Outer Limits 4x4 Board

hey all

was wondering is the a frame in the back of a rangie really needed other than carrying heavy loads. does it help in the articulation department? say a truck that only offroads and does some comps would it be a hinderence or good to use.

i have been told it stops sqwatting when you put the foot down. anyone?

dan

Pick me!


Dan - I do believe the A-frame assists somewhat in the lateral location of the rear axle housing. Without it, the axle housing may want to slew out sideways to some degree.
Other vehicles have Panhard Rods (later model Rangies) or Watts Linkanges (Series II Discoveries) which do the same job.

The little 'shock absorber' thingy attached to middle of A frame (if your vehicle still has one) is the load leveller. Originally made by BOGE. Many owners found them somewhat unreliable and is perhaps what prompted Land Rover to move onto Air Suspension - among other benefits - to retain automatic load leveling abilty.

Regarding articulation, the A Frame ball joint is prone to binding if too much axle twist or droop is encountered.

I'm not 100% on all of this, others may have more to add but I seriously reccomend you do not remove the A frame. Unless of course you want passive rear steer....


Hardy

It also stops the axle rotating.

The A-frame is what stops the lateral movement of the axle. Take it away and there is nothing to stop the axle moving sideways.

Ron

Why don't you just undo the ball joint and find out. All these logical people. I dunno.
I have had the ball joint mount self destruct twice. Not nice.
Regards Philip A

Philip A wrote:I have had the ball joint mount self destruct twice. Not nice.

Now that would be scary - especially at speed!

Ron

Is it really needed?.....

ummm....yes.

Unless you do a 3, 4, or 5 link to retain the lateral movement...and to stop the pinion being ripped out of your diff housing when you try to drive it.

Tich tich, boys...Slunnie was the only one to mention diff rotation.


Micka

Well it usually happens as you snatch someone up a rock steps (at Yalwal) in low range. That was the first time. Had it welded by an old guy in Nowra. Held it together getting there with nylon tie down straps and crawled along.

Becauuse I was slack and didn't redo the weld by taking off the axle, it went again just at Freshwater Lake camping ground a couple of years later , just after I had chickened on doing the rocks at Rainbow. So drove the Freshwater track and back to Buderim with it held together with tie straps. That was a bit scary, but mate at Buderim has a MIG and we bashed it back into shape and reinforced it.
Car was a 77 with Detroit Locker. Later cars have a redesigned axle mount. Lockers put more strain on them.
Regards Philip A

Go easy, you all know he means boge unit, if its stuffed pull it out, not worth recoing especially if you have raised/ stiffer springs in.

Has anyone replaced the bodgy unit with a pump up shocky or similar? My County has tall soft springs which are great when empty but the arse end sags when loaded with camping gear etc.

Bruce.

Not enough room for an air shock, polyairs would be best bet.

b_mac wrote:Has anyone replaced the bodgy unit with a pump up shocky or similar? My County has tall soft springs which are great when empty but the arse end sags when loaded with camping gear etc.

Bruce.

Yeah a mazda 323 front spring - assumed it worked alright

http://www.landroverclub.net/Club/HTML/ ... ersion.htm

When people say unreliable, you have to keep it in perspective. they usually last about 160K.
Reco Boges are about $300-400 .
They are a combined nitrogen spring, shock absorber and bumpstop. They pump up about 10-15CM on rough roads above their working level.

I reckon they are great and would not think of deleting them. Even on a lifted car they stop the bum dragging uphill, and you can use a much softer rate rear spring to maintain articulation and ride while still having the load capacity.
They are even now used on several US 4x4s in a two shock configuration.

There was a good tech discussion on the ZF site some time ago which I gave the link to about 2 years ago after a similar thread.
Regards Philip A

I'm a big fan of the boge unit in the original suspension- gives a level ride with a heavy load whilst maintaining proper articulation by using soft coils- seems to me that was what range rover suspension was all about. Once you lift the suspension, the boge no longer serves any purpose cos it's only trying to maintain the original height. I played around a bit with an airbag in place of the boge, but couldn't fit anything with enough diameter to offer the force required- the a-frame isn't wide enough where the leveller goes. I ended up fitting a 40mm extension to the shaft of the boge and it worked a treat (2" spring lift). The coil idea has it's merits but won't maintain a height under light or heavy loads like the boge will.

I think the main thing you have to look at is what the truck is used for.
Dan said it was a dedicated offroader and compwork.
Scrap the boge. It is not like you will be changing the amount of weight you will carry all the time so you can just install springs that are sutable for the weight.

walker wrote:I think the main thing you have to look at is what the truck is used for.
Dan said it was a dedicated offroader and compwork.
Scrap the boge. It is not like you will be changing the amount of weight you will carry all the time so you can just install springs that are sutable for the weight.

stuff that why have stiff springs and shit travel when you can have soft springs good travel? the leveler will in no way efect travel

It has too. An d I am only talking about a modded Rangie here.

If you have a 2" spring, 2" body lift then go for shocks to suit, the boge strut will run out of travel before the shocks do, so it limits travel.

A standard shock has an open length of around 560mm. I am running shocks with a 710mm open length.

Also if you are mainly using your Rangie for offroad then you don't have to use heave spring either. At the moment I have 160lb front & 200lb rear springs and no boge it is great.

walker wrote:It has too. An d I am only talking about a modded Rangie here.

If you have a 2" spring, 2" body lift then go for shocks to suit, the boge strut will run out of travel before the shocks do, so it limits travel.

A standard shock has an open length of around 560mm. I am running shocks with a 710mm open length.

Also if you are mainly using your Rangie for offroad then you don't have to use heave spring either. At the moment I have 160lb front & 200lb rear springs and no boge it is great.

cheers walker exactly what i thought i get great articulation now but every one wants more my truck is 2'' coil and soon to be 2'' body it only has 31s on it but flexs better then most of my mates trucks (gqs 80series and so on)

Articulation is the difference between the height of the wheels on each end of an axle. Ie one up one down

The only time a Boge will decrease downward travel is when you have both wheels in the air.
At other times it acts as a fulcrum for the springs to work against to help articulation.

Regards Philip A