independant rear suspension

[Fireball]

New guy making plans, My question. Has anyone used the rearend out of one of the small suv's(Ford Escape, Honda CRV, ect) that have an I.R.S. in a T yet? The rerason I'm asking I've always been a use what you got kind of guy and there happens to be a rolled Escape in my drive way (Arn't kids great!) and was looking, I.R.S., disk brakes, about the right width.Just wondered if any body had any thoughts.Thanks

 

[HAceT]

I don't see why you couldn't use it. Heck that gave me a good idea though for the Rat Rod Truck for Katherine.

 

[RPM]

New guy making plans, My question. Has anyone used the rearend out of one of the small suv's(Ford Escape, Honda CRV, ect) that have an I.R.S. in a T yet? The rerason I'm asking I've always been a use what you got kind of guy and there happens to be a rolled Escape in my drive way (Arn't kids great!) and was looking, I.R.S., disk brakes, about the right width.Just wondered if any body had any thoughts.Thanks

I could be wrong, would not be the first time. Aren't all those cars front wheel drive? How would you set up a differential with a front wheel drive rear suspension? Unless you made the T front wheel drive?

 

[HAceT]

I believe the Ford Escape is also 4 wheel drive. Well some are.

 

[putz]

The ford escape is all wheel drive. But is not quite like a jag all in one it mounts to the body for support. Could still be done though.

 

[RexRod]

I've seen cars use the Nissan Z car independent rear end. The 240/260/280/300 are good candidates. All of those rear differentials will safely handle 300 to 400 or so horses.

It's probably best to use the independent rear from a car that's only rear wheel drive. The reason is that a lot of the four wheel drive cars are actually just front wheel drive with rear wheel assist. What that means is that most of the power is distributed to the front (something like 80% up front and 20% out back). Because of this, the manufactures made the rear wheel differentials in these types of cars very light. They are not made to handle much power.

The Honda CR-V and Passport are examples of front wheel drive cars with rear wheel assist. The independent rear ends on those cars will not handle the power of even a small V8.

Just my two cents.

David

 

[HAceT]

Good point Rex.....I didn't think about that.

 

[LKE]

I have done a little with rx7 and 300zx rears under minitrucks with air ride. And i would really like to use a second gen (87-91 IIRC) Rx7 rear under a T. The problem with a lot of these late model rears is the width of the mounting. They are just to wide to fir up to T chassis. Some can be modified easier than others. Early 80's 300zx rear can be modified real easy. Thats what this is...

The Rx7 rears have a nice look to them, This is one on the bottom. Tell me that wouldn't look sweet under a T ...

But the mounting again was to wide. And the design of the rear carrier and rear steer linkage would make it a little harder to modify.

And here is an rx7 rear sitting under the frame of my dad's T, way back when it was under construction. See the linkage of the front arms, as well as how wide the mounts are ?

And the last thing to consider is gear ratio. These are made for small 4's and v-6's. So the gearing may not be what you would like.

 

[Fireball]

Thanks for all your input, fireball

 

[debgeo]

LKE any chance to see side view picture of truck? My son is wanting to build a mini THANKS




George

 

[GT63]

Team 321 builds a cage for the Ford 8.8 IRS
Team 321 (321)960-5945 dheld@cfl.rr.com

 

[oldtman]

I've seen 90's T bird or cougar under a T and they used the 8.8 parts and some were drum and others disc rears... and most were cheaper than a jag or toyota supra IRS