SOA vs. SUA (1 Viewer)

[TOY350]

You will need to extend the rubber brake lines from frame to axle housing. The stainless steel 4" extended lines are not long enough from my experience. If your rubber lines are still in good shape you can get another set and just double them up. Otherwise find a line that is at least 6" longer.

 

[chicago]

WHy are you thinking of moving your hardlines?


Mark...

Hey Mark,
Last week I was hanging out under my rig (you do it too...admit it) trying to visualize how the perches would sit...well, it looked to me that the brake hard lines would have to be moved/ re routed out of the way of the springs when there on top of the axel.
I wasnt sure if this was, in fact, the case, or I was just looking at it wrong.
Looks to me that Tapage had done some mods to his as well from the pics above, but that might be due to the fact that he has a disc conversion in the rear.

Chicago

 

[chicago]

I have an e mail into Proffitts cruisers regarding the CnT and further clarification as to wether or not the 62's pinion angle is acceptable for the SOA, or if it is recommended regardless.
Ill let you all know in case anyone else is wondering.
BTW, he also has a traction bar under his custom fab link that looks pretty beefy. Im inquiring on that too.
I have seen this trac. bar on RustyTLC's 40, and it looks really nice and stout. He is actaully the one who clued me in on the trac bar issue.

Thanks,

Chicago

 

[lowtideride]

I would worry about the wrap bar after the SOA is done. The cut n turn isnt always needed. Although my 80/62 will be getting one, Velveeta Wag is not cut and turned...Tracks fine at 70mph, no binding, no problems....Some people swear by them, But I dont always think its needed. Some trucks need them and some don't. You could prob. get away with out one. But agian it might work well it might not....

 

[chicago]

I would worry about the wrap bar after the SOA is done. The cut n turn isnt always needed. Although my 80/62 will be getting one, Velveeta Wag is not cut and turned...Tracks fine at 70mph, no binding, no problems....Some people swear by them, But I dont always think its needed. Some trucks need them and some don't. You could prob. get away with out one. But agian it might work well it might not....

Thanks lowtide,
I realize that individual results will vary. That is why I wanted to contact someone who does them a lot and find out his experience with it. Id hate to get it all done, find out I need one, then have to go back, take it all apart, swap housing etc then re install.
If Its a good idea, ill do it, if its nice, but not necessary Im might try it without.
If only I were rich and not a poor bastard, these things wouldnt be an issue

BTW, any binding etc while off road on the Velveeta wagon?

Chicago

 

[lowtideride]

Thanks lowtide,

If Its a good idea, ill do it, if its nice, but not necessary Im might try it without.
If only I were rich and not a poor bastard, these things wouldnt be an issue

BTW, any binding etc while off road on the Velveeta wagon?

Chicago

Nope no problems what so ever and I am rather tough on my rigs. I am not rich by any means and I pulled it off. You can pick up a grinder and maybe two disc to cut the housing for rather cheap. Most people I know have them so you could even borrow one, and do it yourself. There is nothing that hard about it. Get a buddy to weld it up for you.

Or hell cut it put the caster to what you want..tack weld it with jb weld and take it to a local welding shop and I am sure they would do it for 20 bucks...

so if you can borrow a grinder,angle finder and have a local shop weld it for you, you are out 20 bucks.

I do not have much money because being a full time student puts a hurting on the wallet. But there are ways to get things done and done right. It may just take a little labor.

-Al

 

[DBS311]

On my SOA I had the front CnT'd because I just wanted to do it correct the first time (if there really is a 'correct' way of doing it). I was able to set up the caster the way I wanted to make sure it drove properly. Running Tom Woods CV's front and rear because I didn't want any vibration issues as this is my daily driver. Don't have a traction bar and it has worked well for me so far. Of course I can say it works fine until the day I destroy the pinion.

