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    1. #1
      Join Date
      Feb 2005
      Location
      Southern California
      Posts
      183
      Country Flag: United States

      Ridetech 4 link for 1st gen F-body - new vs old style & R-joints

      I recently found out that ridetech changed up their GM Bolt-in 4 link and was curious if anyone has changed from their original style 4 link kit to their new one. Or installed their new one.

      I was told the new arm angles lower center of gravity some 9". I have not been able to compare much with the photos I have seen.



      Would love to see some pics of old style vs new posted. And if you have changed from old to new angles on the bar, what all was entailed bracket install wise.

      Any feedback on the new R-joints appreciated too.

      Thanks.


    2. #2
      Join Date
      Nov 2008
      Location
      Lawrenceburg, TN
      Posts
      4,083
      Country Flag: United States
      funny you ask, I just got the 4 link update kit in and will have them on my website soon, I will be changing the 4 link in my car with the update kit and adding the full R joint update also

      this is the new geometry upgrade for better roll center and anti squat

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      and here is the R-joint Upgrade kit

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      I will be trying to get this all installed before next weekend for goodguys Nashville event

    3. #3
      Join Date
      Dec 2010
      Location
      Fredericksburg, VA.
      Posts
      3,155
      Country Flag: United States
      Rod,
      You are going to have to do an install series on this and some give some performance reviews once it's installed. Now I'm wondering if this upgrade would work with the CA G-Link.
      Steve Hayes
      "Dust Off"
      68 Camaro

      Given sufficient initial acceleration, even pigs can fly!

    4. #4
      Join Date
      Nov 2008
      Location
      Lawrenceburg, TN
      Posts
      4,083
      Country Flag: United States
      Quote Originally Posted by TheJDMan View Post
      Rod,
      You are going to have to do a install series on this and some performance reviews once it's installed. Now I'm wondering if this upgrade would work with the CA G-Link.
      thats what this last weekend was for at the Raleigh North Carolina Goodguys, it was to create a base line feel for as the car starts the season, I do want to start a install series, you must have been looking at my notes Steve!!!

    5. #5
      Join Date
      Oct 2008
      Location
      Seattle, Wa
      Posts
      170
      Country Flag: United States
      Rod, Is that a kit to retrofit the old style 4-link to the new geometry and R-Joints? I'm not seeing it on their website.
      1969 Camaro - LS7/T56 - Art Morrison Front Suspension/Ridetech Coilovers
      Instagram: @rbreezee88

    6. #6
      Join Date
      Sep 2014
      Location
      Tampa, FL
      Posts
      93
      Country Flag: United States
      I just came in to the interested group too: I bought a Currie 9 inch without realizing that the tabs will be for the new 4 link arms, so I have to change out my 4 year old system. The upgrade kit is pretty reasonably priced, so I asked about the cost of upgrading the lower arms to the new r-joint setup too.
      67 Ford Galaxie
      5.0 coyote engine, 2650 supercharger, T56 magnum, 9" truetrac
      68 Camaro RS vert
      LS3/T56 magnum, 9 inch, Ridetech F/R, Baer brakes
      74 BMW 2002 Tii

    7. #7
      Join Date
      Jul 2017
      Posts
      166
      I just installed the new setup on my 68. I have never had the older geometry so I cannot compair the diffenences but I did have a 96ss will all standard heim joints and these r-joints are very quiet when compaired.

      One thing to note if upgrading the geometry, center the upper link mount with the airbar. The center bolt hole on the upper link replacement mount in post #2 was not centered to my tunnle like you would assume it should be, it was off by an inch (see pic below). When installing dont go off your trans tunnle. The instructions will probaly say this but I thought it was worth mentioning. When I put my rear in with the uppers at the exact length it was only off by 1/4". On another note, when centering my rear side to side I found that the uppers moved it exactly 1/4" when lengthening and shortening the uppers simotaniously every 1.5 turns with the single adjustable uppers. I lengthened the DS upper and shortened the PS upper 1.5 turns and it shifted the rear 1/4" to the PS where it sits perfectly centered.

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    8. #8
      Join Date
      Jul 2017
      Posts
      166
      Quote Originally Posted by xavier296 View Post
      I just came in to the interested group too: I bought a Currie 9 inch without realizing that the tabs will be for the new 4 link arms, so I have to change out my 4 year old system. The upgrade kit is pretty reasonably priced, so I asked about the cost of upgrading the lower arms to the new r-joint setup too.
      Did you get the curry 9" ridetech sells? I ordered it too and for some strange reason mine came equipped with a 1310 yoke (not the advertised 1350) and i did not realize until I went to install the driveshaft after everything was buttoned up. Got to take two trips to the driveshaft shop, it was fun. Curry does not even stock nor offer 1310 series yokes so you might want to check your yoke prior to installing it if you got their 3rd member with the housing. Curry is going to be shipping me a new joke but I have not got it in the mail yet.

