Outer Limits 4x4 Board

plowy wrote:the truck is on standard coils and long travel shocks to get more flex from the front end all i would need is a set of radius arms that have the high arch in them [ between the two radius arm bushes located on the diff end ]
chad / the proffesor had them in his hilux that he used in tuff truck have a look at his build thread page 7 and see the flex

just putting 40 mm coil spacers in does make the truck drive completly different so i would hate to go 4 inch , but it may work out if front and rear sway bars wear fitted too (been meaning to fit them for over 7 years now )
i wanted my truck low wide and flexable and thats what i got and very happy with the xlink

Chad's a very under rated builder and a seriously nice chap to boot.

Good to see you've got what you wanted. Seriously, there's something to be said about drawing a line under it and saying that's the aim, that's what we got and when you get there it's quite nice. Took me a few years to get there and now that i have i want to sell the truck

Chad said to me that there's more to an x link than fitting it and driving off. He said coil rate choice and a range of other issues are pretty important in setting it up.

whats this triangulated 4 link you talk about milo? got any pictures? also would it be better to triangulate the lower arms of a 3 link? any pro's or con's? obviously front tailshaft is one.. criddy has been flat stick too which is good to see. im sure he hasnt forgot about ya mate

84sloth wrote:whats this triangulated 4 link you talk about milo? got any pictures? also would it be better to triangulate the lower arms of a 3 link? any pro's or con's? obviously front tailshaft is one.. criddy has been flat stick too which is good to see. im sure he hasnt forgot about ya mate

If space constraints and legalities were no object, then i'd have double triangulated upper and lower arms. I.E. no panhard and uppers tri'd inwards at the diff and lower's tri'd inwards at the chassis. But packaging that on a road going car would be a proper ball ache with the engine and sump in the way, and i'm sure that it'd be a real challenge to have the RTA sign off on it.

The advantages of a tri four link are negligible axle steer on articulation and it's a very free moving set up. But it does some funny things to your roll center if i recall correctly. There's some much more qualified people on here to clarify that though.

If you're set on a three link then i'd leave them parallel when viewed from above like you're planning. Having the original chassis mounts will be a big plus for saving time on the job.

It's nice to see Chris busy, he seemed like a real gentleman at KOTR. Hey is that you with the black 40 that added me on faceplant??

Here's some pics




on a RC car, but it gives the idea.

yea mate thats me who added you. that setup above on that dana is awesome. but i think i may just keep it simple and 3 link it. trying to find some pipe for the heims i have is a bit hard but.. everywhere want to sell me full lengths! if anyone can help i need about 2.4ish m of 40od 8mm wall

You want dom, not pipe.

yea that. you got any dom

Front bolt on passenger side..... Take it out off road, similar results, mega cheap and easy. Honestly though. Think about it and when you decide just do it, although some opinions on here are worth listening to, its your truck, we can all see you like to be different, so design something different and show us the result

Just make sure you always keep it legal or you will regret it i promise you

Zuri92 wrote:Front bolt on passenger side..... Take it out off road, similar results, mega cheap and easy. Honestly though. Think about it and when you decide just do it, although some opinions on here are worth listening to, its your truck, we can all see you like to be different, so design something different and show us the result

Just make sure you always keep it legal or you will regret it i promise you

This. Although i wonder about the separation value on the other radius arm to control torque. With two bolts it's ok, but i wonder if it'll start trying to tear the arm mounts off with only one.

I know that on the drivers front side of the factory radius arm mounts, there is a little tab welded on there to help gusset the mount. It was cold lapped from factory and you can see a crack starting.

Zuri92 wrote:Front bolt on passenger side..... Take it out off road, similar results, mega cheap and easy. Honestly though. Think about it and when you decide just do it, although some opinions on here are worth listening to, its your truck, we can all see you like to be different, so design something different and show us the result

Just make sure you always keep it legal or you will regret it i promise you

Please tell me how to keep it legal? 35 muds, already illegal.

What i am trying to say is dont go crazy and have heaps of un plated items, tyres cant be helped, everyone knows that, but modified suspension systems, engines, turbos, bodys etc. There are legal ways. A police person can look away from a truck with tyres being the only thing illegal, and you know the rest is sweet. But it theres other things, you prob wont be soo lucky, and it will be a pain if you are asked over the pits, he drives on the road its possable, tyres can change easy, the rest. Well.......

You have put in soo much work in making a nice truck thats pretty much untouchable by the law besides a few easy things like tyres, dont wreck all your hard work by making it into an illegal pos, would be a shame, its a nice truck

Yes, I understand what your saying. But, trust me cops/transport dont look the other way for anything. If tyres arent legal, then your whole car and insurance isnt legal aswell. Castor plates, bushes and control arms - illegal. Bullbars, spotties and rod holders - illegal. Rear wheel carriers - illegal. Hell, my steering wheel isnt legal. I have a complete and ready front diff just sitting here for that day. The list of illegal bits on my truck is as tall as me. You can always just deregister it, and then re register it in someone elses name.

What im getting at, is there is a BIG difference in things that arent SAFE and things that arent legal. Big fan of safe, not so for legal



Example... Did you know, a transport guy told me that braided brake lines arent legal????? You have tampered with the original brake set up and if you have a crash your liable. Can ONLY be replaced with the same as original.

I know fully what you are saying, having my hilux and my xr6 turbo. Another one, an aftermarket exhaust must retain all emisions devices as the standard one and must have a sound level equal to or less than standard, because you are not allowed to reduce the systems efficiency of reducing noise.

My 4 inch turbo back system does not comply for some reason??????

