I called a local race shop today asking them about the coil-over vs bags question for a rear 4 link. He recommended NOT doing a 4 link at all, and said it wouldn't give me what I wanted for a street driven truck. He recommends keeping the rear leaf springs, getting some 17-18" wheels and running large side wall drag radials. He said that if I still don't have enough hook after that to give him a ring and we'll work on traction helpers like caltracs or something.

I must say I'm surprised by this. I have to give it some credence as the guy basically turned away $4-5k for a good 4-link fab.

Any thoughts?

 

what is your primary goal?

 

The Problem is is there are no large side wall drag radials available that dont look ridiculas on our trucks IMO.

 

I'm not 100% sold on 4-links myself...too much to go wrong IMO, for strictly drag-racing I'd say go for it but still being street-driven a 2-link/panhard bar setup is alot more reliable and more accepting of axle articulation than a 4-link. Staying with leaf-springs IS an option, but not what I'd choose as axle-wrap/hop is a very big issue with leaf-sprung vehicles. If you've got axle-wrap/hop issues it doesn't matter how big your slicks are, you'll still never get traction

 

That's what I'm thinking Yelo -- his plan seems to be: get tires on it and see what needs to be fixed next (if anything -- although I'm sure tires won't cover all of it).

Now i need to find a good resource for 18" wheel weights...

My goal is a safe rear end for street/strip action (e.g. enough traction to handle my build when the boost comes on at speed or on the line)

 

one of my buddys that builds all his own stuff and has been racing all his life told me to go with the caltracs on my '93 rcsb build...he said it would do as good as any 4 link out there and cost a hell of a lot less....

 

I had the samething happend to me. I was going to put a 4 link on my typhoon and all the shops told me not to. I didn't listen to them and did it anyway. I cuold never get it right. A lady hit the truck, and I thought it was a blessing in disguise. The truck was totaled.

 

what was the problem with the 4 link? what could you not get right?the reason i ask is that i just put one on.

thanks shawn

 

Unfortunately with a 4 link, there are too many variables. Do they work? Absolutely, better than any leaf spring set up. The problem all lies in the set up. it's more than just 4 bars and a panhard. You have theoretical intersection points that need to be addressed during the install, and if that is wrong you will never get them right. Then you have a million different ways to preload it. Whether you start adjusting your coil overs, or preloading the bars, it just get's way too complicated for the average Joe (me). And if you thought it was hard to hook on a bad leaf spring suspension, it's 10 fold on a bad 4 link.

 

This is why I reccomended at most go with a 2-link/panhard setup, a 2-link is pretty painless to set up and as long as you get the pinion angle right the first time you'll never have any real issues with it unless you're trying for a boatload of articulation (not the strong piont of a 2/4-link setup)