Heim joints

[bilchap]

If you heim joint the ends of your radius arms do they need to be extended.I mean to gain more droop do they have to longer or can you just add them to the end.I already have longer coils.

 

[Spdrcer34]

Adding a heim will give you a LITTLE more travel, but not enough to notice. Lengthening the RA also changes the arc that the arm travels in as the suspension is compressed and decompressed....the longer the RA, the better flatter the radius, or arc.


Ryan

 

[glfredrick]

I'm not a fan of the heims for the rear of the radius arms. They will rattle like crazy and not hold up long (unless you use HUGE parts). You could try Johnny Joints, but as said earlier, you won't gain much and the cost is high for the work. It typically isn't the radius arm that limits travel. I ran stock arms on my 92 and could get 16" plus travel out of them (with worn rubber bushings).

Replace the shock mounts with F250, longer shocks, longer brake lines (superduty work great) and longer travel coil springs are the ticket. It doesn't take lift to get travel. I had basically zero lift on mine (was running 4" body for tire clearance).

 

[Maniak]

The extended RA gets you too things. One is it puts back some of the caster you loose with the lift (Drop brackets do that too).. The other is it cuts down on the range of motion the RA end of the arm during flex which allows it to flex more before it runs out of travel.

I did noticed when I was still running drop brackets and normal RA bushings that as the bushings wore I would get more flex. There wasn't much more to get, but the more I got made it so I would pull the spring out of the upper mount.

To see if your going to gain anything, just lift the truck and let the suspension droop. Now loosen the RA nut a little and see if you get more droop. If so, then its your RA bushings that are limiting your travel and changing the joint would help.. BUT...

How are you going to put a Heim type joint on the end of that post? My guess is your going to get rid of your drop brackets which means you need to either use a longer RA or put some bend in it to put back some caster. I'm not sure how I feel about a short RA bent to put some caster back.

As for the bushing to use.. Heims normally don't last, Johnny Joints or Ballistic joints should last longer and are rebuildable.

I'm personally using Ballistic Joints on the end of our extended radius arms. They are 2 5/8" across (2.63"). They make bigger ones too

Here are the Ballistic joints next to the Heim joints they replaced..

Soo, in short (I know, too late), figure out what is limiting your travel and then fix that and then do it again until you have as much travel as you want/need.

~Mark

 

[bilchap]

Thanks for the input I have 1.5 over coils already.I don't want alot of lift just travel.We do alot of what I call trail gougeing.Instead of using the f 250 shock tower,couldn't you just get longer shocks.

 

[Maniak]

The factory shocks and mount aren't very long. That causes 2 limitations. You can't droop very far and you can't add longer.

Basically, as you put on longer shocks you will get more droop but since the mount for them is so close you end up loosing up travel. When you run out of travel like that (up travel) you tend to break the lower shock mount off the radius arm (I've done that a few times).

~Mark

 

[glfredrick]

You are probably trying to get this:

To do that, you need longer shocks, longer brake lines, and flexier springs. The pictures above are with stock-length radius arms with rubber bushings, clearanced here and there for travel. It would have been better with longer arms for sure, and I also could have used steering fixes that eliminated the tow-in at max droop, but I never really noticed that much on the trail and it worked all over the country every place I wheeled.

 

[gmanpaint]

By "Flexier springs" Do you mean less poundage rating? Can it still be street driven with softer springs?

What year f-250 shock towers work the best? HD make a difference? How long a shock can you fit with the f-250 towers?

The Ballistic joints...how much, and what has to be done to install? They look tons beefier than the heims.


Man I'm such a 1st gen mod newb...lol I will search the forum and see what pops up

 

[bilchap]

Thanks guys.Learned alot in a short time.Are you running the f250 shock mounts,glfredrick or something else?If I have to buy those mounts new where do you get them? Ford or aftermarket.I have alot of trouble getting the bone yards around here to part with anything that small.They want to sell you whole parts like housings and such.Anyway keep the info coming.Knowledge is power.

 

[RangerX]

Here's some related links that make for good reading.
http://www.therangerstation.com/Magazine/Spring2003/TTBTuning.htm
http://www.therangerstation.com/Magazine/Fall2003/MaximumFlexForTheTTB.htm
http://www.therangerstation.com/tech_library/WheelTravel.html

 

[glfredrick]

By "Flexier springs" Do you mean less poundage rating? Can it still be street driven with softer springs?

What year f-250 shock towers work the best? HD make a difference? How long a shock can you fit with the f-250 towers?

The Ballistic joints...how much, and what has to be done to install? They look tons beefier than the heims.


Man I'm such a 1st gen mod newb...lol I will search the forum and see what pops up

Searching is good... It will gain you a lot of respect around here because you will be able to ask intelligent questions for specific issues that haven't been dealt with already about 50 times.

You will find a lot of info on my build and my recommendations here:
http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=237302

And, yes, I use softer spring rate springs. I drove mine on the street all the time, from Wisconsin to Panama City Beach in the same year -- without a front sway bar connected... Of course, it goes without saying that one does not lay it into corners hard in that configuration. Door handles get expensive and mirrors are a pain to replace (in other words it was VERY flexy and would lay right over in a corner if you didn't "jack" the weight to set up for a corner first).

I ran shocks with 15" travel with the F250 spring hangers. They are mid-80s model parts, still available from Ford for about $15 a pop. They install very easily. I'd buy the mounts new instead of trying to do the boneyard thing. For the money, why bother fighting with rusty parts.

Everything else I did is explained in the thread above.

FYI, here is my current build. If you want to REALLY off-road, this is what you want. For trail riding, some rock and stuff, the 'Sploder is fine, but otherwise tire and travel are king.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=182411&id=543735074&l=c60f3bcbc2

 

[bilchap]

I'm having trouble finding the right length shocks.Are you guys saying with the f250 shock tower you can use an f250 shock or is it a different shock?

 

[glfredrick]

Check out the Rancko catalog, starting on page 57.

http://www.gorancho.com/assets/catalog/08Shocks.pdf

There, you can find all sorts of shocks that fit all sorts of different applications by the measurements. Then, once you know the measurements, you can cross over the numbers and find the application from Rancho or any other make -- or shop the salvage yard.

I do a lot of salvage yard work, tape measure in hand, but I also dive into the catalogs to find parts from other vehicles that will fit the bill. That's part of the deal once you start modifying.

On my own truck, I used shocks from the front of a Dodge RAM 3500 4x4, which were a great length (LONG!), but had studs on the top. I modified my shock towers to fit, but if I did it over again, I'd just get the right shocks. I did mine that way 'cause all the parts were free and I'm cheap...

 

[gmanpaint]

Searching is good... It will gain you a lot of respect around here because you will be able to ask intelligent questions for specific issues that haven't been dealt with already about 50 times.

Are you talking directly to me or in general?

Trust me when I say, I realize the importance of searching.