Solid Axle Swap BS Thread

Oh ok that makes sense. All about the shocks. Got it. Then the limit factor also come down to drive line bind. So those are also things to make sure to work out .For the rear I planned on ditching the bed anyway.

 

For a Crawler 16" of shock travel is plenty you wont need more of you want more wheel travel you can mount the shocks to the links and get a lot of travel out of a smaller shock. Also mounting your shocks on the front edge of the rear and the back edge of the front will net you more wheel travel.

 

thanks for the age jab and the generic search comments. Believe me I research a shit ton on these topics specifically and know how to use the Internet, i was also on pirate all morning looking at different builds and tech articles. I just had to clarify some things that I wasn't able to visualize before I researched further and into more technical topics.

I apologize, I was more just having a conversation with Ben, who specifically asked what I wanted to know. I'll take it to texts and pms now. I didnt realize I would get flamed for asking questions and posting in a thread that was inactive for a week prior to my post. I wouldn't want to clog it up with too many unrelated posts after all.

 

Thanks a bunch for the clarification and explanation and patience Jerry. If it's ok it would be cool to talk about suspension over some beers in Moab.

Quick question, what did you mean by front edge of the rear and back edge of the front, I'm not sure where are you talking about exactly.

At first I thought I wanted to go with leafs up front but links became a bit more appealing so I'm back to square one researching a more complicated topic I know almost nothing about

 

You have to admit rear steer is quite a bit far fetched for a street driven vehicle

 

That's what I said lol! Rear steer would compromise street ability! I admitted that lol, however nice it would be to have. To note though there are production cars with rear steer, so not that far fetched

 

In marks defense. the freakin thread has the letters B and S in the title. exactly what hes doing. B.S.ing.... Let the dude learn. Atleast Jerry and a few others were giving him the time of day and wrote noteworthy responces instead of flaming.

/rant

 

Relax. I gave helpful information too. Maybe you missed that part

 

What part was the useful bit? All you said that could be conceived as useful was a well built truck will do fine on the rubicon.

 

Can of worms has been opened lol so many little things you have to take into account to make it work right is why it is so much "fun" and addicting.

 

That's what I'm trying to figure out! All these little things to that have to be taken into account so I know what to research to get the most out of the truck.

 

Simple... Everything. Just spend the next year living on pirate cause there are a lot of threads that take some time and explain about this stuff. That is what I did. Basically lurked on pirate to no end for almost two years reading everything I could find.

 

creeper^

 

I must learn your creeping ways

 

Yup and its true. Don't booger weld some mess on your truck and drive it on public roads/trails You want info? Here ya go.

Build your lower links as flat as possible. This will likely mean the mounts at the frame will hang below the frame. It will eat up ground clearance but will drive real nice on the road. I asked Brian at 4 Wheel Underground what length links he recommends, he said 40". I trust his research on link suspensions is far more than a lot of people out there.

The closer your upper link is in length to the lower links, your caster angle won't change nearly as much when drooped out (hint: your driveshaft will bind sooner). I can't remember what length my upper link ended up at but my lower links are in the 41" range. From full bump to full droop, my caster changes 10* which is good because the pinion points in the direction of the transfer case throughout suspension travel. My driveshaft doesn't bind at full droop. In general you should know the upper link needs to be shorter than the lowers but you build what fits the truck. My upper at full bump hits the fuel line bracket on the bottom of the cab and gets an inch away from the frame when articulated.

Make sure your panhard and drag link are very close in length and angle. If you can mount the panhard higher than the drag link, even better because it raises your roll center. I stuffed the Dana 60 as far up as it would go, turned all the way left and shoved a panhard in there. It was touching the oil pan and diff cover when I built the frame end bracket and it sits 1/2" higher than the drag link.

Triangulate the lower links as much as you can and are willing to build. This will give you more under steer, not over steer. I thought about triangulating the lower links a lot on my truck but decided to use Brian at 4 Wheel Undergrounds lower mounts which makes the trans/transfer case removable without removing the lower links from the vehicle. They are triangulated as much as possible and are flat as possible at ride height. Optimum for on-road handling characteristics.

Vertical separation at the axle, yeah, somehow the 25% of tire size got thrown out there but in some cases thats not possible due to other constraints. I've seen as low as 6" and as much as 10". I was able to squeeze 9" out of my truck. Any higher and the upper would get into the fuel lines for sure.

 

Ha ha yeah I do a lot of that. But I prefer the more politically correct naming of Stalker lol

 

Now that is what I would call some very helpful information and explanation.

Thank you very much!

 

I think the toughest part for me was figuring out where the steering box would go and continuing to chop out the core support more and more until there is basically nothing left but a body mount on the driver side. The steering box really sets where the rest will go because you obviously want to move your axle further forward than stock since you want bigger tires but you can't go so far forward that the tie rod and drag link interfere at full bump. I really didn't know what I was doing when I started mine, I had a general idea of what I wanted to do and made it happen.

 

Yeah I'm sure I'll have some time to drink beer. And what I was talking about Was if you mount the shocks behind the front axles center line you will get more wheel travel. The same applies to the front of the rear axle.

 

Yeah i cut so much out of mine i bent the hell out of it with the weight of the battery. I had to relocate it to the bed.