning on doing what you say; do all the grinding and setup work myself then bribe him to come finish the welds using my welder. I have a little Hobart 140 on C25 gas.

His trail rig

 

[Krazytoy]

Food for thought, my buddy and I have talked about heating up the radius arms and bending them in the press. This would allow for the c&t with stock knuckles and steering to gain the 9-10* I need. The arms are cast steel so we think it would work no probs.

You know, I have an extra set of arms now...