quick and prolly nooby question...


but if you 4 linked a front axle under say my truck, could you get away with no track bar? ive heard some mention about this but was curious.

if i used like a jonny joint and put enough angle on the upper links it shouldnt allow the axle to move side to side right?

how would that effect steering? would it be road worthy still?

 

a double-triangulated 4-link will be constrained enough in the lateral directions that you won't need a trac-bar or panhard bar. I can't remember the last time I saw a streetable vehicle with a 4link in the front. I think our Rangers would run into problems with oil-pan clearance too with the 4-link suspension.

 

you can get away with no trac bar on a triangulated 4 link.. atleast from what I understand. You will get some bump steer. As for whether it would be road worthy...?? I dunno really..
providing your keeping the draglink.
"The axle will droop perfectly centered, and as the drag link droops, it'll swing in an arc around the pitman arm, becoming angled (and horizontally shorter, but vertically longer)"

I actually just read ^^ that this morning..

basically if your draglink is level with the ground and your running a conventional/mechanical steering (tie rod knuckle to knuckle, no hydro,draglink) you will have tolerable bumpsteer issue at highway speeds, no worse than someone running leafs up front.
as I understand it this is compensated for by using full hydro steering.. but thats not street legal so not road worthy.. I hope this helped and didn't just confuse everyone..

 

Yeah, its like I said... I can't think of ever seeing a 4-link front on a streetable vehicle. Most vehicles use a 4link for the rear, but use something else, like a 3-link with panhard or leaf springs for the front.

 

here is a 4 link and im pretty sure its driven on the street.



i in no way want that much lift but there should still be room for the upper links.

but it does have a trac bar.




and maybe he does not drive it. lol

 

when did your family start manufacturing limit straps....


that truck is driven only at the shows.....it goes to the 4 Wheel Jamboree Nationals i go to........he trailers it in and out because of lift laws in states.......

 

the reason i would say he has a trac bar on that is because of how long the links are, they are probably weak side to side.......

 

well i was thinking something similar to that but running 37s and a D44, but only about 2-3 inches of more lift. just minimize it down some from those pics. lol

 

I'm not opposed to running a track bar. i just feel way too limited on my options for this axle and no point in trying to figure something out for the track bar.

 

true.......

i wouldn't get rid of the trac bar.........just incase.........mock up a mount that attaches to the bottom of your fram like the one on that SD, almost right under your steering box....

 

true.........you can try it without and then if you need it put 1 in....

 

oh i can make a mount, see my pitman arm is pretty close to the frame right now, i dont need some fancy bracket like he has as it just needs to be attached to the frame a little farther out.

you get see the problem here granted im turning full left.

 

ouch....i see were you are at....

 

This is not true.

On a 4 link there are two main types. Triangulated and Parallel.

First Trigangulated. With this type of 4 link the angle of the links is what centers the axle. This is why no panhard is needed. It is Rule of thumb that at least 45* of triangulation is needed for this. That means you ad up the angle off the frame of the links. So if your top links are angled 22.5*, and your lowers are also 22.5*, then you will be fine. There are some guys who run less then 45*, but most are trail rigs. You can not run a panhard on this type of suspension as it will bind. Since the panhard will try to create an arc in the X direction and the suspension its self wants to arc in the Y, it will bind. This creates problems with steering, since the draglink is practically a panhard connected to the knuckles. So through out compression and extension of the suspension the draglink is turning the tires with out your input.

Now Parallel. The show truck you posted has a parallel 4 link. This is when there is very little to no triangulation in the links. They should be almost parallel. (think XJ and TJ) they both use parallel 4 links with a panhard. Since there is not enough angle in the links to locate the axle, the panhard is needed to center it. This is the setup you should go with for both clearance purposes and from a steering aspect, since manual link steering will not have adverse affects with this.

 

i understand now......makes sense.........

doesn't a triangleated 4 link have 2 bars that go almost to the center of the truck and 2 to the fram?

 

thanks for the explanation and the break down Andrew, makes perfect sense. now i just need to replenish th funds. lol

 

center of the axle and then go to the outside of the frame i think

 

yup....answered my own question....

 

either way would be the same.....if it went outter axle to the center of frame.....wouldn't it

then you could mount them to the tranny crossmember...

 

heres a good example of triangulated

 

would it matter if you went outter axle to center of frame? seems to me that would give more centering strength.....because there wouldn't be such a strain at 1 small point on the axle....

 

looks like the only limiting factor of that setup is the coils....

 

Just run a Coilover or Airshock

 

yea for sure, but the reason i said that is because the coil mount is on the inside the frame .....the coils can't go that far....

 

hmm i figured the bottom links would be more parallel to the frame but that makes more sense.

So Andrew why are you implementing that in the rear of your truck?