race-rodz

thats MII based street rod suspension, and has no biz under the front of a 5000# truck. however that being said, you can take the same basic idea and throw in fabbed nascar spindles, up the tube arms in the "beef" dept, find a r&p rated to the weight of the truck, and you could have on double throw down bad mo fo set-up. 1 off custom fabbed, you would be pushing 10k parts and labor.... being conservative.

Tim Skelton

And other than braggin rights, what would you get for that money? You'd be replacing a perfectly functional unequal length arm system (designed by a small arm of engineers for a make-or-break-the-company vehicle), with another unequal length arm setup of unknown performance. Even though it would be lighter, would it perform meaningfully better than stock? I've pulled off just about as many parts as I've put on. I'd hate to experiment with that kind of jingle.

race-rodz

i was more comparing it to the MII based IFS... while the geometry isnt bad, its less than ideal.

i agree that factory design is a great starting point, im 100% sure upgrades can be made given different user requirements, one would be hard pressed to start over "from scratch" and come up with something better than the engineers who spent millions of dollars came up with. IMO its better to refine the oe design than start over.

now if want to talk about refining the oe front, custom fabbed spindles with huge wheel bearing hubs, any size rotor/caliper combo you want to run, R&P conversion, different upper arms with more adjustablity than the cam bolts can give ya.... i think you would be on your way to the ultimate front set-up.

custom fabbed knuckles are actually not that much money, however in the real world where parts break, i think its worthwhile to work off of an existing "off the shelf" part, replacements on "custom" units are a lot harder to get than having a stocking item overnited.

race-rodz

i have another performance update for the prototype 3 link.....


apparently "pops" is out being reckless on public highways again

he got into a lil 70 mph "roll on" with another 2nd gen owner (dont you 2nd gen guys know not to "play" on public roads) anyway, the leaf sprung truck had all kinds of traction issues on the crappy road surface, while the 3 link truck had no problems at all. apparently the other truck belonged to a tuner from the PDX area, who was very impressed with how the 3 link worked in real world crappy road conditions. the other truck makes more power than pops truck, but when it doesnt get to the ground it doesnt matter how much hp your making.

also he reported that "panic braking" on wet roads used to be un nerving, now the truck is a lot more predictable, stops 100% straight unlike it did with the leafs.

so far the suspension is doin EXACTLY what it was designed to do, not just on paper, but in real world driving conditions.

djcobraman427

1

Pitstain

And some shock dyno data at 20IPS equal to Bilsteins .52 MPS measurment speed

Tim Skelton

Keep the hardcore tech coming, Ian!

SBL03

Kudos to you chassis/suspension guys for sharing your ideas and lessons learned. I've picked up allot of valuable 411...keep it goin.

themassmauler

This thread definitely makes my brain hurt in a "I just spent twelve hours in the gym" sorta way. I love it.

__________________

RedFox

...and that little Vette buggy with its transverse mounted spring.


Great work and lots of excellent ideas being exchanged in this thread.


Nobody can say that the truck guys don't have imagination.

RedFox

I noticed a few comparisons to the suspension on the Mark VIII. That car may have been tuned for a nice cushy ride but left the driver completely isolated from the driving experience. I was in one which was converted to a mechanical suspension with quality components and IMO, it was 1000 X better.

Another thing to keep in mind is that some tracks (drag and road course) have banned any vehicles with air suspensions for a variety of reasons.

Tim Skelton

What are they?

RedFox

This came up at one of the Auto Club's Christmas Luncheon. We weren't very concerned as we have never seen anybody use air for the track. If you are interested, when I get specifics I will e-mail you.

Ronnie

A lot of GenII's are trimming a lot of weight off the front end. I say getting these trucks down to the 4000 pound mark and I have seen AJE racing parts on some L's.

Sportruk

I would also be interested in the reasons for banning bags.
As for upgrades to the Mark VIII, throw in a set of Slam bags with QA1 shocks and poly bushings and it doesn't ride like a Lincoln any more. I just wish I had a front end to keep up with it.
I need to start tracking down some F150 arms and spindles and break out the welder.