" help! Bagged truck owners

[LAIDOUT7]

I'm about to do the rear of my truck with with a custom 2link with a long pan
hard bar , or a track bar setup. but before I can do that I need to set everything up @ ride height.

Could you guys tell me how high your frame is off the groung @ ride height?
anywhere under the cab will be fine..... Thanks

[FnLow69]

it depends on how low your going, if your laying frame most set it up at 5" ride height. Also this should be in the suspension section and you'd get more help...

[lowestsixty7]

Why do you need to set it up at ride height? If your building a 2 link type rear suspension i would set up the suspension laid out. Wheather its laying frame or laying body. Are you building a frame or a rear frame clip? You should be able to do it all by measurement. If your doing a 2 link style cantilever you will get plenty of lift with the truck.

[LAIDOUT7]

Originally Posted by lowestsixty7

Why do you need to set it up at ride height? If your building a 2 link type rear suspension i would set up the suspension laid out. Wheather its laying frame or laying body. Are you building a frame or a rear frame clip? You should be able to do it all by measurement. If your doing a 2 link style cantilever you will get plenty of lift with the truck.

When your using a 2link with a panhard bar or track bar, you always want the bar set parallel as posible @ normal ride height. (or is this not true?). my truck has been back halfed and has 22"s,I mocked it up and "IF" everything goes right it will lay frame,

[lowestsixty7]

You dont have to have the bars running parallel at ''normal'' ride height. Alot of the quality of the ride has to do with where you actually place the bag on the bar. And where you decide on where you want to put the shocks. Those 2 things are key when doing a two link and trying to get the best quality ride out of it. Most of the trucks that we do at IF Customs are two links. All of them ride great as long as set up correctly. If the bag is too far forward the ride will be to soft. If the bag is too far back on the bar the ride will be to hard. You have to try to get the optimum setup out of the two like. Most of the trucks that we build, we build to ride an 1'' or 2'' off the ground. In that aspect the 2 link bar is not parallel when driving. It would be at an angle. We like the trucks to drive the best as low as possible. And they do. If the truck is lets say 5'' off the ground it doesnt neccessarily ride as well. It really all depends on how you want your truck to drive at what height. Hope this helps out a little. Hope this helps a little with your question.

[Hottrucks]

my truck is only C notched..I swapped my truck arms for a set of nascar arms ( off ebay cheap) they are a direct bolt in my bags are in the stock location shock mounts flipped with 1" blocks...I built the P bar (42") it goes from the back of the trailing arm to the outside of the fram on the other side.....I had to set it up centered perfect at full drop because the U bolts only clear the frame if they are perfecly centered...at ride height 5" off the axle I'm only to the side about 1/4".....

Keep in mind that I'm running pro street tires on a stock rally with 5" off back space added so in order for it to clear the bed ( outside fenders) I had to goto the longest P bar I could...so far so good I'm still in the build process but should have the bed on by the middle of next week ( waiting for wheels to come back from widening) everything loks like a good fit so far

you'll also notice that the back of the trailing arms are ready for a swaybar also

[lowestsixty7]

That is true that most members dont drive their truck 1''-2'' off the ground. However we typically do. Thats why we build them. They look better lower to the ground driving. But thats my opinion. If he is talking about pinion angle it really depends on a few things with his truck. The reason we would point pinion down a few degrees is to compensate for flex. The thing is that the major detail left out is that it should be one to three degrees pointed down from parallel to the transmission (or the front driveshaft on a two-piece driveline). What that means is the pinion could, under certain circumstances, point up. But you can see from the diagram that the pinion angle can certainly be more than three degrees to be set up right. (or the front driveshaft on a two-piece driveline). What that means is the pinion could, under certain circumstances, point up.

Here is a video you guys might like...Trav's truck that we did about 10 years ago

YouTube- travis` s bodydropped 70 chevy truck...

[OARNGESI]

Thats a great lookin truck did it ever get painted

[Ricks' 72C10]

Originally Posted by lowestsixty7

That is true that most members dont drive their truck 1''-2'' off the ground. However we typically do. Thats why we build them. They look better lower to the ground driving. But thats my opinion. If he is talking about pinion angle it really depends on a few things with his truck. The reason we would point pinion down a few degrees is to compensate for flex. The thing is that the major detail left out is that it should be one to three degrees pointed down from parallel to the transmission (or the front driveshaft on a two-piece driveline). What that means is the pinion could, under certain circumstances, point up. But you can see from the diagram that the pinion angle can certainly be more than three degrees to be set up right. (or the front driveshaft on a two-piece driveline). What that means is the pinion could, under certain circumstances, point up.

Here is a video you guys might like...Trav's truck that we did about 10 years ago
YouTube- travis` s bodydropped 70 chevy truck ...IF CUSTOM

I love Travis' truck!

That truck and that video really kept me fired up on my project.

I will be cruising all over with the rockers scraping!

