Twisty

Well one of my rear upper links has bent pretty badly from hitting the gas tank after installing the Cruiser Coils. I've got a spare set of upper links, so am going to get a mate to beef them up with some more heavy duty tube so even though it'll still hit the gas tank, it will be strong enough that it wont bend.

Am just wondering if I should lengthen them at all? or just leave them at the stock length? I know lengthening them will help the pinion angle a little, but I'm not getting any vibes or anything at the moment, so should I bother?

Am also going to lengthen the panhard rod to bring the rear diff back in line. I've currently got a 2" drop bracket installed, should I remove this, and go for a longer panhard? or keep it installed as well as a slightly longer panhard to suit?

Heres a pic of how my current rear setup all sits...which is just over 4" lift.

tc

I would definitely lengthen the trailing links - are your wheels centered in the wheel wells now? How about your driveshaft length - still plenty of slip yoke engaged?

There was a discussion on here about panhard bars. The trick is you want it to be as horizontal as possible so the axle doesn't shift much side to side as it flexes, BUT if you get it too low, it will make the truck tippy from having too low a roll center. The way I understand it, you want halfway (vertically) between the upper mount and the lower to be above the axle.

What tires are those in that pic? (not MTZ's - at least not the same ones we have in US)

Twisty

The tyres in the above picture were my old 33x12.5 Kumho KL71 Mud Terrains. They were a great tyre, but I prefer the MTZ's now.

The tyre does sit slightly forward in the wheel arch at ride height....as you can see in this picture. (wheels look ˟˟˟˟˟ in this pic)


But on up travel move right back in the wheel arch and hit the rear bumper. I'm getting a custom rear bar done soon, so this wont be as much as a problem, but if I lengthen the upper links, wont it make this worse?



As for the panhard, ideally I would like to lift it up where it mounts to the diff to suit, but this would have to be done as a bolt on mod, as it has to be able to be removed easily, as the lift isn't really legal. So has anyone seen a bolt on panhard lift bracket that attaches to the diff?

AH64ID

The lower links will locate it front and rear, the uppers control your pinion angle, and wont move it aft under compression. I ran 4" lift with 1" longer uppers and stock lowers. I dont like longer lowers since it pushes the axle aft too far on compression.

I think All Pro makes one for the diff side, weld on, but that could be change probally.

Just leaf swap it!!!

Twisty

Well the new arms are done.....made the upper arms 20mm longer, and with twice as thick tube (they look like proper control arms now)......And the panhard rod is now adjustable.....will hopefully fit it all this weekend....

AH64ID - did you have any dramas installing your longer upper arms? any tricks to pivoting the diff back to get them in? just use a jack on the third member??

AH64ID

They went on pretty easy. I did just what you said; bottle jack on the pinon and rotate until they fit. Might be easier if you pull the shocks off, but wasnt hard.

Twisty

Cool....thanks for that John.....I'll post pics once I get them all installed.....