[tanshi]

Ok so im picking up a couple of LJ50s at some point in the next week or two. They are pretty rusty and while i will be able to get some good parts off of them i am thinking about having a play with the welder and getting some practice under my belt with it. Basically the idea is to put to gether a simple buggy. Dual lj50 transfers. 50 or 80 diffs, for simplicity i am considering vitara or rangie aframes front and rear. from there i can play with better set ups. any one got any ideas btter than vit setups with out making it too complicated???

[royce]

Triangulated 4 links for the best travel and manners (more complex to setup)

3 link for ease of setup (using something like Pajreo arms) less flex but more forgiving

[tanshi]

arent the rangie rear and vit rears basically triangualted 4 links any way?

[royce]

yeah in a way but pretty short arms

do you have the 4 link calculator spreadsheet?

[tanshi]

yeah i do, i have put calcs into it before.
the issues i have is not really knowing whats the right settings for anti squat, roll stiffness and all the other variables.

i figured if i started with a stockish setup. i could adventure from there and see what happened

[11_evl]

do a 4 link set up. keep front and rear upper and lower arms parallel with as much trianglation as possible

[tanshi]

11_evl wrote:

do a 4 link set up. keep front and rear upper and lower arms parallel with as much trianglation as possible

How much vertical seperation is needed?

[LAY80N]

Basics for a 4 link would be uppers about 75% length of lowers. Roughly about 1/4 of your expected tyre size of vert. seperation at the axle, and 1/8 vert. seperation at the chassis. Try to keep the links as flat as possible. As for what to aim for with roll centre, AS etc, it all depends on personal preference, use of the rig and what will acutally fit.

You will need at least 42 degrees of triangulation in the rear to restrain the axle laterally. Ideally you can get good triagulation in both uppers and lowers which will help to get you a flat roll axis, or even move into roll understeer. The uneven link verticle seperation helps induce change in AS values as the suspension travels i.e. AS is increased as the suspension gets nearer its bumpstops and vice versa with droop.

Running a triangulated four link usually means that mechanical steering (drag rod) will cause bump steer, and hydro or funky steering setups are needed. Depending on the travel you allow it to have you might get away with mechanical steering, but usually hydro is the best option. A triangulated four link moves up and down in a pure vertical plane, while a drag rod requires a panhard rod or simillar to cause the suspension to travel in an arc that matches (or goes close to) the panhard rods arc that it follows between the putman arm and knuckle.

What are you using as a suspension medium, coils, coilovers, airshocks? The choice in these and how you plan to mount them can also influence what you want. Are you going to run swaybars?


Layto.....

[tanshi]

might rig up some sway bars, for the time being i will just play with keeping it as small and simple as possible.

hydro might be over kill for a full on cheapy thrash mobile.

interesting about the steering though.