ZUKIWORLD Online | Suzuki 4x4 Editorial and Forum
ZUKIWORLD Discussion Forum => Suzuki 4x4 Forum => Topic started by: museboy07 on August 29, 2007, 04:57:08 PM
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Hi guys, I am planning on fabricating a way to use a normal shock to use in place of the front struts on our trackicks. I will design a way for camber to be adjusted in the finished product. I'm just posting to see if you guys think that this could actually work and for me to go for it. Thanks in advance for the input.
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your going to need to use a upper control arm witch means finding a spindle that will work.
maybe you could use toyota upper and lower with a hybrid cv shaft ?
if I might ask why are you geting rid of the strut ?
Ryan
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Because I want full travel from my front end. I hate the strut spacers and the expensive 1.5in longer emu struts. You can get shocks in just about any length possible. And why do you say I would need an upper control arm? A shock is the same as a strut just mounted differently. I was gonna fab a bracket so the shock could be bolted the the steering knuckle like the bottom of the strut does. And make another bracket so the top of the shock could be bolted the the original strut mount area.
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A shock is not the same as a strut. Struts are a LOT stronger than a shock and designed to hold your front end together. It is no where near as simple as you think.
this is just cut and pasted from Cartalk.com
Struts and shocks are very similar in function, but very different in design. The job of both is to control excessive spring motion; however, struts are also a structural component of the suspension. Struts can take the place of two or three conventional suspension components and are often used as a pivot point for steering and to adjust the position of the wheels for alignment purposes.
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I guess my idea was crushed :(
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Sorry. Would hate to see someone damage there Zuki or worse yet do harm to themselves or others. There are ways around this but may be more feasible to spend the money on OME struts.
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check out Mike Hagen's (mikerpm4x4) build up pics for some ideas. Don't stop dreaming just yet... ;)
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Has anyone ever tried to build their own strut? I've been toying with the idea of getting some tubing and brass bushings and trying to build my own that could cover all the travel that the cv's could handle, then attach a shock to the control arm.
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I wonder if you could convert the toyota coil-over strut to fit the suki :o
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The CV angle will always be the limiting factor. Also the longer the shock, the longer the shock body. The driveshaft will prevent you from moving the lower mount down much further so anymore than a couple of inches longer and you will lose up travel. I don't really see the problem with the strut spacers although I do take your point about the cost of the EMU struts. If you really hate the spacers then you could always cut off the strut towers and remount them lower down. You would need to ensure that the correct steering geometry is retained.
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the strut is the limiting factor right now though. even if you add spacers you still have the same amount of travel.
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Even if you could make a super long travel strut you still have to overcome the limitations of the CV's operating angle. A couple of options to consider to maximise the possible travel range would be to centre the front diff which requires raising the engine and making a custom diff centre like the Anvil with two short inner axle shafts and to use a hybrid CV driveshaft such as a Toy outer and a Porsche 930 inner for maximum operating range and strength. Although the actual operating angle at the inner CV doesn't increase massively every bit helps when you now look at the actual travel available at the outer hub. Doing what Mike has done with the double wishbone setup as well as the centered diff also minimises the camber change through the range of travel. The easier way imho would be to lock the front and learn to deal with driving while lifting wheels in the air. Not as good maybe but still pretty effective.
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The stock strut doesnt take into consideration the operating angle of the cv's, since it hardly offers any uptravel. I'm thinking that with Stan's toyota cv upgrade and a custom built strut, I can have 12'' of travel in the front end with a small financial contribution and a considerable amount of time.
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If you are going to use the standard front diff you will need to consider some diff drop brackets. and I would also suggest that you start making some measurements of the length of the CV driveshafts and the operating angle of the inner CV as these are your limiting factors for travel at the hub as you could make a strut with 15" of travel but if the CV operating angle and the length of the shaft won't allow that range of movement then it is all wasted.
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The stock strut doesnt take into consideration the operating angle of the cv's, since it hardly offers any uptravel. I'm thinking that with Stan's toyota cv upgrade and a custom built strut, I can have 12'' of travel in the front end with a small financial contribution and a considerable amount of time.
I tested mine when it was stock, the driveshaft only just goes horizontal at full up travel so there is a lot of potential there. Are you thinking of lowering the diff considerably or just trying to get more uptravel?
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I'm thinking of just maybe a 3'' diff drop, and going for the uptravel. with 1.5'' coil spacers and 2'' strut spacers, i'm not even hitting the bump stops for the control arms at full flex. that leaves roughly twice the travel of what it has stock if you make a strut that can allow it. Do you think that this is going to cause a considerable camber change?
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I'm thinking of just maybe a 3'' diff drop, and going for the uptravel. with 1.5'' coil spacers and 2'' strut spacers, i'm not even hitting the bump stops for the control arms at full flex.
The two inch strut spacers should allow the A-arm to just hit the bump stops. If its not coming up that far then I suspect its because there isn't enough weight on it to fully compress the spring, or the spring spacers are causing the spring to bind before the bump stop is reached. Try pulling a spring off and jacking up the suspension to see how far it will come up. It could be that you won't get any more uptravel by changing the front strut set up.