I don't see how this rear suspension will work without going into an immediate bind. The only movement I see possible is the compliance in the rubber bushings. Fabrication work looks great. I'll also be curious to hear the test drivers subjective comments when it hits the road.
Im with junkyard dog on this one....excellent work though ......we get enough axle hop/windup, in a full length leaf spring, let alone a half one....having the top of the diff/axle fixed by the bar might even make it worse.....Bert
I'm also waiting for a "real world" report on how this set-up works. It might be OK for a real low horsepower application, but I'm visualizing some problems with some real torque being applied. Frank
Hmmm, i think that will work just fine. The force applied to the springs and the upper bars is equal when the rear end tries to rotate up. The top bars will be in tension and the springs in compression. Pre 63 Vettes used a upper link just like that to STOP wheel hop, it keeps the spring from wrapping up. My .02.
Love them motor mounts. Like someone else said for a cruiser I think the suspension would work okay, but if you put any real power to it maybe not so well. When the spring would arc upwards under torque, with the spring becoming shorter the pinion would rise. The rearend would just rotate in the back bushing of the upper bar, not pull on it. Hope this makes since to someone else.
I had a '62 from'64 to '79 and although the upper link was designed to do that it was up to the job when serious horses were applied.. After I built a really strong 336" roller motor in '71 the front half of the springs got ess shaped real fast. They were ok with the original 340 hp engine. Still, a nice job on the modified ch***is Buckethed. Charlie
I've been thinking about this all day... well, when I wasn't chasing mice out of old cars... Sorry, but all I can see is the driveshaft dry humpin' the **** out of the transmission. That's all that's going to keep the rearend from wanting to, completely, cam over. Those bars need to be switched... JOE
Not to hijack your post cause that looks really cool, but I wanted to show what I did on a similar rear end. I had 1/4 elips mounted in the frame rail. Definitely not as stout as what you have and it doesn't have a panhard bar. I did mount on a 1/2" block to cantelever the spring more. ITs all grade 8 mounting. For shocks, I had frictions in the front, and they did "something" but not enough. I wanted real shocks front and back. here's what I came up with. does it look, "right" and do yout think it will work well? Thanks for the feeback.
I've heard a lot of concern about the pinion going crazy with this set-up. My concern is what happens when one rear tire/wheel hits a bump. Both rear tires don't go up equal amounts when you corner or hit bumps in the road!! Most of this 4-link rear suspension is slanted for drag racing on a smooth road and no curves. Think about it!!!! It's only geometry (which I had to repeat in the 10th grade!). One side of this set-up needs to be free to rotate on the rear axle housing tube so there's no bind. Right now the rubber in the bushings is the only thing that will give. That's called compliance. To prove my point. Jack only one side of the rear end up. Measure how far it moves before the other side starts coming up with it!!! I bet it'll move less than 2" before the other side starts moving too. That's no good and tells ya' it's in a bind.
Mine is about the same as the one pictured.I have done a lot of Drag Car rear ends and IMHO you guys are mistaken. On a ladder bar type setup ,the top and the bottom of the rear end housing are locked together. This in effect makes the rear end housing like a torsion bar and if one wheel raises the other one has to also . If you mount a spring without a shackle or slider on this type of setup it will be rigid because the spring and the ladder bar will move thru different arc's. Now a four bar /link allows one side to move mostly independent from the other.If you have enough power and traction to compress the spring ( lower link) then you could be in trouble. I believe after spending years trying to get 3500 lb cars with 10 inch slicks to hook up that an 1800 lb modified with street tires will never do any damage to those springs. Just for kicks I ran one side of mine up and down .Mine will move easily 7 and a half inches before the sperical rod ends are hitting the brackets . Just my opinion I could be wrong!
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