My truck drives great on the highway and although I am running sway bars front and rear, I can tell it is more top heavy as it wants to sway a little more through corners than with the OME/SUA setup. Initially I felt this might make for some hairy situations on the trail, but I soon found out that with the added flex/travel of SOA, my rig's body stayed more level while negotiating obstacles. Of course, if you hit a sidehill, the extra flex and travel don't help, but when I run the same trails as I did SUA, I don't notice my rig wanting to topple over any sooner. Of course the COG is higher, but if you run 12.50's or wider and maybe use some wheelspacers to increase track, you should feel comfortable.

Would I go back to SUA??? Maybe if I wanted a lowrider. C'mon, everyone knows 33's are for go-carts.

 

[dieselcruiserhead]

I've done a few now and I cut and turned my second and third now and wouldn't do it any other way, for what its worth.. It really isn't that hard to cut and turn, even by yourself... I have also only done wagons, with a decent (ie not to soft not too sloppy) rear spring pack I haven't needed a rear traction bar.. But that said it couldn't hurt... The only time I regretted any of my SOAs was when I chose to use too soft springs and it got a little sloppy. Otherwise I have thousands of miles logged with 60s and 55s SOA and no regrets whatsoever. The big thing is that, by regular car comparisons, it does make the truck "big," quite big.. A good spring pack, even flat, yields at least 6" of lift, FWIW. I have always built SOAs as flat as possible and been very happy with the results.. If you check on page 2 or 3 of the thread on my 55 in my sig you will see some discussion of building a good SOA spring pack.. I have hauled cars, loaded the living crap out of it, and really not compromised anything with that pack versus a softer pack IMO.. My philosophy on doing SOAs on wagons is that I did not want to compromise anything from its original "load the crap out of it" capabilities of these wagons... I have even had 2000 lbs of crap in it and very stable on and off road.. Best, Andre

 

[lowtideride]

I did not run a wrap bar for the first year having it SOA and I had a rather stiff lift spring in the rear of it and still sufferd axle hop/wrap. You can make it on medium trails if you are light on the skinny pedal but once you start taking harder lines its a must to have one.

My buddy wasnt running one in tellico this year and ended up breaking 3 pinions. One of them was at the bottom of a stream in the rain. I am willing to bet it would take less time making a wrap bar then time we spent fixing broken pinions....He actually went home early from GSMTR because he was out of parts and was rather upset.

 

[Mark W]

Hey Mark,
Last week I was hanging out under my rig (you do it too...admit it) trying to visualize how the perches would sit...well, it looked to me that the brake hard lines would have to be moved/ re routed out of the way of the springs when there on top of the axel.
I wasnt sure if this was, in fact, the case, or I was just looking at it wrong.
Looks to me that Tapage had done some mods to his as well from the pics above, but that might be due to the fact that he has a disc conversion in the rear.

Chicago

If there is any rerouting of the lines needed, it is so minor that it is done in about 10 seconds with no real though required.


Mark...

 

[Tapage]

Looks to me that Tapage had done some mods to his as well from the pics above, but that might be due to the fact that he has a disc conversion in the rear.

here an pic of my track bar setupo and SO with rear drums ..

I don't really need to re- route ,my hard brake lines ..

 

[chicago]

Nope no problems what so ever and I am rather tough on my rigs. I am not rich by any means and I pulled it off. You can pick up a grinder and maybe two disc to cut the housing for rather cheap. Most people I know have them so you could even borrow one, and do it yourself. There is nothing that hard about it. Get a buddy to weld it up for you.

Or hell cut it put the caster to what you want..tack weld it with jb weld and take it to a local welding shop and I am sure they would do it for 20 bucks...

so if you can borrow a grinder,angle finder and have a local shop weld it for you, you are out 20 bucks.

I do not have much money because being a full time student puts a hurting on the wallet. But there are ways to get things done and done right. It may just take a little labor.

