School me on setting up a 4 link?

hey was wondering if anyone can tell me how I go about putting in a triangular 4 link in the rear of my 54 chevy. This is one area where I dont know my *** from my elbow and I heard theres alot of tricks to it, how do you keep the rearend in place while when you dissconnect the leaf springs etc.. any help is appreciated

 

its not easy to do (correctly). if the body is on the frame i wouldnt attempt it. A tri-4 bar is not very forgiving. because of the short top bars going to the side and longer bottoms going forward, as soon as the rear end moves up or down it wants to bind (even when you set it up dead on) if you try to do it under the car youll never get it to travel smoothly. youll wear out the bushing in no time. anyway,what are you running for suspension? if your using airbags <-(blah) your rear wheel will alost never be in the center of the wheel well.tri 4 bar has such a short range of travel (due to the short top bars ) check out the ark of the top bars . when you travel up or down 6 inches the rear moves about 2 inches. so when your on the ground the rear would be about 1 inch to far forward and the pinion would be facing down about 3 degrees..at 3 inches it would be ok...the at 6 inches it would be 1 inch to far forward again but the pinion would now be about 3 degrees up.

 

i just looked at a picture in a book and copied that,dunno if the angles are 'right' but it seems to work well...the bars are all parallel to the ground at ride height, i think thats pretty important.

 

4 links arent that tough to install, although if the body is on the frame, and you dont wanna take it off, find the trunkpan and rear diff hump pan seam, and cut out the whole section of floor pan so you can easily access the rear suspension. if you cut it right, and clean, you will have no problem reinstalling it into your car when your done.

pinion angle is very important. make sure to set your pinion angle (recommended angle) at the height that you intend for ride hieght. that way when you lift or lower your within a few degrees, and not that far off!
and if you have a great deal of travel in the rear yes it will move the axle forward, but you would need at leat 8 inch hydraulic cylinders for it to be noticable.

when mounting the four link to the axle (depending on which product your using) you should be able to tack weld the rear axle bracket to the axle while the leaf springs are still in place. tack the frame bracket in place as well.

i set jack stands under the axle check pinion angle tack in place, raise and lower it to check for binding, then if none, weld it on, pull leafs out!

 

I like to keep the 4 bars the same length from the differential. Usually requires lengthening the tops or shortning the lowers. This way your pinion angle is dead nuts throughout the entire range. There is alot more to it than that however like instant centers and such. Just giving you a few tips.

 

this a 54 Chevy 4 link....

 

i agree, thats why i generally use a "universal" triangulated 4 link, cuz the bars are close in length, gives better travel with less binding.


i will be doing my shoebox soon, so i plan on doing a tech on it

 

Thanks for all the help guys, Much appreciated