Hey everyone I have a '97 4x4 12v truck that I use for a weekend cruiser on the street and I want to put a 3" front leveling spacer on and build some new front control arms. I am confident in my welding abilities and I am just going to buy the ends from this place; www.suicidedoors.com. I want to use a poly bushing on the axle end and their "Super Pivot" bar end on the frame end of each bar. All bushings using grease zerks and the Super Pivots have greasable bolts.

Can I use 2" square tubing with .25" wall thickness since it is just a road warrior? The stock arms are only what .125" thick and 3/4 boxed, so 2" with .25" thickness should be plenty beefy... Or do I HAVE to use 1.5" OD DOM with .25" wall thickness or bigger? I just think that notching the square tubing would be much easier for it to seat completely around the ends so I can get the best possible welds.

Since I am lifting it 3" I want to make both upper and lower bars 1" longer to keep the axle in the center of the wheel well, any thoughts?

Anyway thank you guys for the help, I look forward to being an active member on this board!

P.S. The bolts that the control arms are attached with are 9/16" correct? Thanks again!

 

I think you may be better off looking at these two sites
http://www.polyperformance.com

http://www.ruffstuffspecialties.com

Between the two you should have everything you need for building links.

BTW, if you are going through the hassle of building new links, why not just do new mounts and make the links longer for a better ride?

 

From looking at that site they seem to be selling the same rod end bushings as I was going to order from suicidedoors. The stock arms just use a poly bushing style end on both the frame side and axle side but since the arms have some flex to them to get the same or slightly more possible articulation I would need an end similar to a heim or the "Super Pivot" bushing since the bar won't allow for such type of flex.

Atleast this is my thinking on the matter...

I don't really want to build all new mounts and comlplete bars just because I only need 3" of lift and there would be much more geometry involved and labor intensive than 1" longer bars. When I do the lift I am going to use Bilstein 5100 shocks on all corners so the ride should be a little better.

 

So no one has anymore input or opinions to share on the matter?