AWDGLF5 Posted March 6, 2006 Share Posted March 6, 2006 Hi all, I've had a good in depth read of this site and I can't find what I'm looking for, so I'll just put this up and ask. What I want to know is, how do you guys go about upgrading the front suspension to take some knocks? In my Subaru stable I have a 1982 wagon that gets absolutely hammered offroad, in its current state it is running a 3" lift and a Weber'd EA82 carby motor with a 5spd DR and 27x8.5 tyres. I notice a lot of the EA81 body cars on this forum are running 28's and 29's, so I figure someone has figured out how to toughen things up a bit. I have bent quite a few radius rods and control arms, I've ripped countless strut tops, bent the radius rod mounting plates and even sheared studs off the gearbox mounts! When I inspected the front end today I noticed my balljoints have stress marks too! The future plan for this car is to fit the 4" BYB lift I have and at least 29" offroad tyres on six lug rims. Oh and doubling or tripling the HP is on the cards too. So I want to be a bit safer about it! Any suggestions? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turbone Posted March 6, 2006 Share Posted March 6, 2006 Slow down? Seriously, speed is the worst thing for off-roading, at least for our older Soobs. Some of us have divorced transfer cases (Nissan) which allow us to crawl over obsticles instead of having to go at it full throttle. Do a search here and you will find all you want to know about the mod. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AWDGLF5 Posted March 6, 2006 Author Share Posted March 6, 2006 I have quite a few reasons for deciding against the divorced transfer option, main one being a switch soon to a 4.11 AWD gearbox. The main use of the car isn't rock crawling, it's mainly beach & mud work and I haven't ever felt the gearing to be a stumbling block. Slowing down is not an option either I should make my intentions a little more clear. Number one priority is to stop breaking stuff without a change in driving conditions. I figure since you guys run much bigger tyres than I do that you must have done something in this area - unless you're changing parts every other week like me.:-\ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Free Range Posted March 6, 2006 Share Posted March 6, 2006 People have added seecondary shocks to work in parallel with the factory struts and shocks by welding brackets on to the struts and a-arms, but that won't address any issues other than dampening... More steel is probably your best bet... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Numbchux Posted March 6, 2006 Share Posted March 6, 2006 I tweaked the unibody at the radius rod mounts once....and that's it. I don't know of anyone here who's beefed up the front end, and I also don't think anyone here breaks stuff on a regular basis. So I don't think most of us can help on anything other than a theoretical level. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeneralDisorder Posted March 6, 2006 Share Posted March 6, 2006 I've broken a lot of axles - but since I started using EA82 joints in the rear - and NEW gck axles in the front, I've been pretty happy. I've seen front lower control arms get bent - best way to prevent that is to box them - basically weld a steel plate to the underside to make them fully enclosed instead of just stamped. I've bent my rear diff hanger - fixed that by welding a peice of 1/4" flat bar along the length of the hanger - this will prevent flex foward and back which is the main reason for bending it. It will support the whole wagon now. I've seen the rear diff hanger mounts ripped loose - that can be fixed by welding them to the uni-body, or by fabricating brackets for them, and bolting them up like a solid axle shackle mount instead of just two bolts to the frame rail. Those raidus rods are a problem - I think possibly larger, thicker rods are the best bet there. Other things to do - skid plate for the fuel tank - or a fuel cell. Skid plate for the rear diff too. GD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Qman Posted March 6, 2006 Share Posted March 6, 2006 Many people have come to me asking the same question. I have given them all the same answer. As the car sits right now you know what is going to bend/break. Once you start "beefing" things up you know do not know where the break/bending points will be. Much easier to carry a couple of radius rods and to replace them on the trail then to try and carry an entire front end. When I moved the front end forward 2 1/2" on my Brat I had to stretch the rods. I sleeved them and when I hit something hard enough to bend something it moved the rod pocket instead of bending the rod. Much more work involved in that repair. If you can not drive through obstacles without hammering it maybe you should find different places to go. We drive through heavily rocked trails and don't seem to have the damage you have from sand and mud. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AWDGLF5 Posted March 7, 2006 Author Share Posted March 7, 2006 Thanks guys - so many good answers so quick. Yes Free Range I will be adding a pair of additional shocks at some point too, hopefully that will help the strut top rubber breakages. GeneralDisorder: I've thought along those lines with the control arms before, thankyou for bringing it up - means I'm not crazy! Got the skid plates & beefed diff hanger on there already And Qman, that is a very valid point. I do intend on some sort of body reinforcement at the rod mount, but realistically there's not much that can be done. I have a set of EA82 style radius rods buried in the shed back at my parent's house, would these be any better in the short term? I seem to remember them being rather puny too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike W Posted March 7, 2006 Share Posted March 7, 2006 I don't think anyone has yet converted an early car to use Legacy/Impreza crossmember and suspension. Obviously you'd need to adapt it to fit the EA unibody, but it might be worth of considering if you don't mind the wider stance. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matty B Posted March 8, 2006 Share Posted March 8, 2006 Thanks guys - so many good answers so quick. Yes Free Range I will be adding a pair of additional shocks at some point too, hopefully that will help the strut top rubber breakages. GeneralDisorder: I've thought along those lines with the control arms before, thankyou for bringing it up - means I'm not crazy! Got the skid plates & beefed diff hanger on there already And Qman, that is a very valid point. I do intend on some sort of body reinforcement at the rod mount, but realistically there's not much that can be done. I have a set of EA82 style radius rods buried in the shed back at my parent's house, would these be any better in the short term? I seem to remember them being rather puny too. I would go with the strengthening of the lower control arm as GD said, then go for XD falcoon castor rods. They need to be forged a little on the bolts end to fit. MUCH beefier. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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