The 4WheelUnderground 3 link thread

[SNLC]

[QUOTE="RMP&O, post: ]I hate doing things multiple times over again. However, if something can be improved upon and I can n

Cheers

View attachment 1048801
You sure about that? [/QUOTE]


Obviously you can't read very well. While that looks like ass, it was done at 2am on 6hrs sleep in 48hrs. About 24hrs before leaving for Baja. All mentioned in the thread you pulled the pic from. And again while it looks like ass, zero problems with it and far easier to clean that up than redo a 3link.

So.....



you too.

Cheers

 

[Booger weldz]

View attachment 1048801
You sure about that?

Obviously you can't read very well. While that looks like ass, it was done at 2am on 6hrs sleep in 48hrs. About 24hrs before leaving for Baja. All mentioned in the thread you pulled the pic from. And again while it looks like ass, zero problems with it and far easier to clean that up than redo a 3link.

So.....



you too.

Cheers[/QUOTE]

I've traveled 900 miles to Moab with alligator clips for light wiring, a shoe string for the OBA compressor belt and a shifter stuck in 4wd. you don't have to explain anything to me, we are the same

 

[cruiserruf]

Anyone can build a 3 link that doesn't work, get frustrated and abandon the project. There's a history of that on this forum, all the way back to the pioneering folks like 'action Jackson' who blindly threw control arms on the front of an 80 and posted flex pics for the ignorant audience to drool over. Not to discredit him, I've done the same, as has Brian Osbourne. The difference is the learning curve is exponential from making mistakes and improving from that scenario. Selling a failed effort isn't improving. Cutting things off and redoing/resolving them is.

Holding previous efforts on 3 link suspension as precedent to today's endeavors is asinine. No indifferent than not buying an iphone6 because your blackberry sucked ten years ago.

i don't think it's asinine. Most previous efforts have not gone well so its understandable that its precedent to any 3 link efforts with the 80. many 3-linked 80s have appeared and quickly disappeared, and i don't remember each one that appeared being an improvement over the previous with maybe a few exceptions. but that has been the trend for a LONG time now.

 

[Booger weldz]

i don't think it's asinine. Most previous efforts have not gone well so its understandable that its precedent to any 3 link efforts with the 80. many 3-linked 80s have appeared and quickly disappeared, and i don't remember each one that appeared being an improvement over the previous with maybe a few exceptions. but that has been the trend for a LONG time now.

It took a long time for a decent cup holder to gain popularity here too.




The 4wu stuff is incredibly popular in the minitruck crowd and selling like free beer. There is no negative feedback in any of that. It is a huge success.

I could give 2 shi!ts if people 3 link their trucks. But sooner or later the past needs to be the past and you need to form your opinions off info presented here, by Jose, not what some guy failed at in his garage in 2007.

Jose is building this in his garage, but the recipe is already prescribed in Brian's design. Jose merely needs to cook and serve it.

Watch and learn friends...



I don't have the 4wu 80 series 3 link. I have a wider axle and some different stuff, but if you boil it down to the meat and potatoes, they both mirror eachother in geometry and how the perform/react for a given ride height.

I don't currently wheel my truck. It is a 2wd 360 mile per week commuter, the majority of that is railing on the freeway along side priuses and teslas at 75-80 mph in silicon valley(when it's not gridlocked in bumper to bumper). Or in the Sierra nevadas for hiking trips. There is A LOT of slamming on the brakes, evasive maneuvers and general road rage in that and I won't try to tell you these are big, top heavy station wagons. But I do this over and over, almost every weekend and my upholstery is not poopstained and I have no insurance claims.

I really don't know how to please the questions of how the '3link' works without asking someone to chase me up 880/17 to/from santacruz on a Friday afternoon when I pick my son up, or up 120/108 to Yosemite or surrounding areas.

I wouldn't dare drive those roads when I was 6" slee coils and stock radius arms. It was a nightmare to travel anywhere and feel comfortable behind the wheel.

I'm not at all happy with the rear suspension(stock), but that's another thread.

