Builds Fujiwara's 3 linked super daily (4 Viewers)

[Squeegee]

Panhard v1

I looked at a ton of different peoples panhards builds and this is what seemd to work in my head and was within my skill level. A couple of people have move the panhard n front of the passenger spring in order to get some extra length and that set up seems to work great. I didn't do a panhard mount like that because it makes the axle side panhard mount into a big lever that torques around one central point. They can pull that style of mount off because they're good fabricators and I'm just some dude in a very cold garage in Montana. So I looked at @Wermz 's set up, showed @arcworxs (he said it would work) and that what I did.

Like I mentioned before, the rules of thumb are great but in a real world scenario, you'll only be able to utilize one or two of them.... this is a great example. We could make the panhard and drag link parallel to each other and thats about it.

Lets go through the rule of thumbs that we didnt follow and what happens because of this

1. Making the drag link and panhard the same length wasnt going to happen ...... the compromise is that unequal length will cause the arc of the short panhard to drop out of parralel of the arc of the arc of the long drag link. You can use solid works to see how bad the discrepancy on the x axis will be like I showed above. In this scenario, it's totally fine. ***The reason is explained bellow in #3***
2. Make the drag link and panhard as flat as possible..... I was very worried about maintaining uptravel without notching the frame. Since the mounting location of the drag link is the constraint we have to work around the placement of that comes first. I chose to put the tie rod on the bottom of the steering arm. Because the mounting location of the drag link on the axle is lower, the drag link is at a steeper angle. If the drag link is at a steeper angle, then the panhard has to be at a steeper angle.
3. We could make the drag link and the panhard parralel to eachother..... @arcworx showed me a bunch of examples in solid works. He compared set ups that prioritized keeping the panhard and drag link the same length and then showed me examples of set ups that prioritized making the panhard and drag link as parallel as possible. In every scenario, the set up that prioritized keeping them parralel would have a smaller discrepancy on the x axis over 5" of travel on the z axis. Thus I believe that if you have to compromise between keeping them parrallel or keeping them at at equal length. Keeping them parallel is the better choice!!!!!!!
4. Make the distance from the axle side mount for the panhard AND the mount on the steering arm the same distance from the frame side mount for the panhard and the tie rod hole on the pitman arm was absolutely never going to happen.....

Now that the theories done. I really made a weird panhard....

I wanted 5/8" bolts so I went with a 2 5/8" joint from barnes 4wd... I since learned that johnny joints make a 2" version and its going to be what I go with next time because this giant joint sucked to package. uuuuhhhhh I did a 1.75"x 1/8" tube that sucked to package and put a silly bend in it. This was a very overkill panhard and I think it only measured like 29" long???? It was a little shorty boi, but it worked extremely well.

My biggest gripe with this set up is that it kinda sucks with a low ride height. I ended up adding in a 1" spacer to my spring so I had a total of 3" of lift. This made it so that there was a 4" span between the axle side panhard joint and the frame before it went metal on metal. The dent in my frame says that it went metal on metal alot because I probally didnt space the timbrens down enough. If you have super tight clearances and you want to smash into bumps... dont use timbrens... get air bumps its..... alot easier to tell when those will reach full bump.

I give this set up aaaaaa 6/10. Mostly because the joint crashing into the frame made a really scary sound.

 

[Wermz]

With stock style springs(not coil overs or ORIs) i think thats the best you can do, of course opinions vary..

 

[NorCalFJ100]

This is a cool thread. Thanks for sharing your thoughts and problem solving strategies.

 

[Squeegee]

With stock style springs(not coil overs or ORIs) i think thats the best you can do, of course opinions vary..

I think so too. It’s simple to build, easy to gusset, and it cycled really well

 

[Squeegee]

This is a cool thread. Thanks for sharing your thoughts and problem solving strategies.

You’re welcome! I figured that sharing all of my screw up will help someone out someday!

