Through my research I came across these illustrations. They help me tremendously. Remember these are not my drawings. I will also post the links to where I found these. If I would have had these before I started I could have done it once instead of twice... Links: 4 Link Info - S-10 Forum Tuning 4 Link Rear Suspensions for the Drag Strip I hope these will help others in the near future
Looks good except one point, everything I have read over on the pro-touring boards and racing forums on 3 and 4 link design says that the upper links should be 70-75% of the working length of the lowers. Working length being from a side view, the distance from front mount point to rear mount points.
So to run a 24" top bar you have to have a 34" lower bar? I don't think so but... I'm running 24 top and bottom. I think what you mean is the mounting point should be 70-75%. And to achieve the 40-45 deg too bar the top will be mounted and about 17-18" of bar length on the bottom bar... If you have to short a top bar you will get pinion roll so bad you will be buying new U joints every month... I used these illustrations and they worked for me... If you are only referring to the picture with the bar lengths remember it's an illustration to help...
There are only a few have-to's in suspension design but set in stone link length isn't one of them. Packaging issues are always going to be a problem in adding a different suspension to a vehicle than what was offered from the factory. In my coming link setup I will be running a 20" upper and 20" lowers because I don't have the room if I want to keep my gas tank in the stock location. Without having to write a book and go into details that I know I can't fully explain(or understand) having the upper links shorter changes how much anti-squat you have as your suspension droops. Equal length links are not bad especially in the tight packaging we deal with on these trucks. With equal length links(side view) your pinion angle will only stay the same if your vertical separation is the same on both sides of your bars which means if your lower bar is level at ride height then your upper is level at ride height which means your instant center will be all whacked out and way too far forward. Having a decent amount of Vertical separation helps with stability to a point.
