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Old 05-22-2022, 01:00 AM #1
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Panhard Correction Kit Upgrade

So I have often wondered how best to correct the panhard issue that results from lifting our vehicles; I originally had settled on what most people did, an adjustable aftermarket pandhard rod. That got lumped in with fully adjustable rear links and eventually just sat on the "to do list" for many years and I forgot about it. I just sort of lived with the repercussions of lifting my vehicle like most of us have; including the slightly annoying tendency of the 4Runner's rear end to feel like it "wiggles" sometimes more than a stock vehicle. Fast forward to the last year or so, I have been slowly working on just replacing/repairing things that the 4Runner needs due to old age and had noticed the upper link bushings on the rear end are rather worn out and in need of some replacement; which brought me back to thinking about the panhard again and the "wiggle."

While doing some research on the best way to set-up the aftermarket panhard and if I am being honest, brushing up on how exactly it affects rear end handling (I don't think I've really delved deep into 5-link suspensions beyond their general function and layout since college lol) I came across an interesting post from one "Evil FJ" where he goes over this panhard issue. I'm just going to link his little blogpost and let him and his math do the heavy lifting, I have little desire to do a ton of math on a Saturday evening.

The Panhard Problem | Evil FJ

His blog post got me thinking again about my hesitation on using an adjustable panhard rod years ago, it centers the axle when the vehicle is static, but does little more to locate it when it's articulating. This ended up with some more research into correct brackets and the ideal angle most manufacturer's settle on. I ended up ordering a PCK from eimkeith.com – good stuff for your Toyota. (guy's got some nice stuff on there... will probably end up buying some more later down the road...) and waiting for some time to actually install the thing.

I ended up deciding to do this at my shop because while I have a welder at home, I didn't think it'd be great fun to try and wiggle my MIG gun in there with the vehicle on the ground in my garage. Honestly? rather glad I did go that route, it was a pain to weld up the backside of it (I'll touch up on that later), but I am happy with the end result. I also happened to snag some measurements off a stock 4th Gen V8 4WD earlier this week and took measurements before and after on my vehicle. So here's some pictures and commentary for you guys:

-Stock 4th Gen 4Runner V8 4WD: 1° At Rest (sitting on the ground) and 5° At Full Droop

-My vehicle prior to the PCK as seen in the pictures: 3.5° At Rest & 9.9° At Full Droop

So the first thing you'll want to do is remove the driver's rear wheel, as this will give you so much more room to approach welding the bracket on. I decided to "flat rate" this by just throwing it on a rack and popping the wheel off, if you want the best possible access for welding, you'll want to either remove the axle from the vehicle or remove the following items: Driver's Rear Spring, Driver's Side Rear Axle Brake Hard Line, Driver's Side Rear Axle ABS Wire, Driver's Side Rear Shock, Driver's Side Rear Trailing Arms (upper & Lower), Panhard (obviously), and then support the axle as you droop it downwards to give access because of the gas tank.

Like I said, I decided I wanted to flat rate this, but the above method would probably have helped with some of the horrible access to weld the bracket in. If you're going the route I did, then I recommend your next step to unclip the ABS wire from the axle (you're going to reverse the orientation of the clip on the section of wire that mounts to the factory panhard bracket after you install the PCK) and hang it as far from the factory bracket as possible (I just stuck it in the spring), next you'll want to unbolt the driver's rear brake hardline, there's about 3 or 4 12mm bolts that hold the line securely; I ended up also unbolting the passenger side for just a smidge more wiggle room. But once you have the hardline unbolted you can carefully press it back from the bracket to give you a bit more clearance for cleaning/prep and final welding. Also note how at full droop with the uncorrected angle the panhard is pulled away from the bracket by about 12mm or so. Now... clean all the paint/coating at least an inch from the edge of the bracket both inside and outside; you want a nice clean surface for welding. On a side note, don't be a dumbass like me and let your wire wheel run away from you and eat up the plastic coating on your hardline (almost gave myself a heart attack because I though I ripped the line open), go slow and steady, stay in control when you're near the sensitive stuff!

Next thing is to see how well the PCK fits in place, in my case the factory bracket was a bit tighter than the PCK. Nothing a scribe and a few minutes on the grinder couldn't fix. Tacked the bracket in place, the metal is a bit on the thicker side, so I tried to give myself a small root gap to work with. I recommend disconnecting the battery if you're doing any welding on your vehicle and making sure your ground clamp is as close to your welding area as possible to minimize danger to the electrical system (in this case I just put the bolt back in place until I started a few beads, then clamped to the bracket as needed). I would also recommend using an old heat shield or in my case some crinkled up aluminum foil to thermally insulate the brake line and ABS wire from the welding heat.

We aren't going to acknowledge that ugly welding job...

Long story short, the shop's Lincoln is an old finicky thing, I got it dialed in on some test strips with decent beads that I was happy with. Then set up my magnetic light (which died a quarter of the way through the first bead), started to run a bead and it just seemed to want to do whatever. That coupled with the very difficult access and my growing frustration resulted in a lot of small strings and a couple slightly blind blowout repairs. The backside looks worse than the front, but penetration was good, fusion is solid, and no contamination of the weld joint; so while ugly as sin she's structurally sound. I can even attest to that somewhat since I had to use a big ass prybar and a 3lbs sledge to adjust the bracket (try to use a spacer or something in between the opening of the bracket so it doesn't distort when it cools and prevents you from installing the panhard... just a recommendation from a brain dead guy who forgot to do that) and it didn't break off... yet. But yeah, you professional welders, have a good laugh at that ugly as sin weld job; I had half the mind to blur that out to protect you guys.

After the new PCK is installed, our "corrected" angle at Full Droop in position 1 is 6.3°, and 4.8° in Position 2 (I went with Position 2 as it was closest to my reference measurements from the stock vehicle). At Rest the measurement was about 1.2°, so despite the less than aesthetically pleasing weld job, we were able to restore the panhard measurements to roughly what a stock vehicle should be. I don't honestly know if it really did improve the rear end or if it's just the placebo effect, but hitting that exit this afternoon after the PCK, I swear it felt a bit better planted that it did before.
Attached Images
Panhard Correction Kit Upgrade-before_at_rest-jpg  Panhard Correction Kit Upgrade-before_full_droop-jpg  Panhard Correction Kit Upgrade-unbolted-jpg  Panhard Correction Kit Upgrade-fitment-jpg  Panhard Correction Kit Upgrade-tacked-jpg  Panhard Correction Kit Upgrade-position1-jpg  Panhard Correction Kit Upgrade-position2-jpg  Panhard Correction Kit Upgrade-after_at_rest-jpg 
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Old 05-23-2022, 12:55 PM #2
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This is on my list to do. I have the bracket sitting in my garage.
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Old 05-23-2022, 03:08 PM #3
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I really think it helped with the shifting rear end feeling I had with the 4Runner for years when hitting corners hard. The bushings on the panhard were still in good condition, so I think I'll just swap the upper links in a week or two.

Side note: does anyone know of it's possible to have attachments be thumbnailed and such so I can post them wherever I want in a post? My old image hosting site went P2P and I've been trying to upload pictures so they won't expire, but I'm finding the attachment system rather annoying.

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Old 05-23-2022, 06:02 PM #4
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Looking at undercarriages on vehicles that live outside the rust belt makes me drool! You mention removing the bolts that hold the brake hard lines in place before you weld, that would be a major job in itself on my vehicle! Would have to be done with a cut-off wheel! Other than that, I enjoyed your write-up and pictures.
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