 

[Squeegee]

The distance from tie rod end hole to tie rod end hole is more for the front range knuckles than stock so I had to make a new tie rod. For all tube inserts I like to rosette weld them, it's a great way make sure that your bungs won't pull out and kill you or someone else... or at least help with that. Because the wall thickness of the inserts was very very thin and the likelihood of warping the threads is super high, I elected to have @arcworxs root pass them with a tig and I cover passed them with a mig. Seemed like the next best thing?

It touched the diff at full lock so once a little bend had to be put in.

The steering was super annoying. The tapered inserts from marlin are not as thick as the steering arms. This caused the tie rod to kind of sink into the arm. AAAAnd because of this the tie rods would hit the arm at full lock... so I pulled out the grinder and uh... make it all fit. I was really really determined to make cross over steering with tie rods work.

Also, I was really tired of spending money so I didn't do one ton tie rods or a double sheer heim set up, one of those will happen eventually because dabbling in go fast stuff is super fun.

I also painted everything eventually. I promise

 

[Squeegee]

The last thing I did for moab prep was to do a mini tub on the rear. I pretty much cut the lip off and hammered the fender over to get a "nice" roll. I welded it and put a seam sealer for a roof on it. It took like a week to dry but it seems like its working well. Its a pretty nasty way to do it but it was cold outside. Thats my excuse and I'm sticking to it.

I trimmed the bumper too and the tire kinda rubs on both still but lets not worry about that. I have 1.5" of bump stop extension in the rear and I'll probably extend it to run a longer shock anyway

 

[Squeegee]

Wait not the last thing done for moab prep. The car needed more caster because I put a 1" spacer in the front, put on Icon 3" rear coils because the spring rate/ extended length was good. Uh me and @arcworx made these little tabs to roll the axle back more. I think it had like -5 degrees of caster??

I moved the front upper shock mounts down by 1.5" for more down travel. The shock wasn't being used because the panhard limited around 2.5" of travel. I was a little limited on how much I could move the shock down because the break lines were at their limit. I didn't take a picture of it.

Lastly, I got @arcworx to make knuckle gussets. Pheonix debated on making one for the upper section of the knuckleball but ultimately decided that it wasn't worth it. The gusset would be so short that it would not be effective at dispersing load into the rest of the axle. He's an engineer so I'm inclined to agree. I would highly recommend these, I do not worry about bending the knuckle balls anymore and I'm not easy on my front axle.

You can find these at 80 series knuckle gussets — Contact us - https://www.arcworxs.com/products/p/80-series-knuckle-gussets

 

[Squeegee]

I finished my midterms went home, packed/ prepped the car until like 1 in the morning and then me and a friend left for Moab at like noonish. Most of the group left for Utah before sunlight, they warned us that the weather was gnarly on the way and it seemed to get worse as the day went on.

The first pass we had to go through was closed, so we got lunch, saw a cool pickup, and decided to go over another pass.

Everything was fine until we were about an hour and a half outside of island park. I should probably note, we had been on the road for about 5 hours at this point... we were around 100 miles from home...

And then we hit a massive snow storm, my friend almost got in a head on collision in a complete white out, and there was enough snow on the ground that if he stopped i'd have to push him with the 80 because he was in a 4wd truck without a front drive shaft.... he also just rebuilt the transmission and had no idea if it would explode on the way to moab. so rad

We ended up getting stuck just outside of Island park because a snow plow go stuck for about 4 hours. I had service so I watched anime and ate snacks. I noticed that the 80 had a weird growl in 4wd on deceleration so I took the time to check over the car in a snow storm. We sat around until about 8 and the road was an icy mess.

We drove through the night and I decided to listen to every Kanye album in a row ( Its called the kanye power hour and its amazing). My friend also got stuck coming out of a rest stop that was just a sheet of ice. I locked the front/ rear and 4 wheel spun pushing him until we reached the interstate again

We hit salt lake around 12 or 1 in the morning and hit Soldier pass an hour or so after that. Soldier pass was closed so we slept in a walmart parking lot until around 6 in the morning. Google said soldier pass was open so we headed out for the final stretch!!

We got to to moab around 11 or 12. We did our 12 drive to moab in a record breaking 24 hours.

