twist_of_fait wrote:
well for starters the luv is alot differnt than a mazda or yota there is no after market parts. as for a four link you run revese four link then you dont have to touch the tank. if you want a lot of lift run a reverse cantilever 4 link. as for the notch i strongly recomend buying one(you can make one but with there's you just weld it on cut out the section for you frame and you done!) from suiccidedoors.com any part i cant make i buy from them they are the best! not only do they make bad ass parts they use them on there own mini trucks! to bag the front don't buy a torsion bar bag kit! the come with more than you need. for the font you just need a piece of 1x1 square tubing 3/16 wall. and a standard upper bag bracket and thats it. i would aslo recomend taking the tosion bar out and re-indexing and reinstalling the bolt. you'll still lay frame and shit but it's a back up in case you blow a bag you can jack the truck up and tigthen the bolt and get it home. i know my stuff when it come to bags. if you have any more q's just ask
How did I miss this post?
Whatever you do I would HIGHLY reccomend NOT seting up a reverse 4 link of any kind. That is highly ghetto and not a safe way of setting up a suspension. if you know anything at all about suspension dynamics you'll know that the rear suspension swing will cause the rear end to elevate at an unnatural arc and can cause a an accident. Not to mention that as the rear axle move through it rotation in a reverse 4 link the drive shaft yoke moves away from the transmission instad of moving into the transmission on a normal forward mount. This movement has resulted in MANY driveshafts coming out of the vehicle while in motion. Some rear end pogo up and cause the vehicle to flip (in extreme circumstances) other end up with suspension, gastank, and drivetrain damage, maybe even some body damage. Many MANY MANY posts and arguments about forward vs reverse have been debated about on s10forum.com and streetsource. It is widly agreed upon that reverse mounting is a LAZY way of doing a 4 link and not worth the the risk. Just get rid of the original tank and get a $200 fuel cell from summit racing and do a forward mount 4 link or wishbone 3 link. Thats what most of us are doing and its the right thing to do.
As for the front, I would highly reccomend buying Jason's torsion bar kit from Suicidedoors.com. its inexpensive and comes with the parts you'll need. the parts are laser cut and look real nice. You'll have to modify the parts a bit and one piece of the kit you wont use, but the rest of you you will. dont worry about the torsion bars, pull them out and toss them away. The front end, bagged, with notched front framerails with 17" wheels and 4 195/40/17 tires (real small overall diameter) will not lay the front frame out so if you have a problem with a airbag and it deflates you wont end up in an accident, it just gats damn low in the front but wont lay frame. Its just the way our suspensions are designed. The ball joints prevent the front from going that low. SO if you want the front to lay completly you'll need to convert the spindle assembly to a 88-93 isuzu spindle (thats what we are woking on here, and isuzu, no mater if it has a chev badge on it). Chassis Tech sells 2" drop spindles for the 88-93 trucks. That will let you lay out without runing into ball joint bind problems. The other way is to get fabbed lower control arms that move the bag (spring) mount location 2" lower, which in effect lowers the truck the necessary amt for you to completly lay frame. Barn Yard Customs sells these for us. but they do have some past history with having some shipping problems and mfg lead times. But Brian is working on fixing his past mistakes, or so it sounds.
One thing to keep in mind with bagging a truck is that everyone has thier own way of doing it. some right some wrong, some are in between. Best thing for you to do is research what others have done and figure out for yourself what the best way is for you to do it. so where do you go for this info? Most all import mini trucks have a torsion bar suspension, just like us. so that being said you can get ideas from anyone that runs an import truck. now the specific torsion layout might be diffrent from us but none the less the pricipal is the same and therefore applis to what you are trying to do. I read and read, and read, but I found these two sites to be the most helpful, but you'll still have to sort through some drama, some BS and figure out what will work for you
http://www.streetsource.com/forum - has individual make specific sub forums as well as a huge suspension forum. Lots of GREAT info here.
http://www.s10forum.com - ok, these guys have a killer metal fab subforum, a killer bag forum. The bag forum would apply to you in that you can get good info on forward vs revers mounting a four link. you can get info on everyones rear bags setup here and there are some creative people that reside here. Dont pay any attention to the questions or posts about the front as the s-10 is a completly diffrent setup, it has a coil over shock setup that sits inside a pocket in the frame. We have a completly diffrent setup so dont get bogged down with that stuff.
anyway hope that helps a bit, and at least gives you a good place to start.
keep us up to date on your project too!!!
here is a pic of my rear setup - all of this came from Jason at Suicidedoors.com:
