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Air Ride Suspensions \  Cantilever suspension help

Cantilever suspension help

Air Ride Suspensions Q & A
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replies 8
following 6
 
doug118   +1y
Are there any how-to's or write ups on designing cantilever suspension? I want to know if there are any proper ways to figure out the length and positioning of the levers?
doug118   +1y
not 1 person knows about properly building a cantilever setup?
draggin91   +1y
I'm pretty sure it all depends on what you need and how you want it. Most setups are done in either a 2:1 or 1:1 proportion. Meaning from pivot point to other mounting hole is X pivot point to other is 2x. (
tre5   +1y
My view on this is: If you're asking, you shouldn't be doing it. But, in order to not sound like an asshole, LOL...
Basically you can go at it two ways. First is to design it the way you want it to look and build the rest around that and second would be to design the cantilever around what you have. The reasoning behind that is... it doesn't really matter how big you go with the arm. It could be 4 feet long or 12" long. The distances that matter are the lengths between the center pivots and outer pivots. You would want to start at a 1:1 ratio and go up from there. As you go up in ratio the length from the center to the bag becomes smaller in relation to the length from the center to the axle (or arm or whatever you are pushing on to lift the vehicle). So let's say the distance from the bag to the center is 12" and the distance from the axle to the center is 12"... you would have a 1:1 ratio. Doing it like this you will get the exact amount of lift the bag will provide. So a bag that gets 7" of lift will lift the same amount, 7". Now, if you go to something like a 2:1 ratio the distance from the center to the bag (for example) would stay at 12" and the distance from the center to the axle would increase to 24". This will make you bag that gets 7" of lift obtain 14" of lift when utilizing the cantilever. You can setup your distances however you like. Hell, you could put the bag on the front bumper and pivot the cantilever on top of the cab and then have an arm pushing down of the axle. As long as the ratio between the distances stays in check. I would probably try to stay within the 2:1 range, but going a tad over isn't going to kill it.
One thing to remember when doing a cantilever is considering the direction of travel of all your pivots. Obviously things are going to rotate. So remember this when setting up your bag, as well as the link from the axle to the pivot.
The last thing I will add is... doing a cantilever using a bag on one side and a coilover on the other side makes absolutely no sense to me. There are now 2 spring rates and the spring on the coilover becomes basically useless unless you find a really soft spring rate that works well with the spring rate of the bag. And the spring on the coilover being useless basically means it's not moving which also means the shock part of it isn't moving either.
Good luck!
n2bnlow   +1y
Do you know how to properly use the search function?
doug118   +1y
I sure do know how to search and the search function on this forum is the absolute worst


Thanks Tre5. I can design and fabricate things with no problem, I just figured I'd ask people who have done it already. I'll be doing this to my daily so I'll have to have it done in 3 days. Not much time for trial and error
tre5   +1y
Edited: 7/31/2011 10:52:53 PM by tre5

Unless you know how to design it on the computer, I'm afraid you are in store for some trial and error. Hell, I drew one up on the computer and still had to redo it.
milkshake   +1y
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doug118 said:

I sure do know how to search and the search function on this forum is the absolute worst

Thanks Tre5. I can design and fabricate things with no problem, I just figured I'd ask people who have done it already. I'll be doing this to my daily so I'll have to have it done in 3 days. Not much time for trial and error

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HA good luck with that!
i8nt2lo   +1y
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1964badbug said:

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doug118 said:

I sure do know how to search and the search function on this forum is the absolute worst

Thanks Tre5. I can design and fabricate things with no problem, I just figured I'd ask people who have done it already. I'll be doing this to my daily so I'll have to have it done in 3 days. Not much time for trial and error

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HA good luck with that!

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My thoughts exactly.
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