620 prerunner

[Zfighter76]

ok so simply put i wanna make my 620 into a little whoop eater and i have been drooling over the fantelli baja car and have yet to find detailed suspension pics. if anyone has any ideas for the front (while retaining the stock(ish) suspension arms, im not worried about swaps from other years or anything as far as ball joints and stuff goes. also any ideas on some good soft leafs and longer shackles that would work for the rear???? thanks, for now its just cranked up torsions and 1976 dunlop snow cruisers lol.

[poor-mans-720]

snow crusiers in Cali?? Hahaha... Can't wait to see some pics of this. This idea sounds pretty sweet.

[Zfighter76]

wait no longer, except now i have hella off road lights hidden behind the grill, im hoping they wont melt it

[Zfighter76]

i believe the 620 lends itself to any look except stock. lowered = rad, raised = badass, stock = normal, normal = no bueno

[510kevin]

Ranger trailing arms up front, 4 link rear, king coilovers all around=done

[hellamikey]

 

 

 

I think I remember reading somewhere That this truck just had extended stock lower arms/ torsion bars.

 

Sick though right?

[]2eDeYe]

ok so simply put i wanna make my 620 into a little whoop eater

 

Nice!

 

and i have been drooling over the fantelli baja car

 

Me too!

 

and have yet to find detailed suspension pics.

 

Yeah WTF???

 

if anyone has any ideas for the front (while retaining the stock(ish) suspension arms,

 

Got a welder?

 

 

im not worried about swaps from other years or anything as far as ball joints and stuff goes.

 

Will need a custom upper for sho!

 

also any ideas on some good soft leafs and longer shackles that would work for the rear????

 

620's have the shortest shackle ever! Seriously. Short.

 

 

thanks, for now its just cranked up torsions and 1976 dunlop snow cruisers lol.

 

 

1976!?? :lol:

[moparvwfreak]

OMG!!! that white one is so sexy! i want it!

[Zfighter76]

The white one is badass but again I'd like to see some detailed pics of the setup, I've considered the I beam setup and I have access to a whole front end, but I don't want to have to mod the frame too much. I have access to a low power mig and a real nice arc(stick). And I'm strongly considering extending them but I'm unsure about if I should extend them the same upper and lower. I do know one thing and that's that bad geometry is the worst. I've never seen the 78-79 ball joint front end but I've heard it bolts right on, and has discs. True??? And are those as easily modifyable than the link pin ones?

[Zfighter76]

Also it appears that the white truck eliminated the tension control rods, how does that work?

[Pacific coast Datsun]

Run 16 inch rims w/ bigger tires...crank up torsions..get allignment..csll it good.

[Zfighter76]

And ]2eDeYe , it seems as though you and I are the same person

[Zfighter76]

Pacific coast datsun, it rides like shit and is always on the downtravel bumps when cranked all the way up. My wheels now are 15s and those tires are massive, it hits the back of the front wheel well when I hit a speed bump :P

[Zfighter76]

Does anyone know if its safe to run with no tortion bars if a strong gas charged shock is used such as a 13 inch travel billstein or something of that nature? I was told last night to run no torsions and just gas shocks but that can't be correct

[]2eDeYe]

That is not really correct. Gas shocks do not support the vehicles weight, they are just dampers with a little positive pressure.

 

 

If you remove the torsion spring you will need to replace it with another type of spring.

 

You could run the newer style air shocks though, they are more of a spring/shock, might even be able to get a set that 'bolt in'

 

 

http://www.polyperformance.com/shop/Fox-2.0-Air-Shock-p-102.html

 

 

 

To remove the tension (strut) rod you need to triangulate the lower control arm. I would just leave the tension rod until the other issues get sorted out.

 

 

 

To fix the downtravel issue. Cut off the bumpstop mounts, then you won't hit them anymore :lol:

 

 

Also, when raising the 620 that much (hitting the downtravel bumps) you really need to lengthen the control arms. This will help alleviate binding in the joints and allow you to dial in your camber. Plus you will gain more suspension travel and steering room with the larger tires.

[Zfighter76]

Sweet thanks, those shocks are more what I've been contemplating, air shocks. I believe I will lengthen them.

I was considering cutting the bump mounts off but then the spindle to uca angle would be so obtuse that I'm afraid it might reverse direction resulting in possible catastrophic results.

[]2eDeYe]

Lengthening the control arms will help with the obtuse. :lol:

 

Limit straps are also a good idea. ;)

[Zfighter76]

Yeah limit straps are a for sure thing. I think ill cut the down travel bumps tomorrow and just not do any jumps till I get straps on it haha. I tried putting 1976 toyota land cruiser leafs on it but the alignment bolt is a bout a half an inch off. Maybe modifications will solve that.

 

Another concern of mine is the bushings for the link pin front end, do you think they will be alright? They seem to be kinda small and having no lube to protect from wear makes me think that the'll tear up too easy with off road use. That's why I wanna go ball joint.

 

Am I wrong or did someone say that the 78-79 ball joint arms work and bolt right on?

[yello620]

Am I wrong or did someone say that the 78-79 ball joint arms work and bolt right on?

 

 

Not completely wrong.. The lower can bolt on with modification/spacers, and the uppers will also bolt on, but the suspension geometry is not even close to acceptable.

 

 

I installed 79 lower arms on my 76, HB spindles and made my own upper arms with geometry that i was happy with.

[Zfighter76]

Can you post up a picture of your upper control arms? I wouldn't mind doing that either so I could use some coilovers(make them wide enough to accept them). I'm also thinking about making a custom brace onder the oil pan(I believe its called the front suspension crossmember??? That would allow me to pin some super long control arms and have massive downtravel

[yello620]

Can you post up a picture of your upper control arms? I wouldn't mind doing that either so I could use some coilovers(make them wide enough to accept them). I'm also thinking about making a custom brace onder the oil pan(I believe its called the front suspension crossmember??? That would allow me to pin some super long control arms and have massive downtravel

 

 

There is several pictures in my build thread(in signature).

[Zfighter76]

I'm on a blackberry so I can't see your signature but ill try to figure it out. Thanks

[]2eDeYe]

They are basic tubular A-arms with a balljoint.

 

If you have the fab skills to build long lowers, they are pretty standard stuff. I would copy the Ford Twin Radius Beam set up. This is what a lot of the 2wd Trophy Trucks run. :)

[Zfighter76]

The whole thing about the twin I beam setup is that while it is by far the best stock suspension and cheap and easy to modify, if was really only used in the class 8 cars. I know that the a arm setup is actually more capable in the long run just due to camber issues, I beam setups are great in the desert but terrible for the street when modified. I do understand that the best way to get long travel out of the a arms is to pin them as close together as possible, but real trophy trucks have the engine pushed backwards to allow that.

 

I saw your a arms and they look fantastic. May I ask you where you sourced your tubing for the pivot point? And did you make use of the original mounting points? Thanks

[Zfighter76]

So, I took my truck out rallying it around and through some mud and up and down some steep rocky areas (lincoln locked rwd keep in mind) and I was really surprised at how well mannered the stock truck just raised in the front slightly was. I was able to cruise in third through rough terrain comfortably and hit bumps and dips without bothering the steering or having hard hits. I can't wait to see what happens when I put some nice coilover shocks up front and remove torsions. I'm going with f-o-a coilovers and lengthening stock arms eventually. For the rear I will be (tomorrow) modifying some 70's toyota land cruiser leafs and shackles to soften up the rear and give more down travel(4 inches more)