Keep in mind the jeep TJ aftermarket redesigned the suspension links and mount locations above ~4" lift (long arm kits) and all but scrapped sales of kits that used the factory suspension frame mounts at those heights for several reasons, many of them legal repercussions. If you don't think you feel some of those issues in your 4" and above lifted w stock component 80s, you're kidding yourself!

 

[4WheelUnderground]

Can we all agree that it's unfair to state that an fj80 can't be 3 linked when all previous attempts were from persons who didn't know anything about linking a vehicle or cause and effect on link placement. You can also add shock tuning to this as well. It's like saying going to the moon isn't possible.

 

[Booger weldz]

Probably sick of seeing this silly pic(my apologies), but you can literally commute with priuses and then drive over them if they get in the way.

I understand the apprehension do to previous 3 link efforts, but today is a new day good people.

Next weekend I pick up 4 10-12 year old boys in santacruz(ocean) and drive them to bishop(Nevada) in this to go camping. If we die, you'll never hear from me again... We don't wheel(I don't even have front axle shafts or a matching differential), we hike/backpack, it's just a big, stupid commuter hauling gear that does nothing but traverse the freeways and twisty mountain highways.

 

[Booger weldz]

It's like saying going to the moon isn't possible.

That is clearly a topic for fzj80 Starbucks gatherings when Finding a cup holder to put a FLESHLIGHT and monsta lined underpants has run out of excitement!

 

[cruiserruf]

Can we all agree that it's unfair to state that an fj80 can't be 3 linked when all previous attempts were from persons who didn't know anything about linking a vehicle or cause and effect on link placement. You can also add shock tuning to this as well. It's like saying going to the moon isn't possible.

No disagreement here, just explaining the hesitation and my observation.

It took a long time for a decent cup holder to gain popularity here too.

LOL, that is funny.

Fine tuning the suspension geometry with a 3 link, 4 link, or 8 link is way out of my area of limited expertise. I have been waiting for someone to come out with the right kit. Never understood why it was possible with many other vehicles but ours. I have been watching this thread, and the other 3 link related threads.

 

[Booger weldz]

No disagreement here, just explaining the hesitation and my observation.



LOL, that is funny.

Fine tuning the suspension geometry with a 3 link, 4 link, or 8 link is way out of my area of limited expertise. I have been waiting for someone to come out with the right kit. Never understood why it was possible with many other vehicles but ours. I have been watching this thread, and the other 3 link related threads.

Just watch, as Jose builds this with no specific fab credentials in his garage. It isn't as far fetched as one might assume.

While we all must admit, Jose is absolutely passionate and motivated(and rapidly grabbing a talented fabrication skillset and soon to quit his day job to become a full time spark maker!),it's still not out of the realm of ANYONE to do all of this.

 

[Finnyfam60]

so, what your saying is, I have a chance.....

 

[Booger weldz]

so, what your saying is, I have a chance.....View attachment 1049398

I'd suck a fart outta her butt and hold it in like a bong rip...

 

[jcardona1]

How bout some more tech?! Thanks Booger for the words of encouragement. Like he said, Brian took all the guesswork and difficulty out of the equation. I think anybody with basic fab skills and decent tools can tackle this. And so far it's just been me by myself. Would be nice to have an extra set of hands sometimes.

So I finally have everything tacked in place except for the shocks. Still need a bit more measuring before I decide where those are going. There were a few little things that were preventing from going any further. One was the passenger side control arm mount. As mentioned, the bolt would interfere with the e locker motor as Brian only had a non-locked 80 for mock up. In fact, it's just that tiny little hump that sticks out. Otherwise it probably would have been fine. Brian was a great help as usual and quickly sent me a machined & threaded insert to replace the nut. All I had to do was drill out the hole a bit bigger and weld it in place.

And finally I could tack the bracket in and move forward. Note the long bolt that still needs to be trimmed down.

The next set of snags was with the steering. I wanted to reuse my y-link steering so I asked Billy for 1-ton inserts to go in his Hellfires. Well the inserts were too big for my GM 1-tons. What gives? But the taper seemed to work fine on my draglink TRE which is slightly deeper than a GM 1-ton. Not wanting to wait any longer I took a drive out to PartsMike in Auburn and picked up some their deeper taper draglink TREs (ES2027).

