Radius Arms vs. 3-link (wishbone ?)

[Speed-J]

Sooo, its getting warmer, and I was thinking about what to do with the jeep in the upcoming weeks. One of the points on my to-do list is the issue of my control arms.

I have a long-arm setup that Im beginning to think about ditching for a new homebrew set. the arms on there are pretty warn out and im concerned it will soon become a safety issue.

So while I have everything torn apart (I'm going to take the tub off the frame to patch the frame) I figured it might be a good time to adress the front end. Right now i have radius arms, however the axle side upper mounts were just meant to be temporary, and i'll be making new mounts regardless.

My question is, would it be wise of me to do a 3 link with a wishbone upper instead? or try to fit a 4 link type setup in there? I dont know the 4-link calculator well enough to know if the difference in ride will be worth the effort.

Sorry for the dumb question, but I'm not really sure what route to take here, so i guess im looking for advice. Anyone got any input? :-\

Thanks

 

[I Lean]

Is this a street-driven rig? If so, you don't want a wishbone 3 link, or any triangulated type linkage. Keep a panhard bar in the mix somewhere, and do radius arms, or a non-triangulated 3 link or 4 link.

 

[Speed-J]

Panhard is there to stay, as this is a street driven rig.

im kinda leaning toward a non-triangulated 4 link. i dont like the non-symmetry of a non-triangulated 3 link. must be OCD haha. I just dont think i'd trust it.

but a wishbone wouldnt work up front? even with a panhard?

 

[I Lean]

Wishbone won't work with a panhard, since they'll fight each other to locate the axle. The panhard makes the axle move in an arc (hopefully matching the drag link), and the wishbone will make the axle stay centered throughout travel. Add them both together and you get binding or breaking.

If you look at the factory linkage and many aftermarket, there is a small amount of triangulation in the links. It's not enough to effectively locate the axle, but it does cause a small amount of bind for the same reason. It still works though, because of the bushings that are in the arms. They're more than able to deflect enough to absorb the bind.

 

[Speed-J]

I could have sworn when I looked at fabtec's site they had a panhard in their 3-link wishbone kit for the rear.

I did think that that would have caused binding, but i figured 'what did i know.'

so i guess if that is out of the question (as i want to keep a panhard up front) I suppose i should look into going to a non-tri 4-link.

will it be worth the effort over the performance of a radius arm setup?

 

[I Lean]

I do like a 4-link versus a radius arm setup, but the radius arms are simple and easy, and do work pretty well.

What kind of vehicle is this on? If it's a TJ, then maybe try to emulate this kit--it works very well, and is about the only long-arm 4-link I know of for TJ's:

 

[Speed-J]

It is a TJ and it currently has a clayton longarm kit, so most of the geometry is already figured out for me. I will try to take a closer look at this teraflex kit however, in hopes to see how everything needs to be routed in order to fit. I feel thats going to be the biggest issue here.