Hitch Pin Mod (Poor Man's 3 link) questions

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WCBlueSky

WCBlueSky

Joined
Nov 18, 2019
Threads
47
Messages
633
Location
Sandia Park, NM
I read a bunch of threads on the "hitch pin" mod (removing a bolt in one of the front radius arms), but most threads are old and many of the pictures are lost. Just curious:
  • How many people still run this?
  • For a stock suspension and 33s, is it worth it? Will the radius arm hit the tie rod?
  • How likely is it to mess up the bracket or do other damage?
  • How did you reinforce the bracket?
For example, see

forum.ih8mud.com

Balance Flex (Finally)

Very good front flex results Hello all, Sorry for yet another post on flex pics, but here they are.... But first, my problem with the FZJ80 has always been the unbalance between the front and rear flex. As we all know the rear needs no help at all, so I decided to leave the rear...
forum.ih8mud.com forum.ih8mud.com
 
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Um...you sure you didn't read something posted on April 1st?.
If a bolt was pulled out of the front radius arm, what would prevent the axel housing from rotating about the remaining bolt? The two bolts still in the other radius arm?
That doesn't seem like a good idea.
 
That doesn't seem like a good idea.
Click to expand...
Several threads on this mod and the worst that happened was a deformed bracket. Similar to disconnecting the front sway bar, would only be used offroad to improve articulation. Looking for recent real-world experience, not speculation. Thanks
 
I don’t think people really do this all that often anymore. If you get a multi rate spring or not a overly heavy rate spring, you should be able to cycle the suspension through all 10” of stock travel pretty easy. Just disconnect the front sway bar when you’re wheeling
 
Yeah, it seems to be kind of old school.

With stock suspension, not sure you'd get a lot of gain.

I like a 2" lift. Its what I had my hzj105,

I modified shock towers front and rear to allow me to run shocks made for a 4" lift to give me more up travel without modifying bumpstops, and more droop.

I removed my front sway bar, and left the rear sway bar in place. (this forces the front to flex more by keeping some stiffness in the rear, otherwise the front stays stiff, and the rear does all the flexing)

I also drilled holes in radius arm front bushings to make them flex easier ( also meant they failed faster)

I was intending to narrow the radius arms at the front to reduce binding, but don't think it would have changed much, and never did it.

The thing that limited overall flex with this set up was the rear sway bar would bind up. It needed different links.

My set up allowed the front to flex far more than a typical 2" lifted rig. Overall flex and articulation was far more supple than a typical 2" lift. And still had great road manners.
 
Thanks for the replies!
 
Ive pulled all 4 location one at a time off road only.
It does weird stuff & kind of sloppy. YOU GET BETTER FLEX, but loose balance of flex.
Its unpredictable on the street would not recommend.
Try it, you will understand when you pull a bolt. Best one to pull is passenger aft bolt.
 
GW Nugget said:
Ive pulled all 4 location one at a time off road only.
It does weird stuff & kind of sloppy. YOU GET BETTER FLEX, but loose balance of flex.
Its unpredictable on the street would not recommend.
Try it, you will understand when you pull a bolt. Best one to pull is passenger aft bolt.
Click to expand...

Interesting. Weird and sloppy doesn't sound fun.

One thing the 80 series front suspension is, is predictable. In a tricky situation, predictability is good.
 
WCBlueSky said:
Several threads on this mod and the worst that happened was a deformed bracket. Similar to disconnecting the front sway bar, would only be used offroad to improve articulation. Looking for recent real-world experience, not speculation. Thanks
Click to expand...
So the worst that happened was damage to the super structure of a critcal safety component... and it still sounds like a good idea?
If you're going to expirement in sketchy ways on your vehical, why not start with a Jeep? The parts are cheaper when things go pear shaped.

Disconnecting the sway bar is a whole different animal than disconnecting a structural component.

I can undstand why you would be looking for more articulation, but saying this as a Mechanical Engineer, pulling a bolt out of the radius arm to axle joint still seems like a really bad idea.
 
@Rusty Marlin thanks for sharing your opinion and concern again on this. Real world testing shows this is not going to kill busloads of Nuns and Kindergartners. Even Tools R Us experimented with this and built himself custom arms with one front bolt mount totally removed! It could actually reduce the stress on the bracket since there is less bind, see

forum.ih8mud.com

My New Front Arms

I made a quick page with a few pictures of the new arms. http://copperstatecruisers.org/tech/80_series_arms.htm
forum.ih8mud.com forum.ih8mud.com

 
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Thank you for the reading material.
I searched for 1/2 an hour on here the other night and none of those links showed up.
When searching on Google it was all Hot Rod builds.
 
OK WCBlueSky, I read all the posts, and the idea is interesting, but I'm still not comfortable with it.
But that's me and I'm fairly risk adverse.
 
Bringing this thread back to life! @WCBlueSky have you tried to take the DS bolt off and did you Dee a difference with more flex?
 
LC200TX said:
Bringing this thread back to life! @WCBlueSky have you tried to take the DS bolt off and did you Dee a difference with more flex?
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@LC200TX, you can check out the LX450 that was just in the 2023 onX Off-road build challenge. The builder - Nate (YT - Dirtlifestyle) did this to his to get some more articulation and IIRC he discusses the reasoning behind it in one of his videos.
 
Thank you. I watched the video but wonder if anyone here has done it and if so what was the result of this simple mod.
 
LC200TX said:
Thank you. I watched the video but wonder if anyone here has done it and if so what was the result of this simple mod.
Click to expand...
People used to do this a lot. In my opinion, it’s not really needed. If you have a light spring rate and long shocks, the radius arms will cycle a 12” shock
 
LC200TX said:
Good to know. Have you tried it?
Click to expand...
I never really saw the need🤷🏻‍♀️

IMG_8321.webp
 
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