[ChevyThunder]

I just created a suspension article on the wiki trying to make it as diverse as possible. Getting this together can help answering alot of the common questions.

if you are bored help me out everyone feel free to nitpick what little I have and write up your own info this is the best thing about wiki's even you can add to it.
http://crankshaftcoalition.com/wiki/Suspension

[Triaged]

4 Link

Two straight lower control arms and two opposingly angeled upper control arms hold the rear end in place horizontally while allowing it to move vertically. This setup allows for the use of coilovers or coil springs and shocks. One disadvantage to this setup is due to the opposingly angled upper control arms binding can occur at the exremes of the axel movement

I figured I would start by debunking this myth. The suspension described does not bind because of the arrangement of the links. The only cause for bending would be the link ends. If rubber (or worse polyurethane) bushings are used THEY are what would cause this "binding". If however spherical type joints are used the suspension will only bind when the misalignment of the joint is met. The factory designed the suspension with stamped steel links (aka control arms) because of this. With the open channel design they are very stiff in tension-compression as well as bending while being relativally compliant in twist. When you go to those cool after market boxed lower control arms and poly bushings you get rid of the compliance that was designed into the suspension. This is where the bind comes from - not from the arrangement of the links.

Personally I call this a Triangulated 4-link in order to differentiate if from other types of suspensions. You can be even more descriptive by calling it a single triangulated 4-link as only the top links are triangulated in the case you spelled out (either the upper, lower, or both sets of links can be triangulated).

The true downfall to this suspension is that it has compliance oversteer. That is the harder the car turns (pull more lateral g's) the more the axle will turn sharper because of the soft rubber bushings....

...I will try to go into more as I have time. I need to get to bed

[ChevyThunder]

Well thanks for the info. I would post it however you are much more knowledgable then me in this area feel free to edit my work because I am sure there is alot more you can correct me on and you can probably do a better job of explaining things. This is the wonder of a wiki.

[BillyShope]

My only comment: Why?

All of this is already available online. I admire your willingness to take on a truly monumental task, but there's really no purpose. The information is already available.

And, what you've done would be easier to read if you had run it through a spell checker.

[texastomeh]

ChevyThunder,

For what it is worth - I for one, appreciate your effort to put the info in one obvious easy to find location!

There should be no argument that all the information exist - finding it is where some of us have a problem!

Remember: "No good deed goes unpunished!"

texastomeh

[Jon]

Nice work on that article. It's coming along nicely.

Agreed -- all of the information is available elsewhere. Placing it in the wiki accomplishes 2 specific goals:

1. findability: the information is easily accessible, all on one page

2. knowledge-sharing: information entered into our wiki is published under a special license that allows anyone to copy it, place it on other webpages, print it out, pass it around, etc. This ensures that copyright "restrictions" won't prevent the sharing of this information.

[BillyShope]

Okay, okay! You guys have succeeded in making me feel guilty. I've gone back and made some contributions and will add more as I have the opportunity.

[texastomeh]

Gee Bill, I didn't intend to make you feel guilty! I was just wanting to make ChevyT feel good!

I do like your response though - Will help Git 'r Done!

texastomeh

[Triaged]

I just added the Truck Arm's...what year did chevy start using them

[texastomeh]

Triaged,

In your previous post in this thread you promised:

...I will try to go into more as I have time. I need to get to bed

I would really appreciate your opinion (ChevyT and BillyS also) on the best/preferred "arrangement" re rear control arms (stock, boxed upper, boxed lower, etc.) and bushings (poly, rubber, etc.) for a 1980 G Body Chassis being used as the donor chassis for a '53 Corvette Replica. Drive-train is a fairly well modified SBC 405 (400+.020) through a Mad Dog 700R4 tranny and 3.42 rear end to 245/45x17" tires.

The result will be a "Cruiser" with no plans to race, but would not like to be embarrassed by a "ricer" at every stop light.

Before I knew any better, I completely rebuilt the suspension (including the rear control arms) using a Polygraphite bushing kit from PST.

Should I change out some/all of the Poly rear control arm bushings to another material (the arms are stock)?

Thoughts re "boxing" the control arms?

Appreciate any help and/or suggestions.

texastomeh

[BillyShope]

Originally Posted by ChevyThunder

I just created a suspension article on the wiki trying to make it as diverse as possible. Getting this together can help answering alot of the common questions.

if you are bored help me out everyone feel free to nitpick what little I have and write up your own info this is the best thing about wiki's even you can add to it.
http://crankshaftcoalition.com/wiki/Suspension

I'm afraid I screwed things up! I got tired of those ='s and thought I'd start numbering the different sections. Then, when I made a mistake, I found that...once numbered...the "edit" option disappeared. Hope you know how to undo my error.

[Jon]

BillyShope -- thanks for the contributions. I've added a "barnstar" image to your username. Barnstars are wiki symbols of "barnraising", the act of coming together to perform a task to help a community. They were found on early American barns. You can see more of them in this gallery.

Don't worry about any errors to an article. They are extremely easy to fix, so feel free to make as many as you like while you learn the wiki process . Also, every time that a wiki article gets edited, the previous version gets saved (so the larger articles will have hundreds, or thousands of previous versions saved). We can easily "rollback" to any previous version of an article, anytime. If you want, you can always practice editing on our: Practice Page.

[BillyShope]

Originally Posted by Jon

Don't worry about any errors to an article. They are extremely easy to fix....

All the paragraphs I've numbered no longer have the [edit] option.

[Jon]

Originally Posted by BillyShope

All the paragraphs I've numbered no longer have the [edit] option.

Click the "edit" tab at the very top of the page (after the "article" and "discussion" tabs). This will allow you to edit the entire article at once.

When you use the equals signs as headings, like this: ==Leaf Spring==, it results in a separate section being designated. Each separate section gets its own edit link.

[BillyShope]

Okay, I'm beginning to get the hang of it. Corrected my mistake, anyway.