    9. #9
      Join Date
      Dec 2010
      Location
      Fredericksburg, VA.
      Posts
      3,155
      Country Flag: United States
      Am I seeing this correctly? Looks like this mod reverses the angle of the upper links? Color me confused!
      Steve Hayes
      "Dust Off"
      68 Camaro

      Given sufficient initial acceleration, even pigs can fly!

    10. #10
      Join Date
      Oct 2004
      Location
      Indiana
      Posts
      1,371
      [QUOTE=MadGoat;1265466]I recently found out that ridetech changed up their GM Bolt-in 4 link and was curious if anyone has changed from their original style 4 link kit to their new one. Or installed their new one.

      I was told the new arm angles lower center of gravity some 9". I have not been able to compare much with the photos I have seen.

      Would love to see some pics of old style vs new posted. And if you have changed from old to new angles on the bar, what all was entailed bracket install wise.

      Any feedback on the new R-joints appreciated too.


      The revised 67-69 Camaro 4 link system places the upper 4 link bars with the forward rod ends closer together than the rear rod ends. This is opposite of the way we ran them before. Our racing activities showed us that this lowered the rear roll center a significant amount [no affect on the center of gravity]. In a competitive corner turning situation, the car turns in better. Since there was no compromise for a street car, we made a running change. We also make a retrofit kit for those who have an existing system that they want to revise. If yours is a simple street car, you will notice no difference in the way the car drives. If you are competing in autocross or road course activities, it can be of benefit.
      The R-Joints are a significant improvement over the old poly/rubber/heim joints. The roll articulation is smoother, the ride quality is better, and the R-Joints are certainly quieter. We offer retrofit kits for older existing systems. Yes, the R-Joints are more expensive than rubber/poly/heim joints. Yes, they are certainly worth it. We have now changed over ALL our 4 link product to the R-Joints.
      Bret Voelkel
      Director of Innovation Fox Powered Vehicles Group
      Founder/ Former Owner
      RideTech/Air Ride Technologies, Inc.

      How do you spell Impossible?

    11. #11
      Join Date
      Nov 2006
      Location
      Hildebran, NC
      Posts
      992
      Country Flag: United States
      Bret,

      Are you planning this upper arm geometry swap on any other platforms? Specifically interested in 68-72 Nova.

      Thanks!

    12. #12
      Join Date
      Oct 2008
      Location
      Seattle, Wa
      Posts
      170
      Country Flag: United States
      Bret,

      I know it will vary from car to car depending on ride height, but do you know how much the new geometry lowered the roll center? And do you happen to remember what the roll center came out to be?

      Depending on the RC height, I would be very interested in trying this next year.

      Thanks in advance!
      1969 Camaro - LS7/T56 - Art Morrison Front Suspension/Ridetech Coilovers
      Instagram: @rbreezee88

    13. #13
      Join Date
      Feb 2014
      Posts
      196
      Country Flag: United States
      Would these R-joints also replace the heim ends that come with the Tru turn? If so which part number would be needed? thanks

    14. #14
      Join Date
      Nov 2006
      Location
      Mountain Springs, Texas
      Posts
      4,487
      Country Flag: United States
      Quote Originally Posted by BlackHD View Post
      Would these R-joints also replace the heim ends that come with the Tru turn? If so which part number would be needed? thanks
      I was told by Brett that the R Joints are too large to replace the Tru-Turn heims. They hope to have them one day but no firm date.

      Don
      1969 Camaro - LSA 6L90E AME sub/IRS
      1957 Buick Estate Wagon
      1959 El Camino - Ironworks frame
      1956 Cameo - full C5 suspension/drivetrain
      1959 Apache Fleetside

    15. #15
      Join Date
      Sep 2014
      Location
      Tampa, FL
      Posts
      93
      Country Flag: United States
      Quote Originally Posted by jasonz28camaro View Post
      Did you get the curry 9" ridetech sells? I ordered it too and for some strange reason mine came equipped with a 1310 yoke (not the advertised 1350) and i did not realize until I went to install the driveshaft after everything was buttoned up. Got to take two trips to the driveshaft shop, it was fun. Curry does not even stock nor offer 1310 series yokes so you might want to check your yoke prior to installing it if you got their 3rd member with the housing. Curry is going to be shipping me a new joke but I have not got it in the mail yet.
      Mine will probably ship this week, so hopefully everything comes as expected. Thanks for the heads up, as I already had one surprise when I figured out it wouldn't work with my current suspension.

