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Login to post Forums » Grassroots Motorsports » Creative Suspension Travel Limiters...

April 13, 2010 6:59 a.m. Raze HalfDork

I'm looking for clever (read cheap) suspension travel limit ideas for the rear end of our XR4Ti. I finally got the drop springs in there over the weekend and well lets just say I eliminated 4" of the 5" of wheel gap. The problem now becomes that at significantly less than full droop the springs are unseated. There's very little space in the rear of an XR4 to implement a limiting strap setup so I'm shying away from this idea. I also don't like safety wire as I'm not a fan of anything 'loose' potentially rubbing or coming loose and wrapping around an axle. What I was thinking of doing was taking a couple of very large truck suspension U-joints with a large radius and placing it through the floor with very large washers, think 4"+ around one of the control arms. In an XR4 the control arm is sort of a right triangle A-Arm with the spring bucket forming the A portion, but instead of coming out from the centerline of the car it goes backward from the rear subframe connecter which is in front of the rear wheel. I made a diagram, let me know what you think:
April 13, 2010 7:08 a.m. foxtrapper SuperDork

Chain and the shock mounts.
April 13, 2010 7:10 a.m. Adrian_Thompson HalfDork

foxtrapper wrote:

Chain and the shock mounts.

How about old cut down tie down straps rather than chain, lighter and less noise potential.
April 13, 2010 7:12 a.m. 44Dwarf HalfDork

Many use chain but that makes noise. Use a good quaility motorcycle tie down handle bar extention strap. Like this add a Eye bolt to adjust the leanth. http://www.uscargocontrol.com/motorcyclehandlebarstrap18pairblack-p-361.html?curre...

44
April 13, 2010 7:13 a.m. TJ Dork

What about making some sort of spring retainer?

Sorta like these: (hotlinked from here)

Something that retains the spring in place at top and bottom.
April 13, 2010 7:28 a.m. phaze1todd New Reader

Old seat belts.
April 13, 2010 7:31 a.m. Raze HalfDork

I'm not so worried about the spring falling out so the retainers aren't exactly what I'm looking for. The reason I say this is the upper perch is a huge cone the spring sits around and at full droop the spring cannot come out (it's seated nicely in the bucket on the arm but it's loose against the upper mount cone with the bump stop at the bottom of the cone inside the spring, can't tell from pic I posted). The issue with straps is where to mount them? Please draw on my picture.

My other thought is to use the sway bar mount point to add a strap there, that might work...

A strap and the shock mount migh work too, again the issue is going to be how loose it is. On one side it's fine, on the driver's side where our 3" exhaust is there's very little room and if it's loose and flopping it could burn up on the exhaust...
April 13, 2010 7:35 a.m. mw HalfDork

A good friend of mine uses chain on his b body. I have never heard it make noise. He welded bolts onto the control arm and onto the chasis and put the chain links over the bolts and then put a nut on the other end. That way he could adjust the length of chain if needed. The reason his may not make noise is that put the car at ride height and then chained it. It turns incredibly well now with very little body roll.
April 13, 2010 7:59 a.m. Giant Purple Snorklewacker SuperDork

aircraft cable?
April 13, 2010 8:03 a.m. John Brown SuperDork

I save all my weathered trailer straps just for this. I add an eyelet hole with a punch and press a ring in the hole and use the hole on one of the shock mount bolts. and the other end goes to the chassis above.

Works pretty well and if they break you have little to nothing invested.
April 13, 2010 8:03 a.m. blaze86vic Reader

The right length shock. You are simply looking for a shock with the appropriate extended length so that it won't de-seat the spring. Find a shock that has both ends that mount with through bolts, that is short enough to fit your need. Race shocks will be your best bet I think, and despite the word race being used, once you find the right size and a few models that fit the required specs. You can start looking on eBay and such and find them for a steal of a price.
April 13, 2010 9:43 a.m. 16vCorey SuperDork

blaze86vic wrote:

The right length shock. You are simply looking for a shock with the appropriate extended length so that it won't de-seat the spring. Find a shock that has both ends that mount with through bolts, that is short enough to fit your need. Race shocks will be your best bet I think, and despite the word race being used, once you find the right size and a few models that fit the required specs. You can start looking on eBay and such and find them for a steal of a price.

I was about to suggest the same thing. It looks like a pretty standard style of shock, so I'm sure you could do some quick measurements and find some shorter ones.
April 13, 2010 11:40 a.m. petegossett SuperDork

And here's a good shock cross-reference.
April 13, 2010 1:34 p.m. Raze HalfDork

In reply to petegossett:

wow, now that's worthwhile helluva link! opens up tons of possibilities, thanks for sharing!

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