-Al

Believe me, I would LOVE to do the housing myself, but Im a little skeptical of my abilities as far as getting the angle ste up right...
How would you do this, just point the diff at the t case and call it good? I was of the impression that it took a more precise unit of measure. I saw a write up in an old TT on a 55... It didnt look too hard, but what do I know.
I have a grinder, and an air cut off wheel, and a pipe cutter (I read somewhere that this would work too), but my biggest concern is getting the angles right.
Thanks for the input.

BTW, what steer kit did you use?

Chicago

 

[lowtideride]

here an pic of my track bar setupo and SO with rear drums ..

I don't really need to re- route ,my hard brake lines ..

Man if there isnt a lower bar on the wrap bar its not doing a darn thing.

 

[chicago]

I've done a few now and I cut and turned my second and third now and wouldn't do it any other way, for what its worth.. It really isn't that hard to cut and turn, even by yourself... I have also only done wagons, with a decent (ie not to soft not too sloppy) rear spring pack I haven't needed a rear traction bar.. But that said it couldn't hurt... The only time I regretted any of my SOAs was when I chose to use too soft springs and it got a little sloppy. Otherwise I have thousands of miles logged with 60s and 55s SOA and no regrets whatsoever. The big thing is that, by regular car comparisons, it does make the truck "big," quite big.. A good spring pack, even flat, yields at least 6" of lift, FWIW. I have always built SOAs as flat as possible and been very happy with the results.. If you check on page 2 or 3 of the thread on my 55 in my sig you will see some discussion of building a good SOA spring pack.. I have hauled cars, loaded the living crap out of it, and really not compromised anything with that pack versus a softer pack IMO.. My philosophy on doing SOAs on wagons is that I did not want to compromise anything from its original "load the crap out of it" capabilities of these wagons... I have even had 2000 lbs of crap in it and very stable on and off road.. Best, Andre

Dude,
That was a frickn AWSOME write up on that resto...BRAVO! Its amazing where it started to where it is now!
Thanks for the link...very informative!

Chicago

 

[lowtideride]

Believe me, I would LOVE to do the housing myself, but Im a little skeptical of my abilities as far as getting the angle ste up right...
How would you do this, just point the diff at the t case and call it good? I was of the impression that it took a more precise unit of measure. I saw a write up in an old TT on a 55... It didnt look too hard, but what do I know.
I have a grinder, and an air cut off wheel, and a pipe cutter (I read somewhere that this would work too), but my biggest concern is getting the angles right.
Thanks for the input.

BTW, what steer kit did you use?

Chicago

Use the grinder its much easier to lay a bead in it when ya got the groove. I think Ace sells an angle finder you need, or at least mine did.
There is a few threads out there on a cut-nturn....

But, ya cut the ends of the knuckle an 1/8 or so. So it can rotate on the tube it is sleeved in. put the angle finder on the knuckle and adjust the caster to what you want. Also at this time adjust the pinion angle. then tack weld the perches and the knuckles so they are set for when ya pull the axle back out and burn it in good.

 

[Mace]

here an pic of my track bar setupo and SO with rear drums ..

I don't really need to re- route ,my hard brake lines ..

That bar is not doing anything for you other than offering moral support..

a 1/2" bar stock rod will bend easily..

 

[lowtideride]

That bar is not doing anything for you other than offering moreal support..

a 1/2" bar stock rod will bend easily..

That and there is only 1 bar.

 

[Mace]

That and there is only 1 bar.

Yeah, but a second tiny bar like that would not do anything more either.

Think of it as trying to use a pencil as a lug nut wrench..

 

[Tapage]

That bar is not doing anything for you other than offering moral support..

also is important !

a 1/2" bar stock rod will bend easily..

From now with my 37" plus chains plus etc etc etc .. still there .. function fine .? maybe yes maybe not ..

IMOP yes .. coz I don't cut any pinion from now .. I also have OME heavyes .. and my intention with the track bar is offer more support to my suspension ( spring packs ) in the torke momets.

I know there are much more nice a sweet track bars setups, mine is quite simple and actually ( tested ) prevent most of my axle wrap ..