Thread: Suspension, Traction, & Handling?

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Alright guys, well here I am AGAIN to ask more questions... don't you guys just hate me now? Anyways I was talking to Kenny from AIM Industries about a dropped I Beam for my truck to lower the front end a measly little 3 inches since that is the most I can lower it unless I go with a IFS front end which I really can't afford. Anyways I saw they have the leaf spring flip kit, traction bars and 4 link set ups.
My questions for you guys are...
1.) What is better for my truck, the traction bars or 4 link?
2.) Is the leaf spring flip kit good or is it like lowering blocks where it's not so good on the suspension?
3.) If I get it lowered 3 in front and 2 in back then should I look for 2 inch dropped shocks because of travel or will stock height work?
4.) Since 4 link is a lot of money will traction help a lot?

Basically what I expect out of this truck once I am done with it (meaning it's reliable where I dont have to worry about it breaking down on me like I am worried now and have it handle great) is for it to handle very well and be good for my everyday street driving and be able to smoke the ricers of course and some mustangs too.
Right now my camber is off for some reason. There is too much postive camber in both front tires, one being worse than the other and you can tell just by glancing at the truck real fast. Also one of the front shocks is worn out big time, if you push down on it, it hops about 8-10 times so when I go around corners the front drops like crazy and when I straighten out it goes all over and hops and pulls like crazy. Then I have the rear end... Man oh man... don't stomp the gas, the back end just spins like crazy even when I don't try to make it spin... It either spins or hops because it grabs and then spins, grabs and spins...

So what I am trying to say here is that I wan't this thing to handle very good, it's my everyday driver not a drag truck. heh. It will see strip time though so don't worry... I got a honda with turbos on it wanting to race this year sometime.

I really appreciate any help here and am asking you guys because I don't want to buy something I really don't need and I am sure you guys have all gone through the best kind of learning which is trial and error but I don't have the money for that right now.
Thanks!

I think we could answer your questions if you tell use what you are working on.........

My truck... It's a 1966 Ford Twin I Beam.
Thanks.

I have a fullsize chevy (1989) w/a flip kit in the rear! as long as that is all you change no drop brackets or shackels and it will ride exactly the way it did before!

For the front the cheapest would be to buy lowering springs or to cut a 1/2 coil from your springs w/a die grinder. There might also be someone making dropped axels or dropped spindles for your application.

For the rear the 4 bar would give you better traction, but would be a lot more money & coil springs ride rougher than properly set up leaf springs. The ride is directly proportional to the springs ability to store energy The best ride is torsion bars then large diameter coils then leaf springs & lastly coil-overs....good luck

A twin I beam is never going to win and road races, Shawn. Why not just go with cutting half a coil out of the front springs and a flip kit for the back for now, then later do the 4 link and IFS route on it. Nothing sez the way you do it the first time is the way it has to stay....................

Or, just come by my '71 and be done with it !!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

Alright thanks for the info. I will just go buy a 3 inch dropped I Beam. I can't cut the coils unless I want negative camber and eat my new tires up.
What do you guys think about traction bars?
I will get the flip kit too and then if traction bars are worth it then I will get them. Like I said, I really want this thing to handle well. Right now it handles like a total peice of crap. Would regular shocks be ok even when I drop it 3 inches or do I need lowered shocks for travel?
Thanks!

Not sure on the traction bars, Shawn. It would take a fairly long pair to get the snubber to hit on the spring eye, but it could be done.

Just thinking out loud here, but how about a sway bar from a late model pickup??? Maybe front and rear bars. It would take a bit of fabricating to get the attachment links on the twin I-Beams and maybe some long mounts on the frame for the front bar, but if you could get a front bar on there it would certainly help the handling. Maybe the other guys have some ideas how to make it work...

Dave... good idea actually. They make sway bars to bolt up to my truck. LMC truck carries them! That would help but what about traction too? I didn't know sway bars would help that.
I was looking at Belltech's products and they have the 3" dropped I beams as well and they have lowere shocks to use with them for travel and 1-2 inch lowere springs. They said I can lower the truck 5 inches with the 3" dropped I beam and 2 inch dropped springs... Only problem is alignment with the darn springs. I read on sport truck magazines site that people get that setup with the dropped springs and it throws alignment off but they take it to an alignment shop and they sometimes can help it a little but it wont be perfect.
Any reason why they don't make 5 inch dropped I beams? Wouldn't all they have to do is keep the part that holds the spindle on level and then just drop the rest of the beam more? I don't know, maybe clearance issues... I did notice that if I did drop the front to where the front tires tucked in under any that when turned all the way it would rub on the outside part of the fender. I am running 235/75 so maybe I can run a skinnier tire and then also set backspacing in more if I get new wheels?

I know I just threw in a ton of comments and things in there, so sorry about that.

Here is a link explaining more and a chart to check out if you wan't...
http://www.sporttruck.com/techarticles/1392/index1.html

They say that I beams may be the best thing Ford has ever made for their vehicles... If you ask me I hate em. Maybe they can start making 5" dropped I beams or so and have the alignment all nice and I will start liking them but until then I don't like them.

Look at these bars...
www.calvertracing.com
Here is a link to an installation on a Nova.
http://www.novaresource.org/caltracs.htm
These bars work great as far as I have found out. I am building a set for my current project. Although I have never driven a car with a set, anyone I've talked to that is using them, has nothing but good things to say...
Mark

Mark, thanks for the info man! I read a thread and you had that link on there and I checked it out. They look like they'd work. I will look into them a little more first because I think they were almost 400 bucks or so (haven't looked back at the link but will right now) and that is a lot of money for me to spend on that.

If you can do any fab work you can build a set for less then $150.00. They are not that difficult to do and are worth the bucks if you buy direct.
Mark

I can weld and all but not sure how I would make something like that... Any idea's?