 

[Squeegee]

We got settled in the Airbnb for about two hours and then got a call from one of the friends in the group... it went something like "we're in the middle of coyote canyon, we started at 9, we hit a massive obstacle, and everything is broken. Head of to area BFE and you'll see the sign for coyote."

We got in the 80 and headed off to the trail.

We parked at the trail head and hiked into the trial. For reference, its a .65 mile trail and they were dead in the middle. Needless to say, we heard tire chirping and music pretty quickly. We caught up with the group, it was the same group as last year but the cars on 37s were the only ones who did the trail. There was a SAS'd 1st gen 4runner, @arcworx's SAS'd 3rd gen 4runner, a long travel 3rd gen 4runner, and @1jzhilux 's 80.

I wont bore you with the entire story but there was a lot of carnage, a sway bar that broke off of the 80 and it bent its steering, the long travel 3rd gen broke 3 CVs and a ADD tube and a window, the first gen 4runner broke a rear diff, and everyone got body damage. I'm a little glad I didnt do it in my 80.. but I also can't wait to do it in my 80.

 

[Squeegee]

We ended up getting two cars out in 2wd and it started raining on the way out of the trail. Super saucy

 

[Squeegee]

AAAnd the next day we did Trifecta! The group needed a chill day after wheeling coyote and I needed something to get my sea legs back. I was a bit nervous wheeling the 80 because I kinda expected all of my welds to just explode the moment I flexed it out. I quickly got over it and I have to say, everything that was done for this trip made a BIG difference.

It was a pretty straight forward day besides @1jzhilux bending his drag link into his motor and @arcworx's cantilever set up crushing through his frame.

I think we spent the next day hanging out at orielys while the 1st gen 4runner had its rear diff replaced with a spare spool and our friend in the long travel 3rd gen 4runner replaced his ADD tube and CVs.

So lets take stock on what was done,

High steer
a new panhard
knuckle gussets
moving the front shocks down 1.5"
37s
3" rear springs
1" spacers in the front with a 2" lift spring

The wider track width made it feel super stable (I didn't think I'd notice a difference), the longer legs kept the chassis flat, the flatter drag link weirdly made the steering easier, and the added ground clearance was a game changer (I think it was like 20" at the frame)

Turns out bigger tires, more ground clearance, and more down travel makes for a pretty good wheeler.

 

[Squeegee]

The next day was a nice day for repairs, @arcworx had his cantilever set up push through the frame, @1jzhilux had his drag link bend into his motor.

 

[Squeegee]

We got restless that night and decided to do hells revenge at night. I have to say, this trails super freaky at night. It felt like the trail would disappear as you came over the crests.

I was determined to do this trail though. The first time I went to moab, I met a guy in a land cruiser in the parking lot in front of hells revenge. We ended up wheeling with him and I got to ask him a bunch of questions about his 80 and it sold me on getting an 80. I watched him almost flop his 80 on the escalator and Ive wanted to try the obstacle ever since. 4 years later and I'm running the trial in the dark. I ended up hitting hells gate and the escalator that night. I totally screwed up on escalator and didn't listen to my spotter but we struggled through it and it somehow managed to make it with a taillight/ quarter panel thats lightly sanded.

 

[Squeegee]

Side note, how do I get a build tag put on this thread?????

 

[White Sheep]

Side note, how do I get a build tag put on this thread?????

Send a message to the moderators asking to do the build tag.

 

[Squeegee]

Send a message to the moderators asking to do the build tag.

Thanks!

 

[Broski]

Side note, how do I get a build tag put on this thread?????

copy and paste to your signature

 

[Squeegee]

copy and paste to your signature

Thanks broski!

 

[Bigtoepfer]

Wow this has been a rollercoaster of fun to read.
You are super informative and lots of good stuff in here. I want to keep the suspension expenses relatively low so gonna see what I can do with a little as I can. I got an eimkeith PCK and RAM for the 80. But it's already got 4" slinky springs on it and 35s. And I feel like it's WAY too tall. But for all the work I'm having to put in to it to fix a BHG and other problems I'm quickly exhausting my mod funds.

I am doing part time 4x4 and 10% overdrive in the Tcase though.