Extreme anlge ball joints..

[Chasespeed]

I saw a reference to these somewhere, dont remember where...

Thinking about re-doing the front end in my 2wd 'Zu, and, well, those would work out PERFECT...

BTW, I searched...

Thanks

Chase

[Yikes]

Cone Indsutries (http://www.coneindustries.com/partsgallery.php) makes some nice ones. Scroll down the page in the link.

[Chasespeed]

Yeah, those are them.

But, I just wish I could find a price on them.... probably expensive...

Chase

[Yikes]

$385 each at Autofab.

[Chasespeed]

Well, guess that puts THIS down the drains... I will have to look into modifying stock style ball joints.....

Has anyone dont THAT? Modifying stock type ball joints for more angle/travel?

Chase

[steveG]

Well, guess that puts THIS down the drains... I will have to look into modifying stock style ball joints.....

Has anyone dont THAT? Modifying stock type ball joints for more angle/travel?

Chase

How much angle are you after?

[Chasespeed]

Well, in this app, based off of, most stock joints being APPROX 45*...

I have no NEED for 90* of motion, maybe on the upper...

Anyway...maybe some pics will help.

http://www.southernkustoms.org/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=483&g2_serialNumber=1

http://www.southernkustoms.org/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=494&g2_serialNumber=2
as you can see, at ride height, I have about 1 inch of downtravel left... and of course the full range of uptravel, these 2 are passenger side.
http://www.southernkustoms.org/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=496&g2_serialNumber=2

http://www.southernkustoms.org/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=498&g2_serialNumber=2

These show the drivers side., and the issues with joint travel.... YES, this truck DOES see airtime, and gets driven HARD...



I think with 2 heims on the tie-rods, the one at the steering rack, in a clevis), and a couple high misalignment joints, I should be okay for travel, even with torsion bars.....

Chase

Uh, I cant show hosted pics???

[3amigo]

The rack and pinion steering isuzu went to in '98 does not do well with increased angles. They like to blow apart.
Your front suspension is all ready one of the longer travel stock ifs systems out there. I would spend some $ on good shocks and put on jounce shocks like those from light racing. If you maximize what you have I bet you would be surprised at how well you can make it handle. To do much more would get expensive in a hurry.

[Chasespeed]

Well, I have been playing with these Zu's for several years....had a mean trooper with about 220k on it, 35s, locked.. etc...

and I have another rodeo, that the ex wife has...

In other words, i am not stranger to this...

I have a design for the rack and pinion...

the ball joints will then become the limiting factor...

Chase

[3amigo]

I'm sure you know what your doing. The guys who wheel zus have to be good at making their own stuff.
Its a sad fact that I have no less than 7 zus at my house right now. Amigo, rodeo, and the rest are troopers, oh man, I forgot the 'pup. I think I may have a problem, and admiting it is the first step to recovery, right?
I have found the rack that is used on the '98 plus amigos and rodeos is a weak link. You sound like you have a plan in mind so rock on.
The spindles on the zus are pretty tight on clearance where the lower BJ mounts. I looked into replacing it, but never found a satisfactory replacement that would work better than the factory part. Uniballs take up too much space.
I made my lower arms longer than stock to increase travel. This seemed the only reliable way to do it. I am getting a full 15" with the stock BJ's without changing the angles. I limited the length of my arms so I can run in class 3, but for a 2wd pre-run you could go way over and get big travel.
The other problem I see with using more angularity for travel is the t-bars. They only work well through so much rotation. Twisting them too much leads to their distruction.
I hope you figure out a way to do it, come up with some good ideas and I will copy them for sure, giving proper credit of course.
Get it built and show us a pic of you airing it out!:D

[3amigo]

Well, guess that puts THIS down the drains... I will have to look into modifying stock style ball joints.....

Has anyone dont THAT? Modifying stock type ball joints for more angle/travel?

Chase

Yes, you can actually get a couple more degrees of travel in both directions by grinding the joints. I tried this along the way. I found that as you droop out further you start to get lots of negatve camber. This in turn puts more angle into the BJ so you don't really get much more travel. I think I ended up with about an extra inch. Unless you are going to run air bumps and get rid of the stock bump stops you can't really use more travel than stock in up travel.

[Chasespeed]

Well, I havetn measured the wheel travel... BUT, only having about 1 inch of down travel, well...uh , yeah.. the UP travel part can be dealt with later...

Honestly, I do know, that travel is pretty decent for a stock truck...

I also know that with a "lift" spindle... it would save alot of hassle.

I have been off and on tinkering with this... tried a couple different UCA's thourhg the last couple years, and, honeslty, for something that see's street use, the stock is best...

I HAVE NOT, tried messing with LCA's yet.. .and with alot that has happened, I am not in a position to... I MISS MY SHOP.... anyway...

I need to dig out the factory numbers... and go from there...

If you could, email me some pics of the LCA you made... curious...

Chase

[Chasespeed]

Get it built and show us a pic of you airing it out!

I would love to...

BUT, right now, it has 20's on it, and they are wrapped in city rubber....

But, once I find some decent rubber, either for the 16's, OR the 20's and some new shocks... I will try to find a way to air it out....

BUt, right now, I am living off E-5 pay, as a single father, trying to survive, and win a custody battle... so, anything I have to do, will have to be.. .basically free...

I konw there are no sponsors, that are willing to help me open up a new shop, and donate some supplies....

So...

Chase