trailing arm lengths

[andy3542]

hi guys
if i do 4 link the rear and possibly front of my truck i want to use standard arms to keep initial and replacement costs down so im looking for some lengths

if you could measure eye to eye on your trailing arms and post up here it would be great.

cheers
Andrew

[kbushnz]

Donor from what Andrew?
Coil Prado? 80 series?
I can give you the Prado ones.. dimensions that is

[andy3542]

i dont know as yet. just interested to see what lengths factory vehicles are so when it comes to welding the brackets on i know what lengths to get them done at rather then welding and then looking for trailing arms to suit. the donor diffs are going to be 60series cruiser.

measured up my safari last night-

swb safari-bottom (long) 26.5" short (top) 15.5"

cheers
Andrew

[Sadam_Husain]

the gurus will probably be a bit more specific and you could do a degree on suspension geometry and still only be grasping the basics but its more proportions than overall lengths and I think its around the lines of the top links are around 75% of the length of the bottom ones. The longer the links the more and easier it'll articulate. You definately want to be sourcing all the bits and have a good measure up of everything before you go welding brackets on

[kbushnz]

Just schooled myself on 4 link suspension... My Prado doesn't use it.
So can't help yah... I would imagine some helpful 80 series owner will....

[andy3542]

Sadam-iv been doing alot of reading mainly on pirate and found a 4 link calculator among alot of other interesting stuff. I appreciate that ill never be able to understand anything more then the basics.

Calvin-id be interested in the lengths of your trailing arms because they maybe useable.

The main purpose of this thread is to find out the lengths of factory trailing arms in general not just those with 4 link rears. hopefully then after having a play with the calculators ill be able to find a combination that will work in theory and in practise.

Cheers
Andrew

[Fakey]

Sadam-iv been doing alot of reading mainly on pirate and found a 4 link calculator among alot of other interesting stuff. I appreciate that ill never be able to understand anything more then the basics.

Calvin-id be interested in the lengths of your trailing arms because they maybe useable.

The main purpose of this thread is to find out the lengths of factory trailing arms in general not just those with 4 link rears. hopefully then after having a play with the calculators ill be able to find a combination that will work in theory and in practise.

Cheers
Andrew

Best bet would be to keep on reading Then read some more an youll get the basic idea of how to set it up,
If youre like me then the 4 link calcs wont make much sense till you start putting it together an seeing how the geometry all works together.
What sort of vehicle are you planning on linking? What will it be used for?

[Filthy4x4]

Measure the ones on my zuk...

Front radius arms: 750mm from chassis to first bolt hole (inside diff housing)
950mm from chassis to second bolt hole (outside diff housing)

Rear Trailing arms: 450mm bolt hole to bolt hole (3 link rear)

[Zooker]

KZN130-
lower arm's - 463mm
upper arm's - very very short. ie not long enough

[andy3542]

cheers guys keep them coming.

Fakey- iv got a basic set up and im slowly making sense of the calculator and as far as im concerned you can never read enough/look at enough pics of other guys builds. its going to be on my series land rover (shes not standard) and shes going to be a trailer truck now so being built to do the hard stuff.

cheers

[Fakey]

By some heavy wall tube/pipe, then all you have to do is cut bushed ends off trailing arms wether it be 80 gq surf an use the tube to make the arms whatever length you like. On my lover arms I used another length of tube the same od as the Main tubes Id inside to make it stronger again an stop bending (hopefully)
Couple of things to think about the longer the links the easier they will bend an when they ride up on a rock they will try to lift the axle/wheel. Wheel off ground = no traction.
Shorter links (factory length) in a 4 link configuration will usually give you extreme angles ( look at the rear lowers of a lifted gq) an more rear steer an it prob wont drive very nicely the flatter you can get the lower links at ride height the better but there will always be compromises when building a link set up

[kbushnz]

OK Andrew have measured the arms on the Coil Prado....
The front and rear arms are 740mm from the chassis mount hole to the first bolt center...
Add approx 90-100mm to the axle housing center.

[DEATH_INC]

If you're interested, the Terrano ones are 525mm lower and the shorty uppers are 272.5mm.

[COILY]

Isuzu Bighorn ones are my favourite but dont have measurements but they are looooong.