Link material

jrraw23 said:
I'll go to pull a part pay $90 and come out with two pairs of 63" springs and call it a day.
I'm literally saving myself 1000 maybe more by doin leaves/QUOTE]

IMO you're on the right track here. Get it fixed and working for cheap and then wheel it! Learn as you go and do the link stuff after you assimilate the info you acquire on the trail/mud in the real world.
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well personally i think that having flew will get you a lot of places offroad. for instance one time when i was up at uwharrie we sat up at kodak waiting our turn and there was a yellow cj 7 before me and he had the hardest time gettin up one of the rock faces and he was on 33" tsl's, i believe he had 4.88's, could have been higher, and arb lockers front and rear and could not get up it cus he clearly wasnt getting any traction because he suspension would not articulate enough to keep his tires in contact with the rocks. after he finally got up i went up it in a matter of second with 3.07 gears, 33" at's, and open front and rear diffs. i never lost traction because i was able to keep all my tires on the ground and it was a result of my suspension being able to articulate. so i know what it takes to get somewhere when you are on the trails and yes i understand that some vehicles dont need articulation but they clearly have power and big meats and simply walk over most things.
 
CYJKrawler said:
jrraw23 said:
I'll go to pull a part pay $90 and come out with two pairs of 63" springs and call it a day.
I'm literally saving myself 1000 maybe more by doin leaves/QUOTE
IMO you're on the right track here. Get it fixed and working for cheap and then wheel it! Learn as you go and do the link stuff after you assimilate the info you acquire on the trail/mud in the real world.
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x2

Links would have been cool to do, but my truck was taking forever to complete, so I went with the 63" Chevy springs. I ended up mixing and matching with some other leafs to get the right height I needed. I used the stock shackles that came with the Chevy springs, but lengthened them to about 9" eye to eye I think and set the angle correctly. This gives them plenty of movement without the need for goofy shackles. I haven't wheeled it too much, but so far so good. I was happy with how it worked on the rocks at BDOR.

DK
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jrraw23 said:
yea im pretty sure im just gonna go that route, like John said I can always upgrade later.
btw which rig was yours? Was it the one with the blue exo?
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Yes, that was mine.
 
People have used them. They can work. They don't work very well at all though. Thin cheap tubing, swaged ends, super cheap spherical joints...
 
The tractor links just don't hold up. Everyone that I know of that has used them went back very quickly and replaced them with real control arms. Links are not a cheap or easy thing to do but with winter upon us it is a great time to try.
 
My thought was to use only the link on the ends. You can cut off the sleeves just above the threads and use DOM tubing, then just use the end links. Do they not hold up to hard core use or every day use or is it both. Any pics of what happened to theirs? I heard a guy using them that daoes the rock crawling series. Says they are cheap, an esy replacement and almost bullet proof. Just doing my research. I ask cause I have the links already. All i need is to make the long arms
 
The ends don't hold up. They get really sloppy really fast. I don't have any pictures from where I screwed up and used them, but it took less than a month for the ends to get loose and everything made a lot of noise from day one. I don't think that they are actually a cheap option. Sure you get 2 ends for $25, but you replace them twice a year. Even if you only replace them once a year the labor and $12.50 a joint are to expensive. You don't need to rebuild a flex joint every year and the rebuild kits are cheaper. It is cheaper to build with them but then it gets more expensive to use them.
 
i used them on my 4 link and yes they do get sloppy but i haven't ever broken one. I made mine by cuttting the tubing right in the middle and sleeving it with 1 inch schedule 40 and then cutting another piece of 1 1/4 scheudle 40 to make up the space in the middle. I left a little gap between the pieces of 1 1/4 so i could get a good weld down to the 1 inch and then i drilled 1/2 holes all the way around the seem welds and plug welded probably 4 times on each side of the welds. they worked great for a budget build and i didn't have any problems with them either. i just got alot of crap from other people who spent more money. After about 2 years of playing with it and deciding that i really like the linked suspension. (and saving $$$$) I just went and bought some 2.0 fox shocks and redid the links with 2 inch dom with a .25 wall thickness and chromoly heims joints. Haven't gotten to run this setup yet so i can't say if i did good with the links or not
 
I am basically doing what you did and when I get it the way I want I will spring for the good Heim Joints. Depending on how bad the things get slopy and how fast. My setup will be beefy too. Thanks for the input and sorry for the High jacked thread. Lots of good info in this one.
 
olejunky said:
i used them on my 4 link and yes they do get sloppy but i haven't ever broken one. I made mine by cuttting the tubing right in the middle and sleeving it with 1 inch schedule 40 and then cutting another piece of 1 1/4 scheudle 40 to make up the space in the middle. I left a little gap between the pieces of 1 1/4 so i could get a good weld down to the 1 inch and then i drilled 1/2 holes all the way around the seem welds and plug welded probably 4 times on each side of the welds. they worked great for a budget build and i didn't have any problems with them either. i just got alot of crap from other people who spent more money. After about 2 years of playing with it and deciding that i really like the linked suspension. (and saving $$$$) I just went and bought some 2.0 fox shocks and redid the links with 2 inch dom with a .25 wall thickness and chromoly heims joints. Haven't gotten to run this setup yet so i can't say if i did good with the links or not
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Good to hear you stepped up on the links. Sucks to break one link then take out your driveline, brake line, and expensive shock shafts and/or shock eyes...
 
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