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panhard rods..

Posted: Sun Apr 25, 2010 6:06 pm
by yamaha12
i was thinking insteed of buying adjustable panhards for my 80 series why not just cut the standard panhard in half weld a section in the middle that is the required amount of lenght for the lift then maybe weld a bigger bit of pipe over the section that has been welded for strength i dont see why it wouldnt work and wouldnt be strong enough are adjustable panhards like superior or tough dog ones solid or are they hollow like the standard ones on a 80 series are? has anyone ever done this

Posted: Sun Apr 25, 2010 6:11 pm
by 80's_delirious
yes it has been done. It is not legal though.

Posted: Sun Apr 25, 2010 6:15 pm
by yamaha12
are adjustable panhards legal?, have the ones that have been done been strong enough to not bend with the added length? thanks

Posted: Sun Apr 25, 2010 9:06 pm
by want33s
My GQ has a 4" lift and the panhard rods (Superior adjustable) are 13.5mm longer than standard...
I find it hard to believe that 13.5 mm of extra length can cause dramas.

Posted: Mon Apr 26, 2010 9:27 am
by yamaha12
yer tru aye haha but i suppose that 13.5mm would be a fair bit of stress on a bush or something

Posted: Mon Apr 26, 2010 9:00 pm
by hurricane
ive see/done this type of thing to many things (if done right) ive not heard, had or seen any issue.

my stock 80 series panards are made from solid bar, are u sure yours are hollow tube?

all aftermarket items ive seen are made from thinker solid bar.

dan.

Posted: Tue Apr 27, 2010 5:42 am
by badger
http://www.sleeoffroad.com/products/sus ... es_diy.htm
you could try adding these if you wanted it adjustable.

Otherwise sleeve it with a correct fitting bit of tube and weld it around both ends and a few plugs, it will be fine

Posted: Tue Apr 27, 2010 5:39 pm
by yamaha12
aw ok they must be solid then i thought they might be hollow like the trailing arms are thanks for the replys :)

Posted: Tue Apr 27, 2010 5:58 pm
by udm
the rear bars are hollow

Posted: Wed Apr 28, 2010 5:21 pm
by yamaha12
what do u mean by rear bars?

Posted: Thu Apr 29, 2010 6:50 pm
by macneil
yea just buy one.. stock ones are easily broken / bent ive done 2 now.. bent last one on my diesel snapped the one on my petrol.. it only lasted half a day 4wding being bent... and it was near on impossibly to drive without.. only thing holding my coils in were the tyres hitting the chassis...

so ask urself... will u trust a a c ut and shut bar.. i know the standard gq one is only 2mm thick..

other option would be get a length of bar the right length cut the eyes off and weld them back on..

Posted: Thu Apr 29, 2010 7:40 pm
by Triple B
I've done the old cut and extended on my 80 panard, but have now replace them with adjustable because i can't keep the same size lift in longer enough.

on the front I cut a bit of solid to the length you wont to extend, and a bit of hollow to slide over longer then the solid. i've slid the hollow over, weld prep the solid and weld the solide in, then weld the holow over the join.

The rear panard of an 80 is holow and surprisenly thin. I cut the parnard and, worked out the length you want and cut solid to length and put inside the hollow panard. slide over another bit of hollow to join the space and weld. guess if you wanted you could also weld another bit of hollow over that again. I used off memorie 25.4mm (1 inch) solid which is a hammer in fit.


ran my car with them on for about 2 years and had no problem with them. but if your not sure if your going to keep the same size lift in, or think you want to lift it bigger one day, save yourself the trouble and buy adjustable.

hope that help and all make sense.

Posted: Fri Apr 30, 2010 7:08 pm
by yamaha12
thanx heaps aye i never thought of sliding a smaller bit or solid inside the panhard thatd be the go then one over the top thanx mate :)

Posted: Sun May 02, 2010 9:31 pm
by BadMav
Mine came with cut and extended rods, although it was a really good job, the inspector said no matter what you can't weld onto suspension components and keep it legal. I had to put adjustables on for the roadie (which I've since been told are illegal too, oh well).

Off topic, but still on suspension, I noticed when crawling underneath mine, that the drivers side upper trailing arm has had the same done (but with a 45 degree bend) obviously done to clear the sub tank when at full flex. The inspector obviously missed that one ;)

Posted: Mon May 03, 2010 10:12 am
by Wooders
BadMav wrote:Mine came with cut and extended rods, although it was a really good job, the inspector said no matter what you can't weld onto suspension components and keep it legal.
Not saying he's wrong, but I don't really seeing that stated anywhere in the ADR's.
Also many factory and aftermarket components are assembled by welding.
If they really had a concern, they could be tested/xrayed etc.

Posted: Mon May 03, 2010 1:51 pm
by yamaha12
if its done neatly with clean welds a bit of grinding and some paint who'se gunna notice anyway

Posted: Mon May 03, 2010 3:31 pm
by BadMav
Wooders wrote:Not saying he's wrong, but I don't really seeing that stated anywhere in the ADR's.
Also many factory and aftermarket components are assembled by welding.
If they really had a concern, they could be tested/xrayed etc.
I said that to him but I just wanted to get my roadie so I didn't argue with him.
yamaha12 wrote:if its done neatly with clean welds a bit of grinding and some paint who's gunna notice anyway
My lower trailing arms are extended by same means (cut and sleeved), but full length of tube eye to eye so they don't look out of place. They passed the roadie too, haha.

Posted: Thu May 13, 2010 6:02 pm
by yamaha12
any one no how much to acctually extend them on a 80 series for 4 inch lift? would it be 100mm?

Posted: Thu May 13, 2010 6:28 pm
by Shadow
yamaha12 wrote:any one no how much to acctually extend them on a 80 series for 4 inch lift? would it be 100mm?
want33s wrote:My GQ has a 4" lift and the panhard rods (Superior adjustable) are 13.5mm longer than standard...
I find it hard to believe that 13.5 mm of extra length can cause dramas.

Posted: Thu May 13, 2010 7:19 pm
by BadMav
yamaha12 wrote:any one no how much to acctually extend them on a 80 series for 4 inch lift? would it be 100mm?
If you don't have access to a hoist, what I would do is jack up the car under the diff 5 inches on a trolley jack as close to parallel to the axle as possible. Put car stands under the chassis and then lower the jack down until the tyres are 1 inch off the ground. Undo the panhard rod and take the bolt out. Find a way of pushing the diff over until the tyre/chassis gap on both sides is the same (I was thinking motorbike tie downs). Now measure from centre to centre the panhard mounts.

Nissan and Toyota suspension is fairly similar, my 5 inch suspension has about 14/15mm extra. Easy with adjustables.

Posted: Thu May 13, 2010 7:52 pm
by dumbdunce
Shadow wrote:
yamaha12 wrote:any one no how much to acctually extend them on a 80 series for 4 inch lift? would it be 100mm?
want33s wrote:My GQ has a 4" lift and the panhard rods (Superior adjustable) are 13.5mm longer than standard...
I find it hard to believe that 13.5 mm of extra length can cause dramas.
yes it will be 10-12mm. without it the axle sticks out one side more than you think, and the vehicle will crab.

measure the existing panhard from eye to eye then assume it is horizontal in the factory suspension setup (it's pretty close), then do a little pythagorus.

Posted: Fri May 14, 2010 12:11 pm
by yamaha12
alrite sounds good thanks guys :)