And my hilux, well isnt that going to be a pain to mod plate, and i will fear for my ass virginity every time i need to drive it to a wheel spot, hence the link front, so it handles better than a horse drawn cart missing the horse

I am no more a fan of the fun police than anyone else, but unfortunately its the law and it is in some cases rediculous

Lets not hijack this thread anymore

No matter what you do the car will still be cool, just dont ruin it

3 link is well n truely underway.. i have the lowers fully mounted i used original chassis mounts at the rear.. and the rear most part of the radius arm brackets on diff... i will get some better pictures tomorrow with a camera. but keen to get it done and wheeling!

Will watch this thread closely, im thinking about/toying with the idea of unlocking the front end of my 80 a little more. Iv also talking the the bolke your referring to on IH8mud and what hes got works great but really is only suitable for the offroad only, or so im told, its easy to get the front working well if you dont give a shit how it drives on the black top. My issue with working the front end is that i want my car to always be able to drive on the road and drive reasonably well, which it currently does now considering.

In this pic theres about 1" more travel available till the front stops working. Ideally if i could get it to drop out as much as the rear or very close to it, id be happy.





Theres not that far to go to even them up which leads me to think that perhaps an x link or even 3 link style setup isnt even required for me personally and that i could get away with as much as a set of super flex arms and be pretty close to balancing it out and still retain the on road performance im after... Eh just thinking aloud really, your going to get mad gains out of a real 3 link up front regardless, gets tricky when you want to make it work on road though. Boogerweldz from Pirate 4x4s 3 link is interesting and hes claiming it works unreal on road, though is making some adjustments to loosen it up a little. Still yet to see any real front end travel pics though, the initial ones were similar to standard radius arm performance imo, but i think theres more in them that hes yet to show.

well i have completed the 3 link.. was relatively straight forward.. i used the lower radius arm mounts i cut off and reversed so that the lower link was above the tierod. upper mount in chassis uses a crush sleeve inside chassis aswell as bracket on the inside of chassis.. overall length of lowers is 730mm upper is 580mm.. very happpy with results. only downfall is i have slight rubbing on tierod at full flex but im not too worried about it.

left hand arm touching tierod


extended shocks mounts on rear upwards 130mm extended bumps and retained coils



very happy with end result. will be taking it down the rover park wednesday for a shakedown so ill put videos up of how it went

if anybody needs more info feel free to ask

looks good. Will look forward to vids.

I love my x link!!

Looks good, but i feel you will probably need a swaybar to make it still drive nice onroad


and compares well to my all time favourite.

i think mine is comparable 29 inch shocks wit x-link up front


there is examples of three options for people to compare all pretty equal??
cheers mick

Don't get me wrong mick80 xlink is an awesome upgrade. But in all honesty relying on that one pivot point with the weight. Of a big wagon, would be a lot of stress on it wouldn't there. All up this 3 link cost me roughly about $350. I'd say a swaybar would be a wise investment but I hardly do road running. Not long till rover now. Woohoo

You know, every one of these pics shows the car with the REAR wheel ramped. Which is kind of misleading since with the rear wheel up like that there's a weight transfer forwards which forces the front to work better than it normally would. Hell, even a stocker will flex better when reversed up a ramp.

I don't know about you but i've got 5 forward gears and only one reverse and i drive most trails in the gear that says "1". So that means when i climb a rock or a step i do it with the FRONT wheel first. When i drop into a creek i do it with the FRONT wheel first. More pics of all three of these vehicles with the front wheel lifted please.

I've manage to get my car to the point now where if i drive up a step, the front is plenty pliable in the front axle and allows the front wheel to easier pick up onto the obstacle while the car stays more level with the rear axle. Also when i drop into a creek with one wheel rather than following the front axle the whole car squats down until the second front wheel drops in with the first.

I like that much better.........

84sloth wrote:Don't get me wrong mick80 xlink is an awesome upgrade. But in all honesty relying on that one pivot point with the weight. Of a big wagon, would be a lot of stress on it wouldn't there. All up this 3 link cost me roughly about $350. I'd say a swaybar would be a wise investment but I hardly do road running. Not long till rover now. Woohoo

Awesome that u can do that stuff by yourself mate!
I wish I could I only put a pic of my car up to give people a idea of three different ways of achieving the same result.
Awesome job though!
As 4 the strength of the x-link the lad who co designed it had it on his comp truck and mines been on for nearly 5 years.
Anyway awesome job on Ur truck
Cheers mick

heres some pics of my old setup, and a forwards ramp pic just for U RC31, but i think the pics taken on flat ground negate the need for that.

Used to love this setup, yes it didnt have a great deal of roll stiffness, but it would just walk over most shit, the front used to work better than the arse. And the beauty of my setup, was i had it locked on road, so its as if the link wasnt there and drove as any regular radius arm setup would.


for reference its dropping 38's well below the door sills and front shocks were 820mm long plus another 40mm due to the adaptors...

Top Job too Sloth, looks good!

The old bus was awesome cranky!!
That's why I got the x-link!!
Here's a front pic 4 u milo

Cheers mick

Just came back from rover after wheeling with billy, man, what a truck!!!!

I would however like to see the difference a rear sway bar makes to making the front work, hey may not help at all but just courious to see if it dose make a difference.

Top job tho, seams really stable slow and fast on the tracks, 3 links may not be so bad after all.

So, thought you might like to see how the 3 link front flex's on its first run out

Oh nooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!

Can't believe it needed a rest. Minimal damage I assume though, I have read your build thread and the bar work you have is pretty good. Did you get any Vids????

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Hell yeah, nice work....