One more 4 link question

On my '00 Chevy full size the lower bars go forward and the upper bars go back. I haven't have any problems with the setup. I am redoing my lower bars this winter though so that I can go to a bag on bars setup to help the ride quality. The bags are currently over the axle. I'm sure the upper bars were originally put to the rear due to gas tank clearance issues. I know it would probably require going to a fuel cell or a devious tank but I have no problem with that. I just wondered if there would be any noticeable benefit to moving the upper bars to a forward setup.

The major difference that you would feel would be traction. There is plenty of room to run the upper bar foward on a 3-link with a pannard or watts-link type system. The cross member that holds the fuel tank is a perfect mounting point.

Sounds good. My truck only has the 4.3 in it so traction really hasn't been a problem. If I end up doing a V8 conversion it would be nice to have more traction though. Thanks for the info Max.

I'm working on one right now, I will post some pics when I get it to that point.

Another thing to consider:
In switching from over axle to bags on the bars, your setup is going to give you more lift. With more lift, you are going to notice more of the dowsides of the 'forverse' setup, since they are known to cause alot of pinion angle problems, which probably just isnt as noticeable with the over axle setup you have now.

That makes sense. I know that where you weld the brackets to your frame would also affect how much lift you get. I'm happy with the lift I get with the bag over axle setup I have, I am just trying to improve my ride quality by putting them on the bars. It seems if I keep how much it lifts about the same the setup should still work fine. I will probably switch to the 3 link anyway though because my air setup is currently in the bed and I would like to put it under the bed. Swapping the upper bars would clear up space for my tank and compressors back there.