Triangulated 4-Link

do you know of a universal tri 4 link that i could buy and use. remember this is my first time so im trying to make it as easy as possible and thanks for the info

no bolt ones that i know about, not to say theres not one. the whole idea behind a 4 link is to make it fit your ride specifically, so that your pinion angle doesnt change drastically. read the 4 link article that bio max has up in the suspension forum, as well as any other reliable sources you can find.

max actually recommended "tune to win" by carroll smitth, and i was also told to by "chassis engineering" by herb adams. both good books that cover a lot.

72bumpside- You must have misunderstood my explanation of the wishbone 3-link. The issue is trying to fit the wishbone under the bed of a truck while keeping proper geometry. The tendency is for the novice to mount the single point high above the driveshaft on a cross-memberand low on the top of the rearend housing in order to keep things as low as possible. What that does is cause the wishbone to be higher in the front than the rear and 99% of the time the lower bars will not be positioned to have a foward facing instant center. You can see in the pic below what I am talking about. The bottom pic is an off-road truck that I built that has a properly positoned wishbone, you can see in that pi how much space a system like that can take up.

cory- I would suggest looking at a Pete and Jake's type 4-link. They have generic systems that should work well enough for what you are doing and your experience. The geometry is built in and the brackets are easy enough to work with.

max, im havin a lil trouble trying to comprehend the point that you are trying to make on the correct way for a wishbone 3,

i think that u are saying that if ur upper bar is at like a forty five degree angle than ur lowers need to be parallel to that, anotherwords as close to the same angle also. is that what ur trying to say cause thats what im gettin from it.

to try to explain myself...lets say u have a reverse triangulated four link, for example. if u measure the distance from the bottom of the top bar, to the top of the bottom bar, closer to the rear end, and then measure the top of the bottom bar to the top of the bottom bar more towards the end of the frame...they should be close to the same measurements right??? anotherwords parralel?

Edited: 8/27/2007 10:27:52 PM by Whitejones

Correct me if i am wrong max. But what he is saying is if you look at the suspension from a side view and imagine a line that follows your top bars and one that follows the bottom ones then imagine these lines extent untill they intersect the point at which these intersect should be in front of the truck.Not pointing to the back. for a visual front the bars should point to the front not front > back and the point where the "lines" meet is extended out infront of the truck.

Edited: 8/27/2007 11:12:24 PM by BioMax

I'm not going to entertain the reverse 4-link, but to answer your question about the bars and there relationship... they should ALWAYS be closer together towards the front of the vehicle. This diagram is an exagerated example of how the bars should look from a side view. A 3-link and a 4-link will look the same from this view.

ahh i see, thanx for clearing that up

max, i thought thats what i said? putting the instant center behind the truck, rather in front...i may have worded it wrong, but i meant, what you said.

Just so we're clear, the instant center should be at the front of the truck, preferably somewhere around the bumper.