Has Man a Fre Stopped Making Caster Drop Brackets? (2 Viewers)

[Dragos80]

He is out of business, but still taking money from costumers for their orders.

 

[jvazquez53]

He is out of business, but still taking money from costumers for their orders.

Didn't know that! Totally wrong! Took it off the list.

 

[riberware]

Quite frankly if it were mine I would use the same concept but make a more permanent mount. The bolt on mounts should be checked regularly as I found the bolts would occasionally loosen.
The "FRAB" , as I had called it, was part of a larger kit that I agreed to design for Man-a-Fre about 15 years ago. They wanted a series of drop brackets that would lift the truck 4" with the 2~4"coils and spacers and not affect the suspension geometry enough to have any handling differences. The kit had front and rear drops, front and rear panhard drops and swaybar drops. Optional adjustable upper rear arms that were adjustable on the truck and 2 1/4 x .375 wall DOM lowers.
The only thing Man-a-Fre was to source was a drop pitman to make the kit complete. That never happened so the kit was never really
complete in my mind. Man-a-Fre decided that the interest wasn't there enough to invest in the pitman forgings and I didn't want to produce a
kit that I felt wasn't complete. Without a drop pitman I didn't like the extra bump steer, especially with soft coils.
At that time 80s weren't being built as much as today. The 40s were still our dominant market. The 80s were still new enough that a lot of owners cringed at the idea of majorly modifying their truck so like fuel injection kits for 40s and 60s in the late 90's the project got shelved.
It was hard to sell a 1500.00 injection kit when gas was still a buck a gallon.

You should get back on designing stuff for the 80 series. I still got the panhard drop bracket from 14 years ago. Great products.

 

[lcwizard]

You should get back on designing stuff for the 80 series. I still got the panhard drop bracket from 14 years ago. Great products.

that's a job for a younger person. 30 years of rolling around on the ground on dollies and 70 work weeks takes it's toll.
My brain and body are tired

 

[KennyBob]

A bit of a hijack but I didn’t think it appropriate to start a new thread.

Really looking at the maf drop brackets with correction plates being the next best choice. Do the drop brackets and the plates achieve the same thing? Do they correct the driveshaft angle and correct caster?

From what I can tell the drop brackets also correct other geometry at the expense of bigger rock anchors.

 

[lcwizard]

The drop brackets will correct caster. In theory the driveshaft angles will follow suit but nothing about driveshaft angles
and vibrations is 100% set in stone. The parallel flange theory is a good starting point but not 100% true 100% of the time.
There are also driveshaft builders that will argue that your 80 front driveshaft won't work 90 degrees out of phase

 

[jvazquez53]

The drop brackets will correct caster. In theory the driveshaft angles will follow suit but nothing about driveshaft angles
and vibrations is 100% set in stone. The parallel flange theory is a good starting point but not 100% true 100% of the time.
There are also driveshaft builders that will argue that your 80 front driveshaft won't work 90 degrees out of phase

I have them and would never trade them.

 

[KennyBob]

The drop brackets will correct caster. In theory the driveshaft angles will follow suit but nothing about driveshaft angles
and vibrations is 100% set in stone. The parallel flange theory is a good starting point but not 100% true 100% of the time.
There are also driveshaft builders that will argue that your 80 front driveshaft won't work 90 degrees out of phase

Thanks for the response. I ended up getting free slee castor plates from Baldilocks on that rig. They didn't solve the vibrations I had but I'm not 100% sure the front DS was the culprit anyway. I've since sold that rig and got a 97 LX and am currently resisting the urge to lift it also.

 

[jemsec]

Are they still a major player? Seem to have taken a back seat. Hope I'm wrong.

 

[jvazquez53]

Thanks for the response. I ended up getting free slee castor plates from Baldilocks on that rig. They didn't solve the vibrations I had but I'm not 100% sure the front DS was the culprit anyway. I've since sold that rig and got a 97 LX and am currently resisting the urge to lift it also.

You can always have someone fabricate the drop brackets. All you need is to find someone nearby that have them and take measurements.

 

[coax]

A bit of a hijack but I didn’t think it appropriate to start a new thread.

Really looking at the maf drop brackets with correction plates being the next best choice. Do the drop brackets and the plates achieve the same thing? Do they correct the driveshaft angle and correct caster?

From what I can tell the drop brackets also correct other geometry at the expense of bigger rock anchors.

I'm by far no expert on this, but main difference between brackets and plates is that the plates will leave the control arms at a steeper angle, drop brackets will keep them at stock angle (at the expense of reduced clearance at the brackets).

