truck arm placement

[terrellautosports]

does having the truck arms at the stock angle suppose to do anything. or can they be made to go straight.

just wondering because i am building my own and putting a 9in under it and if i can make them straight i will.

thanks in advance

[aggie91]

I beleive that it is that way to allow the axle to articulate about the center of the truck. It allows one side to move up and down without the other side moving without creating much binding from the solid mounts on the axle tubes or the bushings in the front of the arms.

If you make the arms straigt, with the same types of mount, it will bind up when the truck has excessing body roll or suspension flex to one side. The arms could be straight if you use a flex joint on each end of the arm.

[BigSky71]

I installed a 9" in my truck. I bought new rear end saddles from a vendor, bolted up the new rearend and when I was satisfied it was in there straight I welded on the saddles.

Less work to leave them angled than building new front mounts imo, unless you want to go with four straight bars.

[chevy_mike]

My guess he is talking about the trailing arms, where they are straight until the last 12" or so. I don't think he means making them parellel to the frame.

My guess is the stock arms have the bend because if they were straight all the way back, it would put the axle to frame distance too far unless had much shorter springs. I guess if you made straight arms, reset the pinion angle correctly, it would be a cheap way to lift the rear end up but heck what do I know...

[aggie91]

I did the same thing that Bigsky71 did.

If your are talking about the bend in the arm itself, it is that so that the coil spring mounts are parralell at ride height. If you are going to use bags or coil overs, then the arms could be straight if you make the correct mounts...