Tim Skelton

Indeed. And unless you have hella stiff springs in the front, I wonder why you went that high in the rear. Stan Martin's full race truck runs about 650 lb rears.

For stock coils up front, and assuming that I'd still like to drive it around town, I would be starting at about 300 lbs in the rear. Anything more than that (at least with leaf rates) begins to make the rear end jumpy and the ride harsh.

Any any rate (no pun intended), the coilover design makes spring rate experimentation simple task.

And for load, a set of helper airbags will allow you to carry anything that the engine call pull.

Tim Skelton

What are the rear-facing tabs on the crossmember for?

Tim Skelton

BTW, race-rodz, this is probably the most exciting, intelligent, and well-engineered thing that I've seen posted on the boards in the 5 1/2 years I've been a member.

BUILD IT. This will work for drag racers, road racers, and boulevard crusiers. It's simply the best rear suspension design ever made for an F150, and should have been made this way from the factory.

Mad props.

cdomino

+1. Build it and they will come.

race-rodz

evac canister(?), it will get relocated to where the gas tank is when the fuel cell goes in.

Pitstain

AS and SVSA are important for a vehicle with such a light rearend, do not dismiss them, I am honestly rather suprised at you Tim.

And there is such a thing as having the rear roll center TOO LOW, the watts lowers it from stock, but a bottom slung panhard may end up being too low and cause a severe mismatch between the front and rear roll centers in relation to eachother, there is a reason I am going watts link for mine.

And what happened to our little chat a while back? LOL

race-rodz

i started @ 350# springs, way too soft even without the bed. the only other rate i had laying around was the 8" 550's... so figured i would try them. the rear of this truck was a lil over 2000# with the bed cover and normal "road trip crap" in the back.

i dot remember exactly what the front coils are, they are a drop spring, increased rate.

there is a lot to be said for designing the f&r suspension TOGETHER, and this is one place where i cut a corner. the rear was initially designed for my 1st gen, when i designed a SLA front suspension for it...it was a "matched f&r" design. i adapted that rear design to fit the 2nd gen, with prettymuch no regard to the front. basically going with the attitude that its gotta be a whole lot better than what was there. this is an area that needs to be addressed before i would be comforatable putting my name on a kit. looks like i need to go 2nd gen shopping for R&D purposes

Pitstain

BTW what backspace are those wheels?

I'D WIN

race-rodz~

Where are you located?

__________________

FordFanStan

Without adjustability I am interested on how this will work for every type of driver; daily, road race, and drag race? Or are you saying even without adjustability this is just a lot better than the stock setup? I think their would be several interested in kits setup for more for drag racing. I understand it looks like this kit is tended for more of the roadracer, but in the L community, the market is in drag racing... Stan

__________________

Tim Skelton

I said: "Don't worry about perfection in AS and SVSA -- anything is better than leaf springs."

Tim Skelton

"Adjustability" is for getting the geometry correct for a given ride height.

Yes, for road racing, drag racing, or daily driver, this setup is much better than the horse-and-buggy stock Hotchkiss drive.

A 3-link has all of the advantages of a 4-link, without the inherent bind.

The only advantage that I see to a 4-link for drag racing is that one can play with the angles of the upper and lower links more. But if you don't know what you are doing, you can end up with a truck that's a danger to drive on the street.

FordFanStan

Thanks for the reply's Tim... Sta

__________________

race-rodz

medford, oregon 30 miles north of oregon/cali border


thanks explaining tim, i will add, the 3 link's main "pro" over a drag race 4 link is the lack of bind, and roll "steer" is less, the "con" is all force is translated through the single upper link and mounts. if i was building a drag race only truck, i would without doubt run a 4 link, however i prefer my toys to be usable in all aspects.... with compromises being made to suit my needs(noise, less towing, firmer ride) i am more into spirited back roads driving, auto-x, and open track events, than the couple times a season i make it to a drag strip. so the 3 link is a perfect choice for my "needs".... now the part where i put this on "pops" truck, well i had all the stuff and an idea....but never really make time to work on "my" stuff.... and this covers me for x-mas shopping.

Pitstain

When you get into the 30" slicks and retarded HP/TQ levels then the 4-link would be stronger 9 times out of 10. I would venture a guess that the 400-500hp /500-600tq trucks would have a hard time breaking anything, BUT it is massive stress on the 3rd link and its attachment points.

Either way the 3-link is as Tim would say "Pimptastic".