ZUKIWORLD Online | Suzuki 4x4 Editorial and Forum
ZUKIWORLD Discussion Forum => Suzuki 4x4 Forum => Topic started by: MKOLSEN22 on April 28, 2007, 07:20:22 AM
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So who out there has built some brackets to drop the a-arms? I've seen Whitfield's set up, but has any one else done it? Pictures? Issues? How did you deal with the steering linkage? Any pictures of the steering set up you ended up with?
I'm thinking about designing a set of drop brackets that will be laser cut and bent that will move the a-arms down 2 - 3" and it will incorporate the Hagen widening trick on the rear a-arm drop bracket. This should push the axles forward 1" IIRC to help make even more room for a larger tire w/o rubbing.
If / when I do this project I will add the 2" screw on strut extensions to help compensate for the drop of the struts with the a-arms. I will also be fabricating some differential drop brackets.
Any thoughts or help from you guys would be appreciated.
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I have the procomp drop brackets sitting on the floor. I wonder if i reproduce them will anyone buy them? I bet you can add with other lifts to go a little higher...
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Can you take some pictures of the brackets from all angle and post them? I've heard of the pro-comp lift but never seen any of their components.
Thanks!!
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i'll try to get to it.
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I would be interested...
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i'll try to get to it.
That would be awesome. ;D ;D ;D
So does anyone have any insight into the steering linkage dilema when dropping the a-arms?
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Maybe using a drop pitman arm and somehow lowering the idler arm would solve the steering issues?
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Does anyone know if a Sammi pitman arm would fit the Sidekick Gearbox? I've seen dropped pitmans for the Sammi, but not for the sidekick.
Enjoy!!
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The Track/kick power steer has a larger diameter spline, so the Sami drop pitman arm won't fit unless resplined (which I have seen done). I'm sure that I have seen a drop pitman arm for Track/Kick power steer box when used in a Sami. I just can't remember where :)
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I had a drop pitman arm on my first sidekick in Australia (although i didn't know at the time that i didn't need it). I don't remember what brand it was though.
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Here ya go. pro comp did not address the steering issue as stock angles are not square to begin with. with this kit it is 2 1/2" off one way while stock is 1 1/2" the other way. I have these brackets to reproduce something close to it, but I may sell them. These brackets also allow over a 1/2" adjustment for width.
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Thanks for the pictures. I'll be checking them out with great interest. You might have mentioned it already but how much of a drop does this bracket set provide?
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2 3/4"
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Those brackets don't look too bad.
What was the story with the ProComp lift anyways? Did they just not sell enough, or was it not very functional?
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I have a Pertersens mag from 1995 when the kit first came out and the price was almost 700.00. no demand back then. I came acrossed this one so I could reproduce them but maybe at an even 3". the hardest part is making the alignment cams... do you think that there is a demand?
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I think there would be some demand. 10 years ago these vehicles weren't nearly as cheap as they are now. There are a few people that have been home-building their own drop brackets lately.
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I'd love to get something like this for my 2000 Grand Vitara... how different can it be? Has anyone done the Hagen widening trick on a 99+ Vitara? Maybe I'll be the first.
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Why are the alignment cams hard? There are plenty of sources for the parts, I wonder if Toyota IFS alignmet cams have the correct length and diameter of bolt to work. With laser cutting of the parts a sloted hole is no sweat either. You could even have the laser etch alignment marks for the inside of the blocks that the cam turns against so that positioning the blocks is a no brainer in a small production scenerio.
I think that now is a very good time to be getting in to the market for Track - Kick parts. More and more people are looking to them as an affordable way to get into the 4x4 scene and the more parts that are out there the more attractive they become. Parts that make them more capable make them more attractive yet.
Just my $0.02
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I thinkm it was Ziggy that had one of these kits. He didn't like it at all and swapped it very quickly for a Calmini kit. I know a couple of other people that ran the kit for years and really liked it. It seemed pretty capable though neither of them ran the piggy back shocks on the front, they made it far too stiff. There was someone else on here that had the Procomp setup and still had the shocks on the front (one of the Dutch guys?). The kit does suffer from bump steer.
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I have a Pertersens mag from 1995 when the kit first came out and the price was almost 700.00. no demand back then. I came acrossed this one so I could reproduce them but maybe at an even 3". the hardest part is making the alignment cams... do you think that there is a demand?
Is there any way to get a copy of the article? Or is it just a little blurb about the release of the kit? It would be interesting to see pictures of the complete kit and what their review of it was.
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it was just an add with price. no pics. I went through all my all mags looking for information, found none.
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someone else on here that had the Procomp setup and still had the shocks on the front (one of the Dutch guys?).
ed oorklep, if you PM him I'm sure he'll be happy to tell you all about the kit.
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Well I've been working on the design of the front drop bracket and the following picture is what I have come up with so far.
When looking at the picture just imagine the center section being the top of the bracket and the outer two pieces being bent down so that the bolt holes all line up. The holes closest to the center of the piece are for the existing a-arm mounting points and the others are the new dropped a-arm mounting points.
