Ridetech 4-Link Coil-Over Install

[808_67C10]

Originally Posted by daddyjeep

I couldn't agree more, but look out there at any form of motorsports. There are guys dropping that kind of money for suspension on their UTVs so they can play in mud puddles. The pro touring builds are everywhere. most of these builds are $100k builds. I certainly can't financially play in the same arena, but that isn't going to keep me from playing.

Amen brotha. Another thing that comes to mind is the fact that a lot of these big builds get "sponsored" high budget parts for advertisement at SEMA and various trade n custom shows... once those vehicles serve their purpose, they get sold for mega bucks to be parked in some rich guys garage. Yet guys like us who want and would use these awesome products to take our rides to the next level cant afford to or choose not to drop 6Gs for stuff we can make ourselves. Might not be as good but, thats 6Gs I can apply to other things. I can see the coil overs being pricey and the cost of the a-arms but the rest is bracketry that is made on/by machines, not a custom fabricator (aka a hard working American making a living) yet - its "made in America" --- okay, I am done with my soap box. Sorry... the reality is just painful. I love building my cars/trucks but will never be able to achieve the level I am capable of, thats all!

[z71se]

Just bought the Ridetech 4-Link kit, will take a few weeks to get it on and running lol.

[JohnJ@RideTech]

Originally Posted by z71se

Just bought the Ridetech 4-Link kit, will take a few weeks to get it on and running lol.

Any progress on the build?

[z71se]

Originally Posted by JohnJ@RideTech

Any progress on the build?

Yes, the frame has been powdercoated and reassembled. Ridetech rear kit installed, minus the coilovers as I need to measure when everything is back on the ground. I'm going for about 26" ground to fender in the rear. I'd like it to sit how it did before I took it apart for the LS, 4-link, powdercoat, etc etc etc.

Frame reassembled:


Ridetech 4-link partially installed:


How the truck sat before disassembly (and how I would like it to sit again). John any idea on what coilovers to order? Right now I just have standoffs that were welded up temporarily to hold the truck up.

[JohnJ@RideTech]

Originally Posted by z71se

steering gear rebuilt by lee power steering in santa clarita. Hand bent 3/16" brake lines front to rear for the wilwood kit that clears 15" wheels (i'm old school).

Shouldn't be a problem.
Are you looking to retain the factory control arms that you've had powder coated?

[z71se]

Originally Posted by JohnJ@RideTech

Shouldn't be a problem.
Are you looking to retain the factory control arms that you've had powder coated?

Yes I decided to retain the stock-type front suspension with 2.5" spindles, and 2" Eibach springs that the truck had when I got it, for ride quality purposes.

[z71se]

Hey John, will the front Ridetech chassis brace work with a steering box brace?

[JohnJ@RideTech]

Is there anything you guys would like to see pictures of?

[z71se]

Originally Posted by JohnJ@RideTech

Is there anything you guys would like to see pictures of?

Yes how about tailpipe routing above/ below the rear cross bar.

[z71se]

Mine did not

[PunishedC10]

I ordered the front brace kit and mine didnt come with the heim joints so this must be a newer design

[Sik66]

Like the look of the "squared" u bolt for the rear diff brackets on the 4 link....I might have to see about bit upgrade for mine.....would have to be way better then 4 bolts a side....

[z71se]

John @ Ridetech, I would like to know, why on earth isn't there a rod end at both ends of the panhard rod? Even getting things lined up during install, I have to bind the bar into place. I can only imagine what it's doing going down the road, even with a heim joint on the passenger side. Ever have anyone cut off the urethane bushing on the driver's side and weld on a reverse threaded piece of tubing so they could run a 2nd heim joint? Even the Mustang guys do it:

[1957 Chief]

Originally Posted by z71se

John @ Ridetech, I would like to know, why on earth isn't there a rod end at both ends of the panhard rod? Even getting things lined up during install, I have to bind the bar into place. I can only imagine what it's doing going down the road, even with a heim joint on the passenger side. Ever have anyone cut off the urethane bushing on the driver's side and weld on a reverse threaded piece of tubing so they could run a 2nd heim joint? Even the Mustang guys do it:

]

I asked him the same thing when we were at LS fest last month. I also mentioned the 4-link bars too. He said he would take it back to the engineers.

