Straight Axle Project

[jgeibel]

In the fall I will be a Senior in mechanical engineering at Penn State. My group members and I have all been working on trucks since we could hand our dad wrenches. I've always driven rangers so of course I want to design something for the ranger for my senior design project. I was thinkin something along the line of a 3 or 4 link suspension for the 98+. To my knowledge the only kit available for these years is keeping the torsion bar setup and a superlift kit. I was wondering what all you guys thought about this like.

Is the demand high enough to get sponsored by a company?

I realize anything less than a D44 wouldnt be worth it, so design for that?

Any input or suggestions for other projects is appreciated this is just what I initially came up with.

 

[KELLY88]

In the fall I will be a Senior in mechanical engineering at Penn State. My group members and I have all been working on trucks since we could hand our dad wrenches. I've always driven rangers so of course I want to design something for the ranger for my senior design project. I was thinkin something along the line of a 3 or 4 link suspension for the 98+. To my knowledge the only kit available for these years is keeping the torsion bar setup and a superlift kit. I was wondering what all you guys thought about this like.

Is the demand high enough to get sponsored by a company?

I realize anything less than a D44 wouldnt be worth it, so design for that?

Any input or suggestions for other projects is appreciated this is just what I initially came up with.

I'm in the same boat sort of. On my way to a M.E. degree though still a couple more years to get there. It would definitely be a hell of a project to swap in a D44 where an IFS used to be and then to 4 link it. You may be able to get a sponsorship although it seems like most people are going for pre 98 TTBs to swap a solid axle into. Not really sure how the demand stands on something like this. Still sounds like a fun project, got any other details on the specifics and requirements for it?

 

[jgeibel]

We are divided into 4 person groups. Sent on our own to find projects. It is supposed to take approximately 200 hours per student to finish, and use the concepts we learned to complete it.

 

[KELLY88]

So you've got 4 M.E. seniors, who are motorheads to boot, and a combined 800 man hours to build something. Can't wait to see what comes out of this.

 

[JohnnyU]

I highly doubt you are given 200 hours to build anything. It is far more likely that you are given this requirement of at least 200 hours in during which you are expected to ENGINEER this concept and build a prototype or at least proof of concept.

I think this could turn into a potentially interesting project, but I doubt that your University will allow you to use their funds to build a link suspension on your own truck. Besides, there are so many companies that are making custom or close-to-custom brackets that will fit almost any application, all you would be doing is sourcing parts and determining your link size and separation....

I did the Senior Project thing to get my degree, and honestly, completely designing, analyzing and fabricating the FSAE race car was far more challenging than sourcing parts and developing a link suspension kit.... Don't be afraid to challenge yourselves....

 

[4x4junkie]

I'm in the same boat sort of. On my way to a M.E. degree though still a couple more years to get there. It would definitely be a hell of a project to swap in a D44 where an IFS used to be and then to 4 link it. You may be able to get a sponsorship although it seems like most people are going for pre 98 TTBs to swap a solid axle into. Not really sure how the demand stands on something like this. Still sounds like a fun project, got any other details on the specifics and requirements for it?

A pre-'98 kit would be easier, true, but the '98up trucks benefit far more from a SAS (and there's currently no kits out there for them). There's very little you can do with the SLA IFS to improve it (on the cheap, anyway) unlike a TTB. Its not near as strong either.

What axle to use is a bit of a tuffy... the D44s that are best suited to this swap are not real common (early Bronco, Jeep Wagoneer). Jeep D30s are ubiquitous, but lack enough strength (particularly if used under a Supercab). F-150 D44 are common, but not everyone wants the width.

If designing a kit, what I'd probably do is try to design it with universal weld-on brackets to fit a bare axletube. This way the choice of axle is left open to the end user.

 

[jgeibel]

I guess we got an answer back from advance adaptors and are probably gonna do a project for them

 

[4x4junkie]

Cool, Can't wait to see it!