Questions about 4 links in general

'67 2 door small block.

Provided you had the time, money and ability, is a 4 link the better all around set up for the rear? I know they are best for drag racing, but what about handling? I also believe they ride fairly rough on the street..?

Am looking into the Martz set up, and just don't want to make the car great in a straight line, but competent all around.

Is this more or less streetable than the split leafs, or multi leafs?

Thanks for any input!


p.s.
Has anyone tried the Truckman trailing arm set up?

For an all around driver with average good HP it's hard to beat what GM built it with in my opinion. Just add some traction device and good shocks and off you go. 4 links are great for drag racing but are alot of maintenance and cost if you don't need it. RM

My Opinion:

For what you want I would think pretty much any of the front clips they sell nowadays will do the job. It really depends on the quality of the clip and the ease of installation. I would say that for quality CA will be the frontrunner as well as ease of installation. Of course, when dollars enter the equation CA drops down a few notches!

For the rear I would put a truckarm! Super adjustable and very streetable although if all you're going to do is cruise then the rear leaf is more than adequate if you set it up right!

John

Your questions was is it better, better than what? How often is the car driven, how hard, where, and what kind of power are we talking about?

The stock suspension is hard to beat for a street cruiser with low power levels, under 350-400. Throw a set of adjustable shocks under it, and you're cruising nicely.

Ladder bars work well for drag racing, but will beat you up no the street. Don't let anyone tell you that it's good on the street, you're better off with the stock leafs as a ladder bar is only a two-link system with very little give. Even an urethane bushed ladder bar offers very little articulation.

A four-link system is ideal for drag racing as it allows the greatest amount of travel and adjustability and normally only costs about $300 more than the ladder bars do for a full backhalf. However, if you're not going to take the time to set it up, you're probably gong to think it's junk. For the street, the same rule applies. If you don't spend time sorting out what suspension you have, you'll hate it. In my opinion, which is worth what you pay for it, a pro-street four-link is better than the stock leafs for street use. Race types are good for 1800HP and more!

Then you get into the canted/triangulated four links. Air Ride, Martz, TCI, Chassisworks, etc, they all make at least one version. Having the upper bars at an angle eliminates the need for a track locater or panhard bar. It also lets the suspension articulate. This is generally the best way to go for a street application without getting into an IRS. Most are all mounted using some sort of cradle under the floor. These are rated at most to 650rwhp, after that, it's more a matter of how long your floor will hold up.

I kinda went off on a tangent there, and since I'm the new guy, I guess I'll shut up now.

I have a Chassisworks catalog and there is a lot of good info on 4-links-vs-ladder bars in the back of it. That's where I learned a lot of this.

Here, found a link, the tutorials start on page 83 of the catalog.
https://www.cachassisworks.com/download/catalog_cac_vol14_71-105.pdf

The ultimate all around rear is the three link. Only problem is you can't have a stock rear seat. The truck arm is the most forgiving if you have a wide tire(mini tub)and after that I would choose the leaf spring you already have with good shocks and a small sway bar. These would be my choices for pro-touring/street. I keep coming back to building my own truck arm jus cause I think it's cool.:cool: :cool: :cool:

4-links are great on the street. Many stock GM cars came with 4-links from the factory. All G-body cars like the Chevelle and ElCamino have 4-links.

4-links handle and ride a lot better than a ladder bar suspension does and has a lot more adjustability. If you plan to narrow your rear, a 4-link is the way to go. The truckarm suspension is awesome, but you can't use the truckarm with a very narrow rear. Leaf springs are old-school. No new cars still use leaf springs, they all have coil springs.

I have a narrowed rear and use the AutoWeld Ultimate II 4-link suspension with a wishbone locator. I remember back in 1994 when I back-halfed the '64, I shopped around and looked at all of the manufacturers. I remember some of them telling me that using a wishbone was a bad idea. But Ron Showers of AutoWeld convinced otherwise and I'm glad he did.