Some boxing of the brace's underside will be in order for strength, but so far I'm pretty excited about the prospects.
(http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t101/Geotracker90/Tracker/A-ArmDropBracket.jpg)
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So far so good eh! Keep it up. ;D
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wow this is just what the doctor ordered. sign me up for 1 set please.
When looking at the picture just imagine the center section being the top of the bracket and the outer two pieces being bent down so that the bolt holes all line up. The holes closest to the center of the piece are for the existing a-arm mounting points and the others are the new dropped a-arm mounting points.
shouldnt the four outer holes be a little farther out for the hagen widening? also, we might need some 5" differential drop brackets since the stock unit can already accomodate a 3" drop.
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Yeh I have the Pro comp kit. I used to run the extra struts in the front but they were far to stiff like Rhinoman said so I've got m off too. The kit does suffer from quite a bit of bump steer and I'm thinking about a solution too a drop pitman arm would be the best option imo but I have to get someone to make me one cos I'm not that good with the tools :P
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wow this is just what the doctor ordered. sign me up for 1 set please.
When looking at the picture just imagine the center section being the top of the bracket and the outer two pieces being bent down so that the bolt holes all line up. The holes closest to the center of the piece are for the existing a-arm mounting points and the others are the new dropped a-arm mounting points.
shouldnt the four outer holes be a little farther out for the hagen widening? also, we might need some 5" differential drop brackets since the stock unit can already accomodate a 3" drop.
alain.
our cheap fab guy can easily do that...let's do it
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shouldnt the four outer holes be a little farther out for the hagen widening? also, we might need some 5" differential drop brackets since the stock unit can already accomodate a 3" drop.
You can't drop the diff more than 2" without cutting out the crossmember. IIRC the original Procomp kit dropped/rotated the front diff less than the Calmini kit, it retained the original 3rd mount.
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shouldnt the four outer holes be a little farther out for the hagen widening? also, we might need some 5" differential drop brackets since the stock unit can already accomodate a 3" drop.
You can't drop the diff more than 2" without cutting out the crossmember. IIRC the original Procomp kit dropped/rotated the front diff less than the Calmini kit, it retained the original 3rd mount.
You sir are correct ;)
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So what did ProComp do for the rear suspension? A-arm replacement, or spacer? New coils or coil spacer?
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So what did ProComp do for the rear suspension? A-arm replacement, or spacer? New coils or coil spacer?
Just new coils and shocks, that's all. It's a bit 'wobbly' in the rear on mine cos I have quite soft rear shocks should adjust them to a bit harder, also the stock control arms do their part in this.
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Excelent idea, I've been waiting for this for a long time. With the Hagen mod. incorporated it's all the better. I have the 3 inch Calmini kit and an extra 2 inches I could finally clear 33's. The rear would be a no brainer you could add adjustable coil spring spacers and adj. your ride height to your own specs. On the front I would try to box the whole lowering mounts to help strenghten them out. You could also cut out the stock crossmember between the mounts and drop the diff. as much as nessary. On the steering issue if you flip your tie rods to the top instead of the bottom I bet a 2 inch drop would be perfect, and they make a reamer tool to do just this. I would be very interrested in this sign me up.
Kevin
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Here you go!
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Hey there Kevin
IIRC the picture that you posted is an adjustable coil spacer for the Jeep Cherokee. I really liked the idea of the adjustable spacer as a tuning device for ride height when I had my Cherokee, but I think that I would look down other roads when considering the bulk of the lift for the rear.
One idea that I'm toying with for the rear is using coil springs from a coil over set up. I've seen a few companies that make brackets to use these coils seperate from the coil-over shocks. This would open up a whole new field of possibilities as far as spring rate, and free spring length go. The springs don't seem to be too expensive either. (I just measured the ID of my stock springs and it was a little bigger than 3". I wonder if 3" ID coil-over springs would fit the stock mounts?)
For the steering it looks like you can get a dropped pitman arm and I'm wondering about moving the idler arm down a coresponding amount as well. I do like the idea of flipping the tie-rod ends to the top of the steering knuckle though.
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On the steering issue if you flip your tie rods to the top instead of the bottom I bet a 2 inch drop would be perfect, and they make a reamer tool to do just this.
How come I have never thought of this myself :-\. It allmost seems to easy to actually work..... I have to try it out for sure >:D
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bump ;D
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On the steering issue if you flip your tie rods to the top instead of the bottom I bet a 2 inch drop would be perfect, and they make a reamer tool to do just this.
How come I have never thought of this myself :-\. It allmost seems to easy to actually work..... I have to try it out for sure >:D
I believe Mike tried this. When the tie rod angles don't match the control arm angles it can give you some different road handling.
I think he said it drove funney on the road but was better off roading??
Mike?
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Lil truck, This will happen if the nuckles arnt low enough. But with the extra lift like 5inches I think that the tie rods would line up better on top. Just my .02$
Kevin