cthunder55

if this was for a still useable truck, you took a corner too fast with a loaded bed and say hello to 3 wheel cornering.

Tim Skelton

kEWl!

Pitstain

LO-fu***in-L

Scotts Elle

Top notch work. Clean fabrication. Looks great. Excellent job! You have joined the few L's that have turfed the leafs. Theres no turning back!

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03 DSG Lightning 2551 of 4270
2.3 Whipple | VT Engines .20 Built Short Block | LFP Stage II Heads | Stage I Comp Cams | JLP Intercooler Tank | Accufab T/B | SCT Xcal II | Motoblue 4lb Lower Pulley | LFP Idlers | SCT BA2600 | MagnaFlow CatBack | Fluidyne Heat Exchanger | Denso IT22's | DJM Control Arms | Custom KP Components 4-link Rear Suspension | QA1 Front Shocks and Rear Coilovers | Cobra R T-56 Trans w/ 26 spline input shaft | Centerforce DFX Clutch and Fidanza Flywheel | Wilwood 6 piston Front Calipers and 14" vented rotors by TCE

FordFanStan

Wow simply awesome work there. Superb work it looks like... Stan

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carls jr

+ one

svtsilverback

+1 looks great!

race-rodz

WATTS LINK PIVOT


WATTS LINK




ROAD KILL VIEW


its all finished up, so far the trucks rides great, firm...but not harsh with the 550# springs. its raining here, so getting a dry street tire launch was out, however, on wet asphalt with NO bed on it, it still plants the tires and loads the chassis....then blows them loose. wet pavement full throttle launch results, the truck stays extremely straight, minimal steering input translates into easy to control "drift". the watts link makes a huge difference in the side-side movement of the rear suspension..... with the leafs it had "some", and now it has NONE... should make it very consistant feeling. im sure pops will chime in tomorrow, he is headed back home, 300 mile roadtest right outa the box.

race-rodz

i actually initally thought really hard about doin just that, i decided that by spreading the load out accross the rear-lower bend, it "should" hold up. the top link translates a huge load, pulling on launches, pushing during braking. but a lot of extremly well engineered 3 links use noting more than 1x2x.120, or 1.75x.120 for mounting the front of the link...so the 3/16 plate spreading the load across the factory crossmember should be "ok"... its one of the areas that will be checked regularly for signs of weakness..... if it breaks/bends/tweaks... it will be re done "overkill"

notice the factory sway bar has also been relocated to the bottom of the housing, #1 for watts link clearance, #2 the endlinks were all outa wack with it dropped.

i firmly believe that removing the stamped rear "x-frame" and replacing with tube crossmembers is actually more rigid....plus as stated, with plans for a fuel cell, it had to go anyway.

as for making this into a kit, i need to see what kind of deal my waterjet guy can make. i can make some design changes and build in some adjustability....so it will be tunable to every truck. i will check into it, but dont expect it to be economical.... and a "production" unit would not have a watts link. even though its a better way to go, its really complicated to produce.... standard panhard bar would work just fine for 90% of the people out there.

race-rodz

so care to explain your reasoning here? im thinkin that if i was hauling something really tall and heavy, that i probably wouldnt be trying to corner overly hard. anything that actually fits in the bed, i still dont get it, as this suspension has a lower roll center than the stock leafs...translated into plain english.... its physically harder for the truck to have body roll with this set up than with the stock stuff. pretty hard to argue with physics, but im sure you will anyway.

as for load rating, i can say 90% certain that the leafs are less spring rate than the 550# coils. with the leverage placed on the frame where the coilovers are mounted, i wouldnt tow a heavy tongue weight trailer, but why would you do that with a 1/2 ton truck anyway?

i have addressed your concerns, if you have anymore intellegent questions, i would be more than happy to discuss them. if your just into trying to start a pissin match because this is different than what you think is "needed", then i really have nothin more to say.

Dash808

I have absolutely nothing intelligent to say, except that you got skills!
Congrats, nice job.

lightninmike

As for your springs i may have some input. I have Scotts 4link installed on my truck and i got a progressive rate spring from QA-1. IIRC my rate is a 245-440 but i could look it up to be sure. These springs ride fantastic on the road and with the adjustability of the shocks you can get the rear of the truck to feel just about any way you want.
Great job on this project man, it looks great and i am sure it rides the same

cthunder55

I was not trying to start a flame war, nor was I trying to insult you. apparently, this is a well thought out process... but, I was under the impression that there was no watts linkage, this cures all problems I have with the rear. my main concern was the side to side movement of the axle in proportion to having a loaded bed. IE the only tie points you had to the frame were the tabs for the coil overs, resulting in one of the rear wheels picking up while going around corners due to bed flex. not to mention the strain it'll put on the yokes as well as the driveshaft.

again, not trying to start a fight, but with physics, if you put weight lower or higher on an object, it's easier to tip over. so if you had an object that was atleast at the bed rails, it would be easier to tip over than an object near the deck of the bed. it's all about leverage.

Fade 2 Black

Simply AWESOME work you've done!

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1.63---7.06@99.08---11.05@123.07 <> Rebuilt/Tuned by ME

Tim Skelton

Again, if the adjustability factor increases the costs or complexity, forget about adjustability. I'll set the ride height per your specs, or suffer a little on the geometry. Don't worry about perfection in AS and SVSA -- anything is better than leaf springs.

Good. I would prefer a proper long and low PHB anyway.