New PATROL suspension

[BenDover]

Hey guys.
I thought id do a post on my new patrol front suspension set up...

Anyone who has a coil front and into 4x4ing (suspension travel) will tell you the drama of flogging out bush's and limited travel due to diff twist binding. eg.. When 1 wheel drops away and the other tucks up each arm wants to twist a different way. And the after market arms that are either good in the bush and crap on the road and visa versa. Or the nameless brands with a removable pin on 1 side that cause the front to dive to 1 side under braking.

Well Ive fixed all that. All the mock up tests have had huge travel. I call it BI-LINK. Its a super strong 3 link front (no wobbles) on the road/fast bush stuff. And a super flexible 5 link for rock crawling by removing 2 front pins.

Being made as we speak then ill have the pics of travel etc.
Patent pending
And yes im making some for cruiser aswell.

Tell me your thoughts?? ;D excuse the dodgy drawings but I cant scan the the propper ones.

[bigdonk]

Sounds good ,should post some befour and after flex shots of your idea.. I'v got a 105 cruiser with good flex, but I'm allways interested in geting a bit more droop..
Cheers BD

[murf]

very interesting

the big boys in our group are working on set ups for comp truck GQ's, there are some serious calculations and testing to get it right :)

will keep an eye on this one

cheers Murf

[FNQCairns]

Sounds great! hope it all works out, what gives great travel and available now needs a deserted 3 lane highway or a car trailer to get them anywhere near the fun.

I do particularly like the pin idea, suspect the good road going manors hinges directly on this (no pun intended). Too long coming.

cheers fnq

[BenDover]

Ive run the idea past many comp guys and serious offroaders/engineers. And they said mounting the upper arm to the chassi is whats going to kill it. So ive come up with a much simpler idea and mod.

The bottom line of what im trying to acheive is you need to use a lower arm with 2 mounting points (horizontily) which is what keeps the body roll down and normal driving characteristics.

But unfortunately its the same thing that causes binding and kills your travel. Thus 2 pins. When the remaining points are verticle there is much much less diff twist.

The very first thing you need to do is lengthen the arm back (into drop box's) and put a twistable eyelet mount. Either these or replace with geniune nissan bush's. Cruiser fronts ride so much smoother on the highway because of the eyelet mount.

I can get the same travel as superior by removing 1 bolt on the front passenger side. But also like these arms it dives down to 1 side under braking. I then decided to go a tower in the middle of my diff. Got the measurements right (roughly) and in a straight line its not too bad. But a slight turn while breaking dives down to 1 side again.
The only solution is to run 2 upper points close to the brakes on each side. Then breaking is fine.

So ive since made this idea. And by mounting the upper arm to the lower on the inside (inline with your chassi) it gives more clearance to your springs. With the upper arm bush's it gives much more even braking while pins are removed as its even pressure to each side and enough play in the blue bush's to get rid of any remaining diff twist.

If anyones still having problems understanding the binding issues. Hold both your hands out in front of you flat and thumbs pointing up (representing your lower arms). Now imagine there is a mounting point at your wrist and 1 at your finger tips. Now rotate your arms in an arc with out moving your elbows and youll see that the opposing finger tips want to twist different ways.

Now make a fist and imagine mounting points are middle of your little finger and middle of your fist finger and turn like a steering wheel. Theres still a little twist but nowhere near as much

[bigdonk]

Looks good I'm very interesed, What shocks do you recomend.. I'm currently running comp shocks and they get fully stretched out.. do i have to chengs shock mounts or get longer shocks...

[BenDover]

Im still working on the shocks mate :). They have to suit my 4" lift, even with the largest shock with remote resevoir. This suspension will still max it out. Everyone esle just removes their shock tower and cut into their engine bay. But ill get around that. Im talking to a guy who makes telescopic shocks. We'll see what happens.

Only problem for you is patrol is first ;). Then ill make some for cruiser.

But in the mean time i can make your truck flex HEAPS BETTER if you want?
But youll have to lengthen brake lines etc.

[BenDover]

oh hang on, cast steel lower arms :(. Welding weakens them unless you spend heaps getting them heat treated. Just have to wait mate.