Outer Limits 4x4 Board

OK, here's the deal. I've been trying to figure out how to get a 5 link under the front of my Sierra but since the room is pretty tight up there I can't see any way to do it unless i bend the links. The bend would be sort of a dog-leg with the 2 ends of the link remaining parallel to each other but offset in the horizontal plane. This is because i want the links to attach on the inside of the chassis rails and attach to the diff in line with the chassis rails.

My question is, is this doable or just an extraodinarily bad idea? On top of that, is it possible that it would be passed by an engineer?

from my own experience I have found that running bent links works OK, the only niggly little problem is that depending on the situation it can load up the bushes on some weird angles that they don't like and they end up tearing up. I had this problem with triangulated links the were bent in the vertical plane, moved some things around so I could run straight links and the problem seemed to correct itself..

be carefull of you links hitting the bottom of the chassis rail on the compressed side when the other side is drooped away. The rotating arc of the link will be much, much bigger than the link itself because of the dog-leg in it...

I intended running a johnny joint or the like on one end of the links, so that should help with the binding, no?

As for the links hitting the chassis rail on the compression side, i'll just have to make sure i build it with enough clearance. Good point though.

My main concerns are even if i build the links with heavier material is that going to stop them bending? will i have to run another brace on the links somehow? I reckon if they are made from heavy wall DOM they should be ok, but what do i know???

z-link - it's not just for steering anymore

Damo wrote:I intended running a johnny joint or the like on one end of the links, so that should help with the binding, no?

it isn't really binding that is the problem.. picture a link mounted double shear to a crossmember: there is no leverage on the pin at all, the tension/compression on each side cancel each other out. now if you imagine that link with a z-type bend in it, then tention and compression is being concentrated on an imaginary point somewhere to the side of the mount, so it ends up trying to twist the bush on a different axis to its own and push it somewhat sideways... works in my head anyway

Damo wrote:My main concerns are even if i build the links with heavier material is that going to stop them bending? will i have to run another brace on the links somehow? I reckon if they are made from heavy wall DOM they should be ok, but what do i know???

If you use good heavy wall junk, upper arms should be OK, if you are bending the lowers , gusset them, cause they will hit things and all the force of the impact will zero in on your bend....

Wendle wrote:it isn't really binding that is the problem.. picture a link mounted double shear to a crossmember: there is no leverage on the pin at all, the tension/compression on each side cancel each other out. now if you imagine that link with a z-type bend in it, then tention and compression is being concentrated on an imaginary point somewhere to the side of the mount, so it ends up trying to twist the bush on a different axis to its own and push it somewhat sideways... works in my head anyway

I think I can see what you mean, because the ends will be rotating around 2 different axes. Just running through it in my head I can't see it being a big problem, as any movement that cant be taken up by the joint at one end can be taken up by the joint at the other end of the link. Works in my head anyway

bump!

Anyone else got any input?

Why cant you fit the five link.. whats in the way??

When we built our zook we wanted a five link but settled for four..

ie: two lower control arms.. ONE upper.. one panhard.

same idea as a 5 link but with only three.. heaps of room and the engineer loved it..

get some snaps of it soon

Kyle