Rear coilovers mounted in front of axle

[Eric Howell]

I am planning out a 3 link on my S-10 and it seems the best location to mount the coilovers is in front of the axle. I am just wondering if this will have any adverse affects on the performance of the shocks. The only thing I see is the direction of rotation of the axle during bump may cause some affect. Any ideas?

[Bad94]

Why cant you fit them behind?

That were i plan to run mine

[Norm Peterson]

Your motion ratio changes slightly, probably going from slightly greater than 1.0 to slightly less for two wheel bump. Not a huge deal, but it's the sort of thing that if you were trying to choose between two spring rates (and perhaps their dampings) you'd start with the stiffer setup for a forward mounted coilover while you might go with the softer one for a rearward mounted setup. This doesn't mean that the ride would be worse with the forward mounting - more like it takes a little more spring in the forward location to get the same ride.


Norm

[Eric Howell]

Thanks Norm. That was what my thoughts were but I'm still new to this.

The reason I want to mount them forward is because of the Watt's link. The links for the Watt's should be kept some what long, IMO, and with the shocks mounted forward it gives more room and will allow for the shocks and the Watt's link bar brackets to be combined. If it was the traditional axle mounted watt's then the packaging would be simpler