01 SAS Wheeler/Driver 3link

[chevysmithz71]

Radius arms are kind of goofy.

It puts a lot of stress on the arms from wanting to twist apart when binding. Because of this it will be murder on joints. Although you can mask that by making a longer link but that sacrifices ground clearance. Yes many manufactures have done this and it works but for the wheeling he does I would stay away from it.

ya what he said. I like the idea of a 3link but I'm thinking a 4 would be stronger. Though, room might be a factor.
Thoughts?

 

[chevysmithz71]

Next. The wood is there just to take a little off the front.

 

[Babaganoosh]

nice, does this mean all that crap ifs gets cut off?

 

[chevysmithz71]

nice, does this mean all that crap ifs gets cut off?

Yes sir
So, I plan on redoing the exhaust and throwing on some headers but im a little worried about what some of this stuff is. I think the big round things are the catalytic converters but what are inline smaller things?

Cutting and grinding for hours sucks

 

[chevysmithz71]

Never in my life have I had such a hard time with an arm.

 

[jekquistk5]

Never in my life have I had such a hard time with an arm.

Those are a pain. but if you have the right tool it woks a lot better.

struggled with the one on my dmax then i used this

popped off in 2 seconds with the impact.

 

[rob h]

That tool I have from Matco and wouldn't take mine off. I had to do the same.

 

[82355]

Shouldn't use an impact on pullers.

Martin

 

[rob h]

Yes sir
So, I plan on redoing the exhaust and throwing on some headers but im a little worried about what some of this stuff is. I think the big round things are the catalytic converters but what are inline smaller things?

Cutting and grinding for hours sucks

Yes the grinding sucks, a plasma cutter works wonders with all of that. If you run shorty headers you can cut and turn the crossover pipe so thats its up close to the bell then shorten the upper part. Pretty easy and you need about 6-8 inches of pipe to do it. The drivers side is the only one effected since its where the front shaft will go. Mine with 8 inches of lift had to be moved up about 3 inches to get plenty of up travel. I left the resonators and cats all on and used jba stainless shortys and dynomax 4 inch single stainless exhaust. That and a pcm tune will make it run alot better.

 

[chevysmithz71]

Those are a pain. but if you have the right tool it woks a lot better.
struggled with the one on my dmax then i used this

popped off in 2 seconds with the impact.

I may have to look into this one.

Shouldn't use an impact on pullers.

Martin

I actually wasn't but I had a cheater bar and bam!!

Yes the grinding sucks, a plasma cutter works wonders with all of that. If you run shorty headers you can cut and turn the crossover pipe so thats its up close to the bell then shorten the upper part. Pretty easy and you need about 6-8 inches of pipe to do it. The drivers side is the only one effected since its where the front shaft will go. Mine with 8 inches of lift had to be moved up about 3 inches to get plenty of up travel. I left the resonators and cats all on and used jba stainless shortys and dynomax 4 inch single stainless exhaust. That and a pcm tune will make it run alot better.

Thanks rob I have been following your thread and updates.
I do have to figure out a way to fit the upper bracket in for the 3 link. So, that's why I'm wondering what is really needed.

 

[rob h]

Thats part of the reason i did radius arms, they bolt right to the outside of the rail and 2 bolts under. I had to trim the sides of the tranny crossmember about 3/8 on each side. Boxed it in and my arms fit right on, thats with the 1 1/4 heims too. If you use heims just step up for the real good ones, i didnt and ended up replacing them anyway. Also bought those rubber boots for them, sprayed em with wd40 and popped em on. So far so good...

 

[jekquistk5]

Shouldn't use an impact on pullers.

Martin

And you shouldn't reuse u bolts. Potato, potato....

 

[82355]

The impact will ruin the puller. I don't care if you do, but I don't use one on mine.

Martin

 

[jekquistk5]

The impact will ruin the puller. I don't care if you do, but I don't use one on mine.

Martin

Yah, I try not to make a habit of it.

 

[chevysmithz71]

Thats part of the reason i did radius arms, they bolt right to the outside of the rail and 2 bolts under. I had to trim the sides of the tranny crossmember about 3/8 on each side. Boxed it in and my arms fit right on, thats with the 1 1/4 heims too. If you use heims just step up for the real good ones, i didnt and ended up replacing them anyway. Also bought those rubber boots for them, sprayed em with wd40 and popped em on. So far so good...

Thanks for the advice, what and where would the "good" heims be? I don't feel like doing this twice.

 

[rob h]

I have no idea what my arms came with, no name or markings on them. The 1st set didnt last long and the 2nd set less...i put the better ones on and so far so good. What i have now are a set of fk jmxt series heims. These have a chrome ball, teflon liner and an alloy steel body....so far so good. I bought them from baker precision. There are other good ones tho, qa1, aurora, midwest control...etc. The ones i used were the 1 1/4 with 1 inch threads and a one inch hole. For my track bar i used the 3/4 x 3/4...which is 3/4 hole, 3/4 threads. Make em double shear or get safety washers.




Also depends on what you are willing to spend, the larger ones were about 90.00 and the smaller ones about 50.00 each.

 

[chevysmithz71]

I ended up making some new holes to weld in some tubing since Im moving the box 2 3/4inches forward. Also, making sure this plate doesn't come off the frame

 

[blazinzuk]

Ruff stuff heims I vote 3 link much easier to package and can be built plenty strong. Might consider EVO heims too. EVO stuff is great quality but more expensive. Arm length is determined by your space constraints first. Then by how you want the truck to handle.

Since your keeping normal steering a triangulated 4 link will need to be designex with the path of the drag link in mind. They can bind if not thought about. Thats the reason I say 3 link.

Also there is lots of stuff up there and it can be difficult to fit everything. Where a 3 link is much easier. Usually pretty simple to build a pahnard bar and matching it as closely as possible to the length and angle of the drag link will improve on road feel

 

[chevysmithz71]

Ruff stuff heims I vote 3 link much easier to package and can be built plenty strong. Might consider EVO heims too. EVO stuff is great quality but more expensive. Arm length is determined by your space constraints first. Then by how you want the truck to handle.

Since your keeping normal steering a triangulated 4 link will need to be designex with the path of the drag link in mind. They can bind if not thought about. Thats the reason I say 3 link.

Also there is lots of stuff up there and it can be difficult to fit everything. Where a 3 link is much easier. Usually pretty simple to build a pahnard bar and matching it as closely as possible to the length and angle of the drag link will improve on road feel

Those are some good points that had crossed my mind. Since Artec had a great deal over the weekend with no shipping I went ahead and put an order in on their 3link kit. They had free shipping plus 10% off their trusses when a link kit was ordered. They also use ruffstuff's hiems so another plus.

 

[chevysmithz71]

After reading several threads on pirate about guys having issues with pitman arms hitting or getting too close to the housing I decided to move the box 3" forward. The pics show the stock location and where I moved it to. moved plated and some rosette welds to keep the plate strong.