juanblzer
1/2 ton status
I also emailed Watson and here is what he said:
[ QUOTE ]
we're using 1.75 x .375 wall DOM tube for our lower links, threaded direct for a 1 x 1.25 heim on each end. The uppers can vary, thinner tube will work but if we have a possibility of contact we use something thicker. 1.5 x .188 would be fine, even .120 wall would work but it's nice to have it a little thicker for dent resistance. I would strongly recommend using at least .250 wall tube for the lower links, thinner tube would hold the suspension forces but will NOT take the rock strikes that link arms get.
Heim size depends a lot on how the suspension is designed, we use the big ones because of the way the lower links are raised above the axle tube, this increases the stress on the link quite a bit, and we know people are going to bounce on the link arms and it's good to have a strong end. Uppers we use a 3/4 x 7/8 joint because the stress on them is a bit lower and they seldom if ever get touched.
We don't have everything worked out but we're hoping to have our kit priced around $3K, including at least a pair of King dual rate coilovers. We're using triple rates but it's not a requirement. I would guess that you'd have another $500 in installing the kit and the upper shock mount (if we don't have one available yet), the idea with a kit is that it's cheap to install of course. It sounds like starting with our parts would get you a little farther along with the same money.
We have a couple features that would be different, our pricing will be set up around heim jointed HD tube links, the coilover setup puts the shocks farther back in the chassis which leaves a bit more cargo room or room for a back seat, if you care. We're also incorporating multiple mounting points for the suspension so you can tune it in a for what you want to do. It's not set up for maximum wheel travel, you pretty much end up with a 1:1 ratio of shock to wheel travel, so a 16" shock would get you 16" of vertical wheel travel. Having more travel is always good but leveraging the shocks to get more changes the link arrangement quite a bit and it's hard to get more wheel travel than that and keep the ground clearance and rock resistance we have built in.
This is about all I can think of to throw down now, take a look at the pics of my rear suspension in the custom rigs section on our page and my bro's buggy in the "our travels" section under 21 road pics and you'll see what we're doing with this rear suspension.
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[ QUOTE ]
we're using 1.75 x .375 wall DOM tube for our lower links, threaded direct for a 1 x 1.25 heim on each end. The uppers can vary, thinner tube will work but if we have a possibility of contact we use something thicker. 1.5 x .188 would be fine, even .120 wall would work but it's nice to have it a little thicker for dent resistance. I would strongly recommend using at least .250 wall tube for the lower links, thinner tube would hold the suspension forces but will NOT take the rock strikes that link arms get.
Heim size depends a lot on how the suspension is designed, we use the big ones because of the way the lower links are raised above the axle tube, this increases the stress on the link quite a bit, and we know people are going to bounce on the link arms and it's good to have a strong end. Uppers we use a 3/4 x 7/8 joint because the stress on them is a bit lower and they seldom if ever get touched.
We don't have everything worked out but we're hoping to have our kit priced around $3K, including at least a pair of King dual rate coilovers. We're using triple rates but it's not a requirement. I would guess that you'd have another $500 in installing the kit and the upper shock mount (if we don't have one available yet), the idea with a kit is that it's cheap to install of course. It sounds like starting with our parts would get you a little farther along with the same money.
We have a couple features that would be different, our pricing will be set up around heim jointed HD tube links, the coilover setup puts the shocks farther back in the chassis which leaves a bit more cargo room or room for a back seat, if you care. We're also incorporating multiple mounting points for the suspension so you can tune it in a for what you want to do. It's not set up for maximum wheel travel, you pretty much end up with a 1:1 ratio of shock to wheel travel, so a 16" shock would get you 16" of vertical wheel travel. Having more travel is always good but leveraging the shocks to get more changes the link arrangement quite a bit and it's hard to get more wheel travel than that and keep the ground clearance and rock resistance we have built in.
This is about all I can think of to throw down now, take a look at the pics of my rear suspension in the custom rigs section on our page and my bro's buggy in the "our travels" section under 21 road pics and you'll see what we're doing with this rear suspension.
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