Fabricating a 4 link rear

[Sparky]

Okay.......I've been thinking about doing this for a long time now. This Ranger I'm working on would look alot better if it sat lower. Plus, since I'm having trouble deciding what to do with this V8 swap and the fact that it's sitting in the frame crooked, has given me some ideas. I'm considering scrapping the twin I beam for the front and fabbing up a mustang II front suspenion. I think it will make it easier to set the engine up, not to mention it will ride, handle, and sit so much better. But for the rear.....I don't like this offset center section ,factory 8.8 rear. I plan on centering the engine, so I don't want the driveshaft operating on two planes. I do have an 88 GT rearend that I'm thinking about fabbing into the truck. This would be great, since I would be lowering the ride height and fixing my offset problem.

So my question is this. What do I need to know about the geometry of a triangulated 4 link setup, and where can I get the info on how to do this right? It seems to me, in order to make the suspension "work" like its supposed to, I need to know how to fab up my control arms and what lengths to cut them at. To my knowledge, the length of the upper versus the lower dictates how the pinion angle changes as the suspension articulates. Basically, I want to make sure I have a good setup for drag racing/ everyday driving. I don't want to do a botch-job like the lowrider dudes do sometimes. My main goal isn't to set it down as low as it can go and stuff some airbags in it to bring it back up. I want this thing to look and act like it was engineered from the factory. Anyone?

[mustangboy]

I know you want to do your own but S&W racecars makes a 4 link setup just for Rangers. If you don't want the hassle you could check it out.

[Sparky]

Actually, it doesn't matter as long as it works like it should. I just thought if I used a triangulated mustang setup I could do it cheap. I'm sinking way too much money in this thing. I will check it out thanks Kenny:bigthumb

[Black Horse]

Why not go with a 3-link and panhard bar set-up - you can use the same geometry/points the Ranger already has.

[Sparky]

Yeah, thats an idea too. Trust me, I'm driving myself nuts right now from weighing out my options. I could also go with a cup car rear w/ screwjacks to set the ride height and an adjustable track bar, and I could probably get one from a friend. I was just hoping to find a way to utilize a factory fox body rear with its origional mounts . I was hoping to be able to lengthen the stock trailing arms to suit my application, fab some shock mounts and spring cups and run with it. Plus, I don't know if I mentioned this, but I'm not actually looking to "tub" it. That opens up a whole new can of worms. I'm going for a road racer/pro touring look.

I did some googling last night and found some good resources on the subject. I think I got it dicked, but I need to search for some *verification* now. It turns out I was kind of ass back wards I thought the bars had to be equal or proportional length to have proper geometry. Turns out its just trial and error. The important thing is to keep them as parallel as posdsibly, unless your tweaking the instant center for launching purposes. Whatever I end up doing, I will end up with a wealth of knowledge on the subject. I like that too. It's a challenge, but the payoff is sweet. Thats the way this whole project has been so far.

[venomous_svt]

I have alot of knowledge about 4 link set ups from being a crew chief for my dads dirt open-wheel modified. There is alot of geometry involved but truly getting it centered and tracking right is the only important thing. Upper links control the amount of bite/downward force and the lowers control centering and also can be moved around for side bite, equal bar lengths and your pretty much set on this. You could still could possibly use the leaf spring/trailing arm bolt holes for the lowers on a 4 link but finding the room for the uppers might be a task.

If you just wanna solid street/strip set up, you cant beat a 3 link set up with a j bar/panhard....alot of different setups without the headache. I can take a bunch of pics of our 4 link and 3 link mods and post them up if you think it would help you out.

[Sparky]

Hell yeah dude let me see:bigthumb

[venomous_svt]

This is our 3 link set up, I'll have to take pics of our 4 bar tonight and post them up. This is set up with a ford 9 inch...this car is also for sale too, if anyone is into dirt track.

http://users.bandzoogle.com/fulcrumpoint/images/content/IMG_0423.JPG
http://users.bandzoogle.com/fulcrumpoint/images/content/IMG_0412.JPG
http://users.bandzoogle.com/fulcrumpoint/images/content/IMG_0422.JPG