I will most likely make all new bars with dual heim joints in the near future.

And John has been on the road ALOT the last few weeks.

Bubba

[JohnJ@RideTech]

I will try and get some photos of our exhaust, hopefully that will help.
Ken (N2TRUX) has some pretty detailed photos of his exhaust. Maybe that will help you out.

[N2TRUX]

Originally Posted by JohnJ@RideTech

I will try and get some photos of our exhaust, hopefully that will help.
Ken (N2TRUX) has some pretty detailed photos of his exhaust. Maybe that will help you out.

When I bought Scarlett it had dual exhaust that ran out behind the rear wheels. I really liked how the Borla XS mufflers sounded great outside, but the rear exits and a butt load of sound dampner made the cab nice and quiet. Running true duals out the back is a challenge with a 4 link, but it is possible. My guy was able to rout 2.25" exhaust pipes up and over the axle. He ran straight back and we added turn downs right before the rear bumper.

[z71se]

Is John @ Ridetech still monitoring this thread??

[N2TRUX]

Originally Posted by z71se

Is John @ Ridetech still monitoring this thread??

He is, but he has been traveling quite a bit too.

[JohnJ@RideTech]

Whats up guys! Im terribly sorry for the slow response time.
I've been all over the place recently and for whatever reason, I stopped getting notifications on my new phone when someone replied to these threads.
Anyways, you guys are correct. The new design does NOT include the parallel brace that runs between the two primary brackets. When we originally designed that brace, we believed that having the additional component in there would prove to be beneficial in stiffening the front end. Come to find out, the other bars did an adequate job of removing flex on there own so we removed the double heim end piece (which in turn helped reduce the over all retail cost.)
As for the rear panhard bar, it has to have a fixed style bushing on one end. If not, the bar will rotate and you will have metal on metal contact which would create abnormal wear and excessive noise. That is the main reason for the bushing on one end and the R-Joint on the other. That design provides minimal stiction, noise and rotation.
Hopefully that will help you guys out.
As always, if you ever need anything dont hesitate to call me direct at the office. Ill be more than happy to try and answer any questions you have (812-481-4737). You can also shoot me a message direct on Instagram @Ridetech_John

[SCOTI]

Originally Posted by JohnJ@RideTech

Whats up guys! Im terribly sorry for the slow response time.
I've been all over the place recently and for whatever reason, I stopped getting notifications on my new phone when someone replied to these threads.
Anyways, you guys are correct. The new design does NOT include the parallel brace that runs between the two primary brackets. When we originally designed that brace, we believed that having the additional component in there would prove to be beneficial in stiffening the front end. Come to find out, the other bars did an adequate job of removing flex on there own so we removed the double heim end piece (which in turn helped reduce the over all retail cost.)
As for the rear panhard bar, it has to have a fixed style bushing on one end. If not, the bar will rotate and you will have metal on metal contact which would create abnormal wear and excessive noise. That is the main reason for the bushing on one end and the R-Joint on the other. That design provides minimal stiction, noise and rotation.
Hopefully that will help you guys out.
As always, if you ever need anything dont hesitate to call me direct at the office. Ill be more than happy to try and answer any questions you have (812-481-4737). You can also shoot me a message direct on Instagram @Ridetech_John

Why wouldn't an adjustable poly bushing would work as long as there is an appropriate jam nut?

[z71se]

Originally Posted by JohnJ@RideTech

Whats up guys! Im terribly sorry for the slow response time.
I've been all over the place recently and for whatever reason, I stopped getting notifications on my new phone when someone replied to these threads.
Anyways, you guys are correct. The new design does NOT include the parallel brace that runs between the two primary brackets. When we originally designed that brace, we believed that having the additional component in there would prove to be beneficial in stiffening the front end. Come to find out, the other bars did an adequate job of removing flex on there own so we removed the double heim end piece (which in turn helped reduce the over all retail cost.)
As for the rear panhard bar, it has to have a fixed style bushing on one end. If not, the bar will rotate and you will have metal on metal contact which would create abnormal wear and excessive noise. That is the main reason for the bushing on one end and the R-Joint on the other. That design provides minimal stiction, noise and rotation.
Hopefully that will help you guys out.
As always, if you ever need anything dont hesitate to call me direct at the office. Ill be more than happy to try and answer any questions you have (812-481-4737). You can also shoot me a message direct on Instagram @Ridetech_John

John, a swedged tubing panhard rod with heim joints on both end, and spacers on either side of the heim joints, cannot possibly come into contact with anything. Yes, the bar will rotate, just like a Cal-Tracs setup rotates as the suspension compresses and articulates. Spacers on either side of the heim joint prevent it from contacting any bracketry.

