Originally Posted by Porterbuilt Street Rods
I'm not qualified to wade very deep into suspesnion theory and design matters, but I'm no hater of panhard bars in general. I've had a pile of trucks that had them stock, and used a pile of Super Track bars. Good stuff. Center the rearend, set the bar length, tighten the hardware and forget about it from then on. Those were static drop situations. This is the first time I've ever done anything involving air.
I didn't take many pictures of the panhard bar specifically during that phase. About the best I have is the two I posted on the page before this one. I did go measure the bar though (its on my bench) and it came out to 34 inches. I'd say rough guesstimate, it was 10 odd degrees off of horizontal when installed at ride height, which is top of axle tube even with bottom plane of the stock frame rails.
I won't deny it, I went down the 2 link road somewhat out of ignorance and perceived ease. I knew up front the inherent compromise in pinion angle due to the design. I figured I could live with it. But, once built, as I cycled the suspension with a magnetic angle finder on the pinion, I'd flinch a little bit watching the angle swing. Then the side to side movement once I secured the panhard just kind of put it over the top for me. I sat there on the frame rails with my air hose and ball valve and cycled it a bunch of times with my angle finder and my tape measure and it just didn't speak to me any more. So I took it out and returned to square one. I will say, I've plenty happy with what I have now with the AOL. The only reason I didn't go AOL in the first place was my concern for spring fatigue. Then I figured the worst that could happen is I have to replace some leaf springs sometime in the future. I have a super fantastic local spring shop I can use if I need to.
I'm using a pair of Firestone sleeve bags and my existing Belltech Nitro Drop shocks. The way I have it set up now, at full shock extension, the bag is limited at 11 inches. At full shock compression, the bag is at 5 inches. Ride height is about 8.5 inches. I've read that the 9000 series bags are critical to have positive limits to their range of motion. I'll also set up my bolt in bumpstops to assure the max dump doesn't hammer the shocks fully compressed. One area of this project I have enjoyed a lot is making my own brackets. It allowed me to get better with my plasma cutter and press brake. Of course, if a man changes directions as much as I have, I suppose being able to make multiple sets of brackets is necessary simply for self preservation.
Lesson learned. There are my mistakes and failures for all to see.
And Nathan, don't take this as blatant ass kissing, but I'm real excited to get your crossmember under this truck. You've done the calculating and design so all I have to do is the install. That I can do no problem. I figure after all of my train wreck on the rear suspesnion, the dropmember install should be a welcome relief. Travis had told me he figured I'd have my crossmember by September 1 when I ordered it July 1. At that time he had a pre-existing order placed through you and he earmarked one of them for me.
In the mean time, I have a gallon of body filler, gallon of epoxy primer, gallon of 2K primer, and two gallons of paint sitting here. I won't be lacking for things to do.
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