Functionally they would both leave the axle in a place where the caster is correct (assuming matched to correct lift).

Any lift will throw off the driveshaft angles. Its all a compromise unitl (IIRC) you get to about the 3.5/4" of lift and can use a DC driveshaft. This problem manifests with both brackets and plates, and is a function of the broke back 80 front DS setup (as you lift from stock, the TC side angle increases while the Axle side approaches 0). Neither brackets, bushings nor plates will correct this. How much, if any, vibration is present from a lift varies by each individual vehicle; condition of ujoints/driveshaft, amount of lift, etc all factor into the end result.

Plates seem to be the way most folks head due to the clearance issue with brackets. I opted for brackets a number of years back as my use case doesn't require extreme clearance and the brackets were super easy to install.

 

[jvazquez53]

I had caster bushings on a 4.5 inch lift, a total waste. Lots of vibration and never fully corrected the caster and they lasted little over one year. Then I re installed OEM bushings with the drop brackets, vibration totally gone, caster within specs, that was about 8 years ago, best decision. I cannot say anything about caster brackets since I have never used them.

 

[Marco Lau]

the stock bracket location is already low enough to drag around rocks and stuff, i could imagine using the drop brackets will make matter worst...

 

[jvazquez53]

the stock bracket location is already low enough to drag around rocks and stuff, i could imagine using the drop brackets will make matter worst...

Unless you do some serious off road, is not an issue. The issue would be, if you want to fully correct your caster problem, or go and do serious off roading which in that case having some caster problems wont be much of an issue. If your truck is a daily driver, I would prefer to correct the Caster problem. BTW there are lots of things that hang even lower than the caster brackets like shock mounts, differentials.

 

[Marco Lau]

Unless you do some serious off road, is not an issue. The issue would be, if you want to fully correct your caster problem, or go and do serious off roading which in that case having some caster problems wont be much of an issue. If your truck is a daily driver, I would prefer to correct the Caster problem. BTW there are lots of things that hang even lower than the caster brackets like shock mounts, differentials.

All i am saying is, there are many other ways to correct caster and not having to lower the factory mounting point....My experience tells me even the factory point is always the area where rock hits the most as it hangs below the sliders and it would be a real concern when it is hanging 2-3" lower.Unless you are driving on Subaru trails, which i dont really see a problem then...but no way i would lower my factory point further to compromise clearance..

 

[jvazquez53]

All i am saying is, there are many other ways to correct caster and not having to lower the factory mounting point....My experience tells me even the factory point is always the area where rock hits the most as it hangs below the sliders and it would be a real concern when it is hanging 2-3" lower.Unless you are driving on Subaru trails, which i dont really see a problem then...but no way i would lower my factory point further to compromise clearance..

I have tried the caster correction bushings, and those are crap. the caster plates never correct 100%, and I have done some serious off roading on all kinds of terrain and never had issues with the drop brackets. Nothing that a set of 35" tires could fix. Also, those Man-A-Fre brackets are built with some thick steel, stronger than OEM mine have taken a beating and other than scratches that can be fixed with a can of spray. Now if your idea is to convert an 80 into a rock crawler, stay away from them.

 

[Marco Lau]

I have tried the caster correction bushings, and those are crap. the caster plates never correct 100%, and I have done some serious off roading on all kinds of terrain and never had issues with the drop brackets. Nothing that a set of 35" tires could fix. Also, those Man-A-Fre brackets are built with some thick steel, stronger than OEM mine have taken a beating and other than scratches that can be fixed with a can of spray. Now if your idea is to convert an 80 into a rock crawler, stay away from them.

i am not touching those....i am happy with my caster plates and never had problems

 

[lcwizard]

The brackets won't decrease clearance. The ground clearance will be the same in relation to the axle.
The only real way to add to the minimum ground clearance is taller tires. A linked suspension works best with
the geometry the engineers worked out. The flatter the arm the better. A drop bracket keeps the geometry the same.
Steepening the front link causes the front rise pushing into an obstacle. At 45 degrees it will be just as easy for the truck to push straight up, the body pivoting over the axle as it is to push the wheel forward. Only the shock would prevent that at it's extension limit.
Best performance for a lower link or radius arm would have it at 10 deg or less

 

[eimkeith]

You can always have someone fabricate the drop brackets. All you need is to find someone nearby that have them and take measurements.

I'm making some - they're getting cut & bent right now.

 

[jvazquez53]

I'm making some - they're getting cut & bent right now.

Pictures please!