panhard rod?

[lotik]

who sells an adjustable panhard rod?

[JHickson6]

www.earlyclassic.com sells good stuff, aswell as most of the companies on the main page

[COBALT]

Second that. They have a great adjustable rear traction bar that allows you to change the geometry of your rear-end in case you want to drop it. It goes from the frame at the stock location all the way to a bracket they send you that goes under the passenger side saddle on the rear axle housing. I'll be grabbing that when I do the rear drop.

[jay-dawg]

custom classic perform also has one.

classicperform.com

[jay-dawg]

custom classic perform also has one.
classicperform.com

[lotik]

i dont really understand the concept of this banhard rod thing.. i think it is suppose to keep your rearend centered? what happens if you have an adjustable suspension such as airbags? wouldn't it move then?

[XXL]

Originally posted by lotik
i dont really understand the concept of this banhard rod thing.. i think it is suppose to keep your rearend centered? what happens if you have an adjustable suspension such as airbags? wouldn't it move then?

Basically you're triangulating your rearend. The two swingarms control the front to rear movement (none, other than the arc as the suspension travels) and the Panhard bar controls the lateral movement. However, because of the fixed mounting points on both ends, an arc is formed when the suspension moves up and down. This arc necessarily moves the rearend from side to side (traditionally not much). Because airbag suspensions have so much travel, the arc is much larger, and thus pushes the rearend from side to side much more. Fortunately, 1) while driving, the suspension typically doesn't move up and down that much, and 2) the longer the bar, the shorter the arc that is created... so when you go from the stock "half bar" to a longer one like ECE sells, you're reducing the effect the arc has on the rearend.

There are a number of other effects the triangulated rear suspension have, but I suspect they would probably bore most of you and/or aren't really relevant since you're not doing circle track racing. Here's a link for everything you ever wanted to know about triangulated rear suspensions but were afraid to ask.

BTW, four-link rear suspensions don't have this problem! (they have others, but this ain't one of them)...

Kenneth

[lotik]

so should i get a 27" or 24" adjustable?

[XXL]

Originally posted by lotik
so should i get a 27" or 24" adjustable?

What are you trying to accomplish? If you're planning on having a highly variable rear suspension (like with airbags), you'll want as long a one as you can fit under the truck... which, unless you're making your own, is going to be the one from ECE. It mounts to the left frame channel in the stock location and scoots all the way across to below the right lower shock mount. There's actually not much more room to fit one longer than that.

What you'll do is adjust the spherical rod end until the rearend is centered when the truck is lowest. That way the tires will be most centered when they have to contend with clearances of the inner and outer bed walls (or rear fenders on stepsides). When the truck is raised to the driving height, the rearend will be offset to the left slightly, but you'll be hard pressed to notice it, and the sheetmetal clearance won't be much of a problem since your tires will actually be below instead of beside the bed walls.

Kenneth

[nate68]

they say you don't need one with a 4" drop but i HIGHLY reccommend it. before i changed when it shifted hard the truck would kick to the left. it wasn't a very safe situation.