I've got the 4-link installed on my truck right now. But I couldn't help notice that I had to pry the panhard bar into place. Binding at rest will be multiplied several fold as the suspension articulates. It just seems to be like a bad design considering you are already using one of the "R-Joint" heim type joints on the passenger side.

Basically 100% of the solid rear axle panhard bar setups on the market today from BMR, Maximum Motorsports, and others use this dual heim joint swedged tube design. The added benefit of the swedged tube is that it allows you to center the rear axle with the truck/ car on the ground instead of removing the bar over and over to do so. Perhaps I'm beating a dead horse here and need to modify this new kit as I see fit.

[JohnJ@RideTech]

Originally Posted by z71se

John, a swedged tubing panhard rod with heim joints on both end, and spacers on either side of the heim joints, cannot possibly come into contact with anything. Yes, the bar will rotate, just like a Cal-Tracs setup rotates as the suspension compresses and articulates. Spacers on either side of the heim joint prevent it from contacting any bracketry.

I've got the 4-link installed on my truck right now. But I couldn't help notice that I had to pry the panhard bar into place. Binding at rest will be multiplied several fold as the suspension articulates. It just seems to be like a bad design considering you are already using one of the "R-Joint" heim type joints on the passenger side.

Basically 100% of the solid rear axle panhard bar setups on the market today from BMR, Maximum Motorsports, and others use this dual heim joint swedged tube design. The added benefit of the swedged tube is that it allows you to center the rear axle with the truck/ car on the ground instead of removing the bar over and over to do so. Perhaps I'm beating a dead horse here and need to modify this new kit as I see fit.

I get what you are saying but our panhard bar is NOT straight like the one on the Mustang. (See photo below)
Because the bar is bent, obviously the weight of the bar is offset. Because of this, if you put a double heim on the bar it would rotate down towards the ground. In a situation where the roads were bumpy or rough..the bar would "flop" up and down THEN we would be on here talking about why we didnt put a bushing in it to cut down on rotation.
The panhard bars job is to keep the rear end housing located in the center of the truck. If you take it out, there is a chance that the frame and rear end would not be centered (especially when you remove all of the rear suspension to install a 4-link) So, its not uncommon that the panhard bar doesn't fall right back into place when you reinstall all of the suspension.
Our engineering team has designed the bar to re-center the rear end in the truck, they did the math to ensure that the bar length is correct. We made one end adjustable for small adjustments where needed. If the amount of adjustment that is built into the R-Joint wont get the rear centered, then you may have something else going on.
Hopefully this clarifies why we dont use double heim ends.

[SCOTI]

Originally Posted by JohnJ@RideTech

I get what you are saying but our panhard bar is NOT straight like the one on the Mustang. (See photo below)
Because the bar is bent, obviously the weight of the bar is offset. Because of this, if you put a double heim on the bar it would rotate down towards the ground. In a situation where the roads were bumpy or rough..the bar would "flop" up and down THEN we would be on here talking about why we didnt put a bushing in it to cut down on rotation.
The panhard bars job is to keep the rear end housing located in the center of the truck. If you take it out, there is a chance that the frame and rear end would not be centered (especially when you remove all of the rear suspension to install a 4-link) So, its not uncommon that the panhard bar doesn't fall right back into place when you reinstall all of the suspension.
Our engineering team has designed the bar to re-center the rear end in the truck, they did the math to ensure that the bar length is correct. We made one end adjustable for small adjustments where needed. If the amount of adjustment that is built into the R-Joint wont get the rear centered, then you may have something else going on.
Hopefully this clarifies why we dont use double heim ends.

Ahh..... That fills in details I wasn't aware of & negates my suggestion.

[JohnJ@RideTech]

Originally Posted by SCOTI

Ahh..... That fills in details I wasn't aware of & negates my suggestion.

No problem man.
We put that bend in the bar to accommodate different housings.

[z71se]

Hey John, what size wheel and tire are you using on this truck?