Anyone ever build their own 4-link?

[Mr.SpeedFreak]

Hey guys, I'm looking at a pair of '70 Plymouths I'm hoping to buy from a buddy of mine next year after my Charger is finished, but one of them looks to have significant rust damage. These would be long term projects for me to tinker with, so I'm considering back-halving at least one of them and fabricating my own 4 or 3 link rear suspension.

Anyone have any experience with this kind of fabrication or links to resources online as far as determining the lengths of links, suspension geometry as far as the angles, etc?

Just an idea I thought would be cool, any input would be greatly appreciated
ccasion14:

 

[birds8869]

Mr.SpeedFreak,

Check out www.Freakride.com (Control Freak Suspensions), I got my kit from them. Great customer support, but if you just want a diagram, its on there.

 

[Cranky]

Been years since I've checked but you could buy the threaded weld in pieces for the heim joints to screw into. Do you have a TIG machine and some sort of saw for cutting the tube? You will want to use chrome moly tube to build with since it's stronger than mild tube and that should be TIG welded. Probably easier to just buy a kit that's already welded up unless you are wanting custom length bars etc....

 

[Mr.SpeedFreak]

Been years since I've checked but you could buy the threaded weld in pieces for the heim joints to screw into. Do you have a TIG machine and some sort of saw for cutting the tube? You will want to use chrome moly tube to build with since it's stronger than mild tube and that should be TIG welded. Probably easier to just buy a kit that's already welded up unless you are wanting custom length bars etc....

Thanks guys, and yeah I have all that covered and work in my dad's machine shop so that always makes things easier as far as doing precision stuff. The main thing is needing to know how long to make the links and what the best angle for them to be at is. A kit would definitely be easier but I'd like to learn what goes into making them and sounds like a fun challenge

 

[HT413]

Contact Moparpoor, he's a member here. He has done a bunch of 4 links and gave me some great advice and part numbers and all. I bought my car with mini-tubs and 4 link already installed. it has a full interior and backseat yet i have 30x12.5 tires on it and there is plenty of room for maybe up to 15" wide.

Here are some pix of my setup, though from what moparpoor said, the front 4 link brackets need to be gusseted to the frame rails, so dont use mine as a model lol.

http://www.forbbodiesonly.com/mopar...69-Belve-minitub-and-some-unique-chassis-work

 

[Mr.SpeedFreak]

Thanks HT, that user's pics in your thread look great. I'll shoot him a pm and see about dimensions and everything.

How is your setup holding up? I noticed even the quadruple-digit pricetag street lynx setup doesn't have gussets on the brackets for the upper links which I thought was weird. I would imagine some hard driving would put a little too much strain on single brackets only welded "on end" to the rearend.

 

[HT413]

She's holding up just fine, though I only have a low compression truck 413 in there. I plan on building a more stout motor this fall/winter so I may have to reinforce it.

 

[benno440]

i bought and installed the magnumforce 4 link, after installing i was thinking of how easy it would be to make one, i do 100% agree to sue chromoly, it welds just like mild steel, and definetly use a tig welder to do this.
dont be scared of spherical ends, i thought it wasa going to be a really harsh ride, but i was wrong, it drives like a new car

 

[Mr.SpeedFreak]

She's holding up just fine, though I only have a low compression truck 413 in there. I plan on building a more stout motor this fall/winter so I may have to reinforce it.

Yeah, understandable but good to hear it's holding up for you so far.

- - - Updated - - -

i bought and installed the magnumforce 4 link, after installing i was thinking of how easy it would be to make one, i do 100% agree to sue chromoly, it welds just like mild steel, and definetly use a tig welder to do this.
dont be scared of spherical ends, i thought it wasa going to be a really harsh ride, but i was wrong, it drives like a new car

Yeah seeing the kits I couldn't justify spending that much money when I could do it cheaper myself and get some valuable experience in the process. :icon_thumleft: but just curious what makes a gas mig welder unsuitable for this kind of project? Is it to do with the material or just keeping everything nice and neat or?
Thanks for all the input guys! ccasion14:

 

[747mopar]

I looked into doing the same and found that there's allot of contradicting setups out there, some of the kits I've looked at looked to be more built to fit a particular car than to have correct geometry. I guess what I'm saying is I wouldn't look at the bolt in kits for references but would look at back halves that require you making the car fit them. I would check people like Art Morrison, Competition engineering etc. I personally like a triangulated four link for a street car, my last car had a factory triangulated four link "nice".

 

[Mr.SpeedFreak]

I looked into doing the same and found that there's allot of contradicting setups out there, some of the kits I've looked at looked to be more built to fit a particular car than to have correct geometry. I guess what I'm saying is I wouldn't look at the bolt in kits for references but would look at back halves that require you making the car fit them. I would check people like Art Morrison, Competition engineering etc. I personally like a triangulated four link for a street car, my last car had a factory triangulated four link "nice".

Yep that was another plus side of doing it myself, I was hoping if I soak up enough knowledge I would end up with a setup that has correct geometry specific to my car rather than a "fit-all" version. And from the research I've been doing so far, triangulated 4 link is what I'm planning on going with :icon_thumleft:

 

[benno440]

triangulated 4 link is preferred for a street car, as to what 747 was saying i went magnumforce because they only do mopar stuff, where as art morrison is chevy based. you also have a watts link setup or panhard bar, i prefer panhard bar but it does restrict some room for the pipes etc.
TIG weld is preferred for chromoly as it is neater but also penetrates better and stronger weld. etc.
here is my 4 link install.