FS:SOLD 3rd GEN Custom Rear Control Arm Links - $600 - Yucaipa, CA

[AssBurns]

SOLD


Selling my rear upper and lower control arms that I built about a year and a half ago. I recently 4-linked my 4runner and have no use for these anymore. They have preformed great while I've had them. They can take some major beatings without ever worrying about damaging them. These are stronger than anything I've seen offered by manufacturers, because of the materials and parts used.



Build Specs:



- MetalCloak DuroFlex Joints at all ends with left and right hand threads for easy adjustments.

- Lowers are made from 2.0" x .250" Wall DOM Tubing

- Uppers are made from 1.75" x .120" Wall DOM Tubing

- Lower Joints are Forged Duroflex Joint, 2 5/16" x 9/16" BH x 2 5/8" Housing x 1 1/4" Straight Shank

- Upper Joints are Forged Duroflex Joint, 2" x 1/2" BH x 2 1/4" Housing x 1" Straight Shank

- Includes all Grade 8 Hardware. May need new washers on some. (9/16" Bolts for Lowers, 1/2" Bolts for Uppers)

- Joints have Lifetime Warranty from MetalCloak



I only ran one upper link, so one of the links is brand new. The link that is used has a bushing that wore out, so it is being replaced using their Lifetime Warranty and will be replaced prior to being sold.



Some modification is required for these to fit properly. The stock bolts are Metric, while these use Standard sizes. So the stock bolts are 14mm and 12mm and will need to be drilled out to 9/16" and 1/2". While doing this modification, I would recommend installing weld washers while you are at it. Not required, just recommended to keep the bolt holes from wallowing out if you plan to run them hard. I have a pair of Ruffstuff 9/16" Weld Washers leftover I can include if wanted. They come in packs of 6, so me including a pair will give you all 8 that are needed if you go that route.

The other modification required is because these joints are so much larger than stock, they do not fit into the brackets all the way. So the brackets will need to be trimmed back a little bit to fit the larger outside diameter joints. This is a fairly simple job and can easily be done with a angle grinder or die grinder with a cut off wheel. See picture below on how the brackets need to be trimmed. The red line represents where the bracket used to be.

Asking $600 OBO. Willing to negotiate and include shipping if necessary.

 

[theesotericone]

NOTE: PENDING SALE.

Well? Did they sell?

 

[AssBurns]

Pretty much. Getting them shipped tomorrow. I’ll change the status to sold once the transaction goes through.

 

[AssBurns]

Sold

 

[DaMonkey]

Hey Steven -

Sorry I missed these, i'm considering building a set like these. Couple questions if you don't mind?

...
I only ran one upper link, so one of the links is brand new...

?? why only used one link?

...
The link that is used has a bushing that wore out, so it is being replaced using their Lifetime Warranty...

what happened? they basically say this shouldn't happen with these. makes me wonder if they will hold up? i've seen some people have put a lot of miles on them, but maybe did not flex them hard. what do you think of their durability? any questions on warranty?

...
I would recommend installing weld washers while you are at it. Not required, just recommended to keep the bolt holes from wallowing out if you plan to run them hard...
The other modification required is because these joints are so much larger than stock, they do not fit into the brackets all the way. So the brackets will need to be trimmed back a little bit to fit the larger outside diameter joints...

Do you think stock brackets are enough for these? especially trimmed back.

What did you do for panhard bar with this setup?

This seems like a good setup (except for worn out bushing?)... why did you change your rear suspension? Do you have a link to the new rear build?

Thanks for any info.

 

[85straight]

He went with a 4 link in the rear( which looks like it turned out badass btw [MENTION=118730]AssBurns[/MENTION])

 

[AssBurns]

Hey Steven -



Sorry I missed these, i'm considering building a set like these. Couple questions if you don't mind?







?? why only used one link?


- The reason I only used one upper link is because I having a 4 bar + panhard setup doesn’t have the smooth range of motion that a traditional 3-link + panhard does. So by removing the drivers side upper, it is basically a bind free movement until the upper links themselves get to too far of an angle to keep drooping. When I had both upper links connected, my axle wouldn’t drop all the way down on the drivers side because of the way the panhard swings the axle to the side, causing the drivers side upper link to bind. Flexing doesn’t really have this issue though. Only had this issue when under full droop.





what happened? they basically say this shouldn't happen with these. makes me wonder if they will hold up? i've seen some people have put a lot of miles on them, but maybe did not flex them hard. what do you think of their durability? any questions on warranty?



- MetalCloak said they don’t have this issue very often but it is probably a manufacturing error during the vulcanizing process. All the other joints seemed to be holding up nicely though. I believe them that it’s not something they see very often because only one joint out of six was completely shot while the other 5 were still in good shape.
As for the warranty, they were super easy to deal with. At first I messaged them through their website but realized that’s probably not the fastest way to reach them. So I called and told the guy what happened and he sounded kind of surprised, but asked for my order number and name, then asked if I want the replacement shipped to the same address as I had in their system. He explained what he thought the issue probably was (vulcanizing issue), and apologized for the inconvenience. A few hours later I got a call from someone else because of the website message, but let him know I was taken care of already. Super easy process.



Do you think stock brackets are enough for these? especially trimmed back.


- I ran them pretty hard for however long I had them, and the only issue I had was the bolt holes getting wallowed out. That would have happened regardless though. A set of weld washers is definitely recommended while you have everything apart. I was going to do this when I initially put them on but forgot to order weld washers and was too impatient to do it until it became an issue.



What did you do for panhard bar with this setup?