[LAIDOUT7]

Originally Posted by lowestsixty7

You dont have to have the bars running parallel at ''normal'' ride height. Alot of the quality of the ride has to do with where you actually place the bag on the bar. And where you decide on where you want to put the shocks. Those 2 things are key when doing a two link and trying to get the best quality ride out of it. Most of the trucks that we do at IF Customs are two links. All of them ride great as long as set up correctly. If the bag is too far forward the ride will be to soft. If the bag is too far back on the bar the ride will be to hard. You have to try to get the optimum setup out of the two like. Most of the trucks that we build, we build to ride an 1'' or 2'' off the ground. In that aspect the 2 link bar is not parallel when driving. It would be at an angle. We like the trucks to drive the best as low as possible. And they do. If the truck is lets say 5'' off the ground it doesnt neccessarily ride as well. It really all depends on how you want your truck to drive at what height. Hope this helps out a little. Hope this helps a little with your question.

LOWESTSIXTY7: thanks for the info, I think 2" might be a little too low for me, I might be cool with 5" (thats what I was thinking anyway).I guess I have been reading too many hotrod mags,cause they always set their rear stuff up @ ride height.SOOO my trailing arms are made of 2x2 sqr tube.25wall
@40" long, I was told I want to place the bags 1/3 of the length of my trailing arms= 13".my shocks are going to be placed as far as possible to the outside of the axle.Here's what I'm confused about....... if I put the panhard bar in @ full dump, wont it pull the truck to one side when I air up??? I hear it can pull as much as 2" , dont I want everything centered when I'm driving.BTW do you have any pictures you could post of your setup? THANKS AGAIN

[FnLow69]

i would set the panhard up at your ride height, so it will be centered were you'll be driving the most.

[lowestsixty7]

Is the 40'' bar center of the front pivot point to the center of the axle? Typically if i am doing a custom 2 link the bars are normally at least 40'' long sometimes up to 44'' long. I will usually put the bag an inch to 1.5'' forward from center on the bar. So if the bar is 40'' long center to center i will put the bag at 18.5 inches from the center of the front. This is just a generalization. It may vary for your truck or you may want to do it different. As with everything, everyone has their own personal preferences. Also you have to remember that depending upon where you are putting the bars you may have clearence issues with the bag and the rear tire (if you are running the bars on the outside of the frame). If you are setting it up at ride height remember that with a 2 link type suspension the axle is going to move front to back roughly a half inch possibly more from laid out to aired up. I do agree with FNLOW69 to set up the trac bar at ride height but i always do it laid out. I will put the track bar at the bottom of the driver side to the farthest forward i can on the passenger side 2 link bar. Are you making the trac bar adjustable? We typically dont have alot of movement side to side with the axle through its travel. Good luck with your project. Hope some of my input helped. Any pics would be awesome!!

[LAIDOUT7]

Originally Posted by lowestsixty7

Is the 40'' bar center of the front pivot point to the center of the axle? Typically if i am doing a custom 2 link the bars are normally at least 40'' long sometimes up to 44'' long. I will usually put the bag an inch to 1.5'' forward from center on the bar. So if the bar is 40'' long center to center i will put the bag at 18.5 inches from the center of the front. This is just a generalization. It may vary for your truck or you may want to do it different. As with everything, everyone has their own personal preferences. Also you have to remember that depending upon where you are putting the bars you may have clearence issues with the bag and the rear tire (if you are running the bars on the outside of the frame). If you are setting it up at ride height remember that with a 2 link type suspension the axle is going to move front to back roughly a half inch possibly more from laid out to aired up. I do agree with FNLOW69 to set up the trac bar at ride height but i always do it laid out. I will put the track bar at the bottom of the driver side to the farthest forward i can on the passenger side 2 link bar. Are you making the trac bar adjustable? We typically dont have alot of movement side to side with the axle through its travel. Good luck with your project. Hope some of my input helped. Any pics would be awesome!!

lowestsixty7: Do you prefer a track bar over a panhard bar?.... to me track bar seem to be a lot more simple to install ? I just never hear of many people using them, and I still dont understand how they keep you centered.
To answer yourquestion, yes my link bars are 40" long from center pivot point to center of the axle.Thanks again, all yours and FNLOW69 input has been very helpfull thank you . pictures coming soon

[FnLow69]

Originally Posted by LAIDOUT7

lowestsixty7: Do you prefer a track bar over a panhard bar?.... to me track bar seem to be a lot more simple to install ? I just never hear of many people using them, and I still dont understand how they keep you centered. To answer your question, yes my link bars are 40" long from center pivot point to center of the axle.Thanks again, all yours and FNLOW69 input has been very helpfull thank you . pictures coming soon

They keep you centered cause one end mounts to the frame and the others on the link, creating a triangle.

[bedsled71]

in this picture you can see the trac bar link to link. it triangulates the links to not allow lateral movement