4x4 suspension

40ray

40ray

New member
Wanting to see what everyone thinks of my suspension so far. Front is lowered with one coil cut out of it. Im willing to go more if i can get my trac bar problem figured out. The front axle is about an in over to the passenger side of the truck. Does anyone have any experience with a adjustable trac bar that will help out lowered trucks? The front will be ranch 9000 shocks. For the rear im moving both shocks to behind the axle and will be using qa1 shocks. My question here is at what angle should i mount the shocks? I've only seen pictures and most people seem to have the shocks mounted towards the rear of the truck. Im also stuck between caltracs witch i like that there light and there proven to work and a ladder bar type traction bar.
 
Rear shock angle doesn't matter a bunch. Ideally not exactly straight up. 5-10 degree angle is great. I run mine at 7. Cal tracs work great if your staying with leaf springs.
I have no solution for you up front except have a trac bar built cause nothing else fits. I'm in the same boat.
 
I appreciate the help. I was hoping i could make the stock trac bar adjustable. I have another post in the suspension section strictly trac bar related and someone responded with this.


Currently it's mounted at the frame on the drivers side, and on the lower side of the axle on the passenger side. It's got very similar geometry to the drag link to avoid excessive bump steer.

Since you lowering, stiffening, and limiting suspension, you're in a different boat than the average guy. That means you can shorten your track bar (which will make it stiffer). I would suggest to weld a new mount to the passenger side of your differential, at the top instead of the stock one. This would let you avoid bending the tube around the differential (which would stiffen it even more). It's take length away, obviously, and that would give you more bump steer per inch of suspension travel, but you're likely not going to see a ton of suspension travel, so it won't matter much. And the gained stiffness of this setup will help avoid getting death wobble when you're pumping a lot of power through the front wheels. I'd also recommend a 4th gen style 'crossover steering' setup (inverted T vs the standard Inverted Y). That'll help your toe-in not to change during suspension travel, and it'll remove some slack in the system. It will increase bump steer, but just slightly.

I'd recommend doing a double sheer bushing at the top, and a 3/4" heim joint at the bottom. That's what I've got with my 37's and it works great.
 
2Tone12V said:
Rear shock angle doesn't matter a bunch. Ideally not exactly straight up. 5-10 degree angle is great. I run mine at 7. Cal tracs work great if your staying with leaf springs.
I have no solution for you up front except have a trac bar built cause nothing else fits. I'm in the same boat.
Click to expand...

What about location as far as in front of or behind the rear end? Is there a big advantage to relocating the passenger side shock mount to the rear?

You always see it done on dedicated drag trucks, but what about on say a dirt drag truck or something that still sees the street a bit? Do you lose anything by relocating?
 
I'd say absolutely. It helps the truck leave equally on each tire and go straight. Which is ultimately what you want in any type of drag racing, dirt of pavement. Not going to notice a thing on the street. Other than the ride will be rougher with those kind of shocks I'd imagine.
 
Im running 1.5 cut coils and adjustable track bar. its an older bar and Bracket to make it work. seems to be fine as death wobble hasnt been back since I did it.
 
Mudn_1 said:
Im running 1.5 cut coils and adjustable track bar. its an older bar and Bracket to make it work. seems to be fine as death wobble hasnt been back since I did it.
Click to expand...


Do you remember witch model it is? All the adjustable trac bars i can find talk about lifted trucks nothing for lowered.
 
40ray said:
Do you remember witch model it is? All the adjustable trac bars i can find talk about lifted trucks nothing for lowered.
Click to expand...

I want to say its a DSS with a 3rd Gen Bracket. I Dont remember if it required any modification, but I know that I have aligned the truck with good result.
 
2Tone12V said:
Stock
Click to expand...

Did you modify it, or does it push your axle a little? Or did you modify the mounting?

I've always tossed around the idea of sliding the straight (axle side) section through a lathe and then threading it to accept a heim. I've bent up tubing (even with a rod in it) to try and make them perfect, but they like to deflect. The stock ones just seem to be much stronger. I'm currently using a straight tube, but it's lifted at this point, so I don't have to worry about the differential.

Also, a trick for death wobble I picked up was to put a steering damper between the track bar and drag link, but that's really just a bandaid.
 
As mentioned above, the Synergy track bar has the ability to be adjusted shorter than stock lengths, possibly allowing you to re-center your axle under the truck. To help with death wobble, a good stabilizer and some added caster helps straight line stability.
 
Any comparisons on the q1a, afco, or even jegs brand coil overs? Which ones do guys run? Are the afcos worth the cost?
 
2Tone12V said:
Rear shock angle doesn't matter a bunch. Ideally not exactly straight up. 5-10 degree angle is great. I run mine at 7. Cal tracs work great if your staying with leaf springs.
I have no solution for you up front except have a trac bar built cause nothing else fits. I'm in the same boat.
Click to expand...



What is your caster on the front axle? Anyone have an idea about what actually caused the death wobble measurement wise
 
Just grab the torch, heat that thing so you can bend to desired shape. Figure out where you want to cut it and shorten it. Then take it to an old machine shop around ya and have them cut and thread for a tie-rod sleeve. Might even make one out of chrome moly tubing.

Just my $.02

Better yet, bring it down here to the shop, I'll make ya one and sell every body else a copy. Want one Anthony???
 
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