- I made a panhard lift bracket on the axle side and kept the stock panhard bar. I didn’t feel any other mods were necessary. Get @eimkeiths Panhard Correction Kit if you plan to lift your vehicle. It does the same thing as what I had, but in a much better execution than I had.



This seems like a good setup (except for worn out bushing?)... why did you change your rear suspension? Do you have a link to the new rear build?

- It was a great setup for the stock suspension geometry. I think the joints were great joints and besides the one issue with one of the bushings, I had no complaints. The warranty was super easy too. The reason I changed my rear suspension is (like Al said) I did double triangulated 4-link in the rear. As great as the stock suspension was, I started to really see its limits and flaws. I wanted better handling characteristics, more ground clearance (those stock lower link mounts were major rock catchers!), and eventually room for significantly more travel. I did go with a different brand of joints this time (Ballistic Fab) just to try them out, but still think the MetalCloak joints are great.



Thanks for any info.

Posting the responses in the quote above. Let me know if you have any other questions.

 

[DaMonkey]

Posting the responses in the quote above. Let me know if you have any other questions.

Thanks for the great responses Steven.

Super interesting what you shared about why you only ran one link. I have not watched the stock uppers cycle, but maybe they are happier with spherical.

Also interesting that you mentioned Ballistic fab... I have a '61 Pontiac Bonneville. Stock, it has 2x triangulated 4 link with channeled stamped arms. Stock sucked, tons of flex, but geometry is great. So the solution was tubular arms with poly bushings. A lot of guys were pretty stoked on those. But when I put those in, they were so stiff and binding. Not sure why guys liked them so much. When you jounce the ass, it never returned to the same spot and it squeaked so much. That part was annoying. But the scary part was the wheel hop, and the dangerous part was when you hop on it coming out of a turn... pretty good chance of ending up in the ditch. I HATED those arms and they were so expensive and everyone loved them because they look nice.

So I built my own arms using the Ballistic Fab joints. This was about 6 years ago. I did A LOT of mods to that car, and I will tell you without a doubt those arms were the very best thing I did to that car. It takes off like a magic carpet, and coming out of a turn and getting on the gas is in complete control.

When I saw these Duroflex joints, I really thought they looked like a good innovation and wanted to give them a try in my 4runner. Very clever design for the bushings. But I think I'll stick with Ballistic. I have punished my Pontiac for 15k miles with those Ballistic arms, but the joints are still tight as the day I put them in.

I put way more miles on my 4runner, so I was thinking rubber, but I think I'll do Ballistic again. Before I start fabricating, I think I'm going to read up on the limits and flaws that pushed you to redesign. Would you share a link where you describe some of your thought process and design?

- Scott

For my Pontiac, here's a pic of the arms, and also a video of my Pontiac on launch from last year.

video: https://www.facebook.com/hoyt.scott/posts/10214129344018665

 

[AssBurns]

Thanks for the great responses Steven.

Super interesting what you shared about why you only ran one link. I have not watched the stock uppers cycle, but maybe they are happier with spherical.

Also interesting that you mentioned Ballistic fab... I have a '61 Pontiac Bonneville. Stock, it has 2x triangulated 4 link with channeled stamped arms. Stock sucked, tons of flex, but geometry is great. So the solution was tubular arms with poly bushings. A lot of guys were pretty stoked on those. But when I put those in, they were so stiff and binding. Not sure why guys liked them so much. When you jounce the ass, it never returned to the same spot and it squeaked so much. That part was annoying. But the scary part was the wheel hop, and the dangerous part was when you hop on it coming out of a turn... pretty good chance of ending up in the ditch. I HATED those arms and they were so expensive and everyone loved them because they look nice.

So I built my own arms using the Ballistic Fab joints. This was about 6 years ago. I did A LOT of mods to that car, and I will tell you without a doubt those arms were the very best thing I did to that car. It takes off like a magic carpet, and coming out of a turn and getting on the gas is in complete control.

When I saw these Duroflex joints, I really thought they looked like a good innovation and wanted to give them a try in my 4runner. Very clever design for the bushings. But I think I'll stick with Ballistic. I have punished my Pontiac for 15k miles with those Ballistic arms, but the joints are still tight as the day I put them in.

I put way more miles on my 4runner, so I was thinking rubber, but I think I'll do Ballistic again. Before I start fabricating, I think I'm going to read up on the limits and flaws that pushed you to redesign. Would you share a link where you describe some of your thought process and design?

- Scott

For my Pontiac, here's a pic of the arms, and also a video of my Pontiac on launch from last year.

video: https://www.facebook.com/hoyt.scott/posts/10214129344018665

That’s awesome to hear that you’ve used the Ballistic Fab Joints and have been very happy with them so far. I went off of others recommendations for these ones and am hoping they are as good as some say. I haven’t driven the vehicle yet with the new setup but the joints look to be a high quality design. What I liked about the Duroflex joints were that they were quiet, smooth and maintenance free (except for the one that failed).

So when you built your own links with the Ballistic Joints, did you keep the stock geometry as well? Or did you end up redesigning that part too? Sounds like you kept stock, which is pretty cool that stock geometry worked out so well with high quality links.

As for a link to go into details about the flaws of the stock geometry. I don’t have anything in particular, but I have talked about some stuff in my build thread on the last few pages. The two biggest issues I had was the Roll Oversteer and the ground clearance of how the lower links mount to the frame. While I fixed those issues, I was able to increase the roll center height to reduce body roll. There are a few other benefits that I was able to take advantage of when building new links if you actually want to get into the details.

 

[AssBurns]

Also cool video! I love the early 60’s cars. I’ve always wanted a 1960 Starliner but I doubt that will ever happen so I’d probably settle for any early 60’s Galaxie or any early 60’s car for that matter.