Radius Arm Rear End, Why Not?

this is what im planning on doing.

i have 1978 HP D44, and a Big bearing 9" for my SAS project.

im going to basically copy everything from front axle and put it on the rear axle, but put the trac bar on the opposite end of the axle.

ill have to make the wedges a little bit smaller because the 9" is 1" longer around then the D44, and extend the radius arms. but other then that i don't see why it wont work. the front and rear will both have swaybars.

Ive been looking around (not just on here) and cannot find any info... FROADER did find a link for me, http://pirate4x4.com/forum/showthrea...adius+arm+rear, but the guy gave up...



can anyone give me a reason why it wont work?


opinions please!

 

[Equnoxe]

nobody?

 

[james t]

I know rookieshooter's B2 is set up that way and ive seen a few other rigs over the years. Years ago i helped a friend of mine build front/rear radius arms under an early Bronco on rockwells. It flexed great but had alot of anti-squat, which is expected.

I think the reason why its not very popular is for about the same effort you can have a 3 or 4 link, and can tune it to behave however you want.

 

[Equnoxe]

thanks for the reply, would you happen to have any links?

as for the anti-squat, will extending the RA (probably twice as long as stock) and using stiffer springs reduce it?

im probably going to be using a 351M/400 + C6 + NP-205 setup with these axles, so...

if I were to convert the case to a twin stick setup, then just use the front axle to drive instead of the rear, would that work or no?



thanks
-Andy

 

[james t]

I believe running them "flatter" or more or less parallel with the frame is the only way to reduce the AS. They're still gonna have alot. On my friend's EB he eventually tossed them and went 4 link.

I cant find a link to the thread im thinking of. There are people out there running them that are satisfied with them.

 

[Kirby N.]

Rockware is a company here in Colorado Springs that builds buggies that use Radius Arms front and rear. I even saw one running cage arms front and rear. Here is a pic of a ranger that was running them front and rear. It used to belong to a guy who lived near me, but it has been passed around now. He used older EB Duff Arms.

I would have to agree with James' first post though. Why? I think the way a radius arm suspension complements a leaf sprung rear is pretty hard to beat short of a link. If I was going though the trouble I would probably build a 4 link with a panhard. But I honestly will never mess with my rear leafs. They perform fine and they are reliable. I would add a traction bar maybe.

 

[Equnoxe]

thanks Kirby, Ive emailed them to see if i can get more pictures ( especially of their ford buggy )

im quite confident now on how im going to set it up, should be super easy actually



i cannot decide on what motor to use....

from the axle donor i have a 351M/400 with C6 and NP-205 (all work, but i will rebuild if i use) (mild parts upgrade, nothing super fancy, propane maybe?)

or

stock 4.0 SOHC/5R55E/ and swap in a manual t-case (turbo/supercharger later on)