Now 14 years later, if you look at Chassisworks they claim the wishbone is the way to go for a narrowed rear.

The new billet 4-link that Chassisworks has looks pretty awesome for the street. It also looks like it would handle pretty good too. I would take a 4-link over ladder bars or leaf springs any day. I never rode in a truckarm car but I bet they handle pretty nice too. If my rear wasn't narrowed as much as it is, I'd seriously consider a truckarm.

Thanks for all the thoughts. Good stuff and valid points.

Sounds like the truckarm set up is a favorite, or any triangulated link, so then I'll pose this question:

Truckarm or Airbar/ Gbar?

While I won't say money is not an issue, for this discussion lets just say it's not just to remove that variable.


Thoughts?

If money and cutting your car up is not an issue than truck arm is the way to go. If your car is not going to see straight line drag racing and you want smooth ride and cornering then I don't think anything can beat an IRS like the corvette uses, but that set up is major bucks and eats straight line HP and torque.

If I was concerned about budget (and I personally am) I would leave the leaf springs, add a set of caltrac's and poly bushings then spend the money I saved on front suspension and steering. A lot of guys are getting under 11 seconds using leafs and caltrac's in the quarter. While it is true that passenger cars no longer use leaf springs today trucks do. My little 1/2 ton 2wheel drive truck rides like a dream as long as I'm not off roading or driving on bumpy back roads.

Just my opinion!

i have had 4- links and ladder bars all have pro and cons..like the guy said chassisworks has a pretty good explantion in there catalog......but with a street strip car , good leafsprings,good shocks,traction bars maybe some of those other ones i cant remember the name.....my friend ran 9:78 in the quarter with 9 inch slicks and slapper bars and it was VERY street able...:geek:

If money and cutting your car up is not an issue than truck arm is the way to go. If your car is not going to see straight line drag racing and you want smooth ride and cornering then I don't think anything can beat an IRS like the corvette uses, but that set up is major bucks and eats straight line HP and torque.

If I was concerned about budget (and I personally am) I would leave the leaf springs, add a set of caltrac's and poly bushings then spend the money I saved on front suspension and steering. A lot of guys are getting under 11 seconds using leafs and caltrac's in the quarter. While it is true that passenger cars no longer use leaf springs today trucks do. My little 1/2 ton 2wheel drive truck rides like a dream as long as I'm not off roading or driving on bumpy back roads.

Just my opinion!

I'm not doubting you at all on this, so don't take it the wrong way, but I thought I read some posts on here that Caltracs were not streetable at all. I thought someone said they were very bad for street driving/cruise/Sunday drive cars. Is that not the case? I'd really like to know, because I've been looking to do a 4 link rear, but I'm not sure yet.

How much money do you think you would spend by time you bought multi leafs, caltracs, good adjustable shocks, urethane bushings, etc? Just curious. A TCI 4 link with adjustable shocks is around $1450. How much cheaper is the Caltrac way? Just tryin to see if its moneywise to go with Caltracs and forget about the 4 link. I'm planning on the car being a 500HP street/cruise/show/back road hammering car, maybe see a strip once. Is the 4 link better or worse for this type of driving vs leafs and Caltracs?

Thanks

New Leafs are like $150
Poly bushings are around $100
Caltracs are like $400
decent pair of new shocks should be less than $100

From what I have seen of the caltracs is they are a dial in piece. Also the design doesn't look as if it would alter how the stock leaf springs are intended to work. They only kick in when you start to wrap your leaf springs.

You could go the TCI or Heidts 4-bar kit also. It gives you a 4link with coil over shocks and ride height adjustablity. The bars are rubber bushed but I'm not sure if you could get them poly or not. It's another idea anyway.

Whatever direction you decide to go, don't put any new rubber in the suspension. Go urethane. It's worth the extra coin to not have to replace them in a few years. Plus, the suspension will be a little bit tighter, less sloppy. Rubber is cheap and antiquated, which is why the OEMs still use it.