But this meant I would lose my y-link TRE, leaving me nowhere to put the draglink. And due to clearance issues, I believe a y-link is going to be the best option with the 4WU kit. Luckily RuffStuff just made a y-link adapter, big machined piece of chromoly that adapts to any TRE you want. This gives you more options. And luckily they're only a short drive away from PartsMike.

Here's RuffStuff's y-link adapter.

The beefier ES2027 tie rods with the taper to match Billy's inserts

Steering all connected. Because the new tie rods and y-link adapter are much longer than the single y-link TRE I had before, I had to shorten the overall tie rod by using new weld-in bungs.

Full turn

About as far as you can turn the wheel to the left before the Hellfire arm touches the panhard's heim joint

After that was done I started cycling and flexing and checking for clearances. I was surprised to find how much up travel is limited on the driver's side because the tie rod hits the pitman arm. You have a lot more up travel on the passenger side. Are there any flat pitman arms for these trucks?

I then set the bump stops. Just tacked in place in case I did screwed something up.

And started playing around a bit with a tire mounted

 

[pandathrust]

Trail gear makes a flat pitman arm https://www.trail-gear.com/TG/Pitman_Arm__Flat/i_0_0_4261/_130020-1-KIT.aspx or you can spend the extra $$ for Sky's CNC flat arms already reamed for GM one tons http://www.sky-manufacturing.com/cgi-bin/commerce.cgi?preadd=action&key=TOY-BPA-001. The Toyota mini truck IFS steering box and the fzj80 steering box has the same spline count so both of these options will work.

 

[Booger weldz]

I stripped the splines outta a sky arm on only my second rubicon trip on the truck in my avatar. The factory pitman arms are hardened in the spline area(probably just dip quenched, nothing extra extravagent, but obviously helpful). The sky stuff apparently isn't?

You can only play with the pitman arm so much before you induce bump steer. That's relative, since an inch up/down isn't gonna reek havoc. But 2 or 3 surely would.

I have a spare 80 box in storage. Can't remember if there's an arm on it, but I can cut/weld or pressbrake it per your precise prescription if needed.

 

[Booger weldz]

My upper link is similar at the frame to your Elocker motor interference situation as mines tight to the frame(a ruff stuff part with threaded inner holes). I kept checking it for awhile and it's never came loose.

 

[4WheelUnderground]

Why are we talking about the pitman arm, he's already got more up travel than a bolt on lift would net him. And his tires will already go past the inner sheet metal. More up travel is pointless at this point for a week end warrior vehicle.

 

[Booger weldz]

Why are we talking about the pitman arm, he's already got more up travel than a bolt on lift would net him. And his tires will already go past the inner sheet metal. More up travel is pointless at this point for a week end warrior vehicle.

He's got me unecessary beat by several inches(no penis jokes please).

Jose, you don't have the steering stops on btw

 

[Delancy]

Y'all sure know how to screw up a thread.

Baited question, but, again, why cant the COs so dramatically?

Not that up travel is the concern, but is the pitman arm contact not another indicator that pushing the box forward may be a good idea?

 

[jcardona1]

Baited question, but, again, why cant the COs so dramatically?

Can't what? I think you're missing a word

 

[jcardona1]

I have a spare 80 box in storage. Can't remember if there's an arm on it, but I can cut/weld or pressbrake it per your precise prescription if needed.

Thanks for the offer! I'll let you know what I decide. I could always just ship you mine since it's already reamed for the bigger TREs.

Why are we talking about the pitman arm, he's already got more up travel than a bolt on lift would net him. And his tires will already go past the inner sheet metal. More up travel is pointless at this point for a week end warrior vehicle.

This is true. Folks should keep in mind I cut a 3" arc from the outer fender and notched the inner fender to match. You probably wouldn't be able to stuff a 37" tire like I did in that picture on factory sheet metal.

But with that said, I'm not against cutting more if I can get a bit more up travel. Do you think modifying the pitman arm is worth the hassle? I'm still not sure. Might get what, an extra inch of up travel?

This is Paul's modified pitman arm (hope you don't mind stealing you pic booger!)