Trail Gear 3-link. Options?

[mark]

Trail Gear 3-link. Opinions?

Ok, my f-toy project I'm working on had a 3-link if the front in its last configuration. It came with some of the parts, but the links are bent and the housing is missing a bunch of parts. Originally I was going to trash it and sell off what I could thinking it was a home-brew bastard thing because the links were super long and the frame mounts were damn near in the center of the chassis and hang down pretty far and looked like rock-catchers. However the more research I do the more its looking like it was/is a Trail-Gear set up which I know they have sold a ton of.

So from those that hang with the Toy crowed and old message boards more than I have, what is the opinion of the TG kit? Is it worth ditching my leaf-spring plan and putting the 3-link back together? Is the link position and hanging brackets going to make me hate them or are they not as bad as they seem? I had plans on linking the front in its next incarnation anyway so...

First hand experience or internet gossip, I don't care just let me know what the over all feel is.

thanks

 

[POR]

Depends if you want cheap and reliable.. or costly and endless tunability.. its not a true f toy if you put links in it.i don't really feel theres much in the pnw that justifies links in anything, except for a couple obstacles at Reiter. A well built leaf suspension will out perform a poor set up link suspension all day...

 

[mark]

True, linked it would not be a "Formula Toyota" class anymore.... but since that really doesn't exist much it doesn't bother me, and this things has already been bastardized enough to probably not fit the rules anymore. I picked this because I always liked the shape and it was a good deal to get a budget "buggy" and back on the trail. If I implement all my plans, about the only f-toy left by the time I would be done would be the frame and basic shape. But that's getting ahead of myself, right now I'm just looking at the pile of parts and now wondering if putting the 3-link that was on it back together would be a good or "better" idea than springs. Both plans require a certain amount of investment, just want to put the money in the right way.

I did do a little additional searching on Pirate. Surprisingly didn't find a ton of info or threads, but the general idea I got was the TG kit was not the cat's meow. There are better options. Course general opinion I got from my Pirate search was anything TG is crap, no mater what it is.

4WU make a kit that looked pretty nice, and got good comments. And they make one specific for putting a D60 infront. Might look into it in the future.

 

[POR]

True, linked it would not be a "Formula Toyota" class anymore.... but since that really doesn't exist much it doesn't bother me, and this things has already been bastardized enough to probably not fit the rules anymore. I picked this because I always liked the shape and it was a good deal to get a budget "buggy" and back on the trail. If I implement all my plans, about the only f-toy left by the time I would be done would be the frame and basic shape. But that's getting ahead of myself, right now I'm just looking at the pile of parts and now wondering if putting the 3-link that was on it back together would be a good or "better" idea than springs. Both plans require a certain amount of investment, just want to put the money in the right way.

I did do a little additional searching on Pirate. Surprisingly didn't find a ton of info or threads, but the general idea I got was the TG kit was not the cat's meow. There are better options. Course general opinion I got from my Pirate search was anything TG is crap, no mater what it is.

4WU make a kit that looked pretty nice, and got good comments. And they make one specific for putting a D60 infront. Might look into it in the future.

As far as link "kits" they're all just bars and joints and plates.. geometry is what you make of it. 4wu is the only "kit" i can think of thats specifically for toyotas and thats why its considerably more.. also keep in mind the 4wd kit is more of a onroad friendly design, so if your looking for rockcrawling suspension it might not be what you desire. if you have the links the at came off of it, throw them back on.

 

[jeffroadams]

Trail gear three link is crap. I have first hand experience. I got in a hurry years ago and bought it. The brackets suck and are rock anchors. The joints are best used as paper weights and my links bent before i started beating on my rig. All my links frown at me now.
On the rear I did a four link with the calculator and source the parts from other manufacturers. I’ll be damned if the links aren’t as straight as the day it was built.
Long story short, that kit is price matched to its quality. 4wu appears to have a more bueno kit, or build it yourself, or use leaf springs over the trail gear 3 link.


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[POR]

Trail gear three link is crap. I have first hand experience. I got in a hurry years ago and bought it. The brackets suck and are rock anchors. The joints are best used as paper weights and my links bent before i started beating on my rig. All my links frown at me now.
On the rear I did a four link with the calculator and source the parts from other manufacturers. I’ll be damned if the links aren’t as straight as the day it was built.
Long story short, that kit is price matched to its quality. 4wu appears to have a more bueno kit, or build it yourself, or use leaf springs over the trail gear 3 link.


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What was so inferior about trail gears kit? Did the joints pull a foa on you and fail In your garage? Or are you on the hate tg bandwagon? Sounds like you learned off the universal kit and learned something for the geometry on the back and this is tg's fault?.... oh wait i forgot buy it from marlin lol :redneck:

 

[jeffroadams]

I did the rear first. Got in a hurry on the front. Funny that you bring up foa cause those did fail in the garage.
I’m not necessarily a trail gear hater, but you get what you pay for. Foa is a good example.


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[jeffroadams]

I’m sure there’s people who love the kit, I’m not one of them. I think the geometry could be better, which I suspect caused my links to frown, but I’m no engineer!


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[mark]

I’m sure there’s people who love the kit, I’m not one of them. I think the geometry could be better, which I suspect caused my links to frown, but I’m no engineer!


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Coincidentally, both lower links that came with this truck have a nice frown to them. I wonder if its more not stout enough material rather than geometry.

Also seems that is the kit comes with links already welded, then the geometry is pretty much fixed by the manufacture. Especially if the brackets are designed to go in specific places. The installer could tweak it a little bit, but the basic geometry was set buy the designer. So a "kit" with bad manners is a poorly designed kit, or used in the wrong application.

Enough of that. More experience and sorry please. But thinking I'm going to lean toward plan A and stick with the springs for now and get this thing on the trail before I get carried away with changing things.

 

[CHOP SHOP]

TG link kits are a pile of ****. A twelve your old with an RC crawler can do better.

JUNK.

(FOA are JUNK to!)