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3 Link? 4 Link?

money_pit_yj

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Collierville, Tn
Im working on the front end of the Jeep. Looking to three link it with a trac bar. To me the packaging of the three link looks more doable than a 4 link.

Also, this project has hit its budget. Coilovers are out, New 2.5 Air shocks are pushing past where I want to be, is anything qwrong with coils and shocks? 5 years ago they were fairly common. Will be better than leafs right and I can upgrade to coilovers or air shocks in the future?

I am getting ready to order parts so my guy can get it welded up and back on the trail I was just wondering.
 
I know a few guys running coils and shocks, including myself. It works well enough that I chopped off the leaf springs in the back after 2 rides thumb.gif With a little preplanning you should be able to pull the coils and drop coilovers/pogo sticks right in place of the old shocks down the road.


I would plan for a little more uptravel or a lower ride height down the road when you made the mounts and the geometry, the springs tend to take up a little extra room that you would be able to use once you swap to a coilover/air shock.
 
Everyone says its hard to do a 4 link in the front of the jeeps so I would assume 3 link. As far as coils and shocks, hell ya go for it. They work great and ride great. you can upgrade later and the only change has to be with the coils and the shocks. None will be necessary to the links.
 
I was in the same boat (Toyota). I had all the intentions to go 4 link to avoid the track bar. I ended up doing a 3 link because the V8 interfered with the upper frame link placement. I would have had very little triangulation on the uppers. I'm not sure how your jeep is set up motor wise. I'm very happy with how my 3 link performs.
As far as coils, it had crossed my mind. But as far as the extra space needed and added fabrication, I went ahead and did 2.5 air shocks. Glad I did.
 
pholmann said:
Everyone says its hard to do a 4 link in the front of the jeeps so I would assume 3 link. As far as coils and shocks, hell ya go for it. They work great and ride great. you can upgrade later and the only change has to be with the coils and the shocks. None will be necessary to the links.

Now the trick is figuring out ride height. Betty is tall as she sits now, I was hoping to lower it a hair for stability sakes. I am guessing the person doing the work will know how to accomplish that.
 
Re:

I've got Yj buggy with coils/shocks front and rear and I've been really happy with how it gets around. I run dual rate v8 grand cherokee Springs on the front and it's not the lowest sitting rig you'll find but it's always felt stable to me and works well. The link set up is single triangulated 4 link although the lowers do slightly kick out so it's got a little double to it I guess. I really didn't know what I was doing when I built it but I could have got more triangulation out of the lowers with different brackets but I used a coil/shock/ lower link combo bracket. If you're interested I've got a few videos and I'll talk all the pictures ya want and answer any questions I can. If it wasn't for some stuff that I just flat out didn't make strong enough I would've had 0 problems with my setup for 3 seasons so my word of advice is to just make all your brackets, link mounts, and trusses stout.

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I see why you asked now.

I was set up with 3 link front. Coil springs and shocks.

The Jeep springs I used were all sorts of soft. I ended up blowing out a set of cheapo shocks. But, once I ponied up and got some nifty Bilstein 7100 shocks it did okay.
 
cdbc4386e8dcdeb0c1f155f4625b438e.jpg
put these things inside my front coils and it made it ride a hell of a lot better. Never thought I needed good bumps until I installed these up front. The next ride out it felt like the rear was beating me to death even though it probably always rode that way
a5db7359ff010d5f2c55d23300126c6d.jpg
just installed these and hoping they smooth this thing out

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onepieceatatime said:
cdbc4386e8dcdeb0c1f155f4625b438e.jpg
put these things inside my front coils and it made it ride a hell of a lot better. Never thought I needed good bumps until I installed these up front. The next ride out it felt like the rear was beating me to death even though it probably always rode that way
a5db7359ff010d5f2c55d23300126c6d.jpg
just installed these and hoping they smooth this thing out

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What are the red things? And The white is the bump stop?
 
Re: Re: 3 Link? 4 Link?

money_pit_yj said:
What are the red things? And The white is the bump stop?
The red things are bumpstops that go in the coils and the white ones go on the shocks. My rear coils would've taken a 2 sets to make them work. They're called Prothane coil inserts and you can get them from Jegs. I'm very happy with them after a couple rides

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Re:

I haven't drove very many other rigs so my experience is pretty limited to this jeep but it feels very stable to me and the bumps are making it ride much better. https://youtu.be/zAMYlzfYaPM

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You could probably get some ranch/foa/generic coilovers used pretty cheap, much easier packaging and later on if your budget allows you can bolt in a a nice fox/king etc upgrade, instead of having to cut and grind and redesign
 
Neal3000 said:
You could probably get some ranch/foa/generic coilovers used pretty cheap, much easier packaging and later on if your budget allows you can bolt in a a nice fox/king etc upgrade, instead of having to cut and grind and redesign
I honestly thought about that, but then I take a chance of buying a problem. New a cheap coilover has a risk of problems, used I would be really leary of them. I found some Race runner 18" air shocks that look beat to heck but supposedly work fine. Im trying to work something out with him now.

After doing my math, if I can get the Sway aways for what I offered, it will be a 50 cent difference. I am just not sure I want to mess with used stuff and risk the problem.
 
Why not put a wishbone in the front? I ran one in the front of my first Buggie and really liked it with coil springs, easy to package
 
Most likely the worst likely issue with coilovers is that they would need a rebuild- new seals and wear bands. Thats a cheap and easy fix, and you get to learn more about them. The desert racing sites usually have lots of used shocks cheap
 
Re:

A number of guys around here run stock jk coils. You can get them free most of the time. They are progressive rate.

Or you could do like many of the zuk guys and run coilover springs by themselves.
 
I always ran stock tj front coils mounted under the frame all around w bds or bulstein shocks (depending on budget at the time) on my old jeeps. They always rode like Cadillacs down the trail. I miss the ride of coils.

I always ran dual triangulated 4 liks f/r on my tj'is too. It was a bitch getting the front drivers side upper to clear the driveshaft. I ended up having to have a purposely bent upper link that would still kiss the driveshaft at full stuff. I never liked 3 links, although I'm on my second 3 link front buggy right now. I don't like the side to side swing of the axle w a track bar.
 
mckeddie said:
I always ran stock tj front coils mounted under the frame all around w bds or bulstein shocks (depending on budget at the time) on my old jeeps. They always rode like Cadillacs down the trail. I miss the ride of coils.

I always ran dual triangulated 4 liks f/r on my tj'is too. It was a bitch getting the front drivers side upper to clear the driveshaft. I ended up having to have a purposely bent upper link that would still kiss the driveshaft at full stuff. I never liked 3 links, although I'm on my second 3 link front buggy right now. I don't like the side to side swing of the axle w a track bar.

Is that with or without a track bar? I thought the track bar controlled the side to side movement?
 
money_pit_yj said:
Is that with or without a track bar? I thought the track bar controlled the side to side movement?

Depending on the length and angle of the track bar at the ride height, it will swing the axle to the left or right when it droops out (just like links swing an axle back towards the t case ).

Make the track bar as long as you can, and get it as level as you can at ride height. Then plan for it to pull towards the frame side trackbar mount just a tad when it goes through its travel. The longer the track bar the less it's gonna move side to side. Making it level will make the swing a little more predictable since it will always pull to the same side on compression and droop.


*most of that doesn't matter to much when you are running full hydro, unless you plan on going fast.
 

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