      And to actually answer your question, I ordered it through MCB, and they ended up ordering it straight from currie, not through ridetech.

      BTW, I ordered the retrofit kit and the new lower control arms with integrated r-joints. I see a huge benefit in suspension movement from removing the poly bushings.
      Last edited by xavier296; 05-07-2018 at 05:45 PM. Reason: Didn't answer the question.
      67 Ford Galaxie
      5.0 coyote engine, 2650 supercharger, T56 magnum, 9" truetrac
      68 Camaro RS vert
      LS3/T56 magnum, 9 inch, Ridetech F/R, Baer brakes
      74 BMW 2002 Tii

    16. #16
      Join Date
      Nov 2008
      Location
      Lawrenceburg, TN
      Posts
      4,083
      Country Flag: United States
      Quote Originally Posted by bret View Post
      The revised 67-69 Camaro 4 link system places the upper 4 link bars with the forward rod ends closer together than the rear rod ends. This is opposite of the way we ran them before. Our racing activities showed us that this lowered the rear roll center a significant amount [no affect on the center of gravity]. In a competitive corner turning situation, the car turns in better. Since there was no compromise for a street car, we made a running change. We also make a retrofit kit for those who have an existing system that they want to revise. If yours is a simple street car, you will notice no difference in the way the car drives. If you are competing in autocross or road course activities, it can be of benefit.
      The R-Joints are a significant improvement over the old poly/rubber/heim joints. The roll articulation is smoother, the ride quality is better, and the R-Joints are certainly quieter. We offer retrofit kits for older existing systems. Yes, the R-Joints are more expensive than rubber/poly/heim joints. Yes, they are certainly worth it. We have now changed over ALL our 4 link product to the R-Joints.
      Thanks for jumping in Bret!

    17. #17
      Join Date
      Feb 2014
      Posts
      196
      Country Flag: United States
      Quote Originally Posted by dhutton View Post
      I was told by Brett that the R Joints are too large to replace the Tru-Turn heims. They hope to have them one day but no firm date.

      Don
      Thanks Don

    18. #18
      Join Date
      Oct 2004
      Location
      Indiana
      Posts
      1,371
      Quote Originally Posted by Ryanater View Post
      Bret,

      I know it will vary from car to car depending on ride height, but do you know how much the new geometry lowered the roll center? And do you happen to remember what the roll center came out to be?

      Depending on the RC height, I would be very interested in trying this next year.

      Thanks in advance!
      In the early Camaro, reversing the angle of the upper bars lowered the roll center from 17.5" to 11.1".
      What does this mean for the street driven car...or even one that is autocrossed a couple times per year? Not much. The car is a bit more stable feeling...more like a C5-C7 Corvette. For the competitive autocross / road course car, that improvement in stability and turn in ability could mean the difference between 1st and 4th. It is an incremental improvement, not exponential. We made the change in all our production systems because it doesn't compromise streetability nor does it cause any other residual problems. Certainly an example of the racing program delivering improvement to the civilian customer.

      On the R-Joints for tie rod applications...The R-Joint is a bit wider than an equivalent heim joint so it looks a little out of place in that application. In addition, the loads that a tie rod sees are some fraction of the load that they see in a 4 link application. [we have tested this]. A good Teflon lined heim joint does a pretty good job as a tie rod end. Yes, I understand some have had squeaking issues. That is not typical. Typically they perform well and last a long time in that relatively lightly loaded application. Will we make an R-joint as a tie rod end? Maybe, but there is lots of other stuff to improve on first.
      Bret Voelkel
      Director of Innovation Fox Powered Vehicles Group
      Founder/ Former Owner
      RideTech/Air Ride Technologies, Inc.

      How do you spell Impossible?

    19. #19
      Join Date
      Feb 2014
      Location
      Bend, Oregon
      Posts
      127
      Country Flag: United States
      Is there a link to the update kit? I'm also worried I won't like the heim joints I have in there currently, so the R Joints may be a great (but expensive) option!

    20. #20
      Join Date
      Jul 2017
      Posts
      166
      Quote Originally Posted by xavier296 View Post
      Mine will probably ship this week, so hopefully everything comes as expected. Thanks for the heads up, as I already had one surprise when I figured out it wouldn't work with my current suspension.

      And to actually answer your question, I ordered it through MCB, and they ended up ordering it straight from currie, not through ridetech.

      BTW, I ordered the retrofit kit and the new lower control arms with integrated r-joints. I see a huge benefit in suspension movement from removing the poly bushings.

      Cool I purchased mine the same way. One thing not clearly stated in the instructions when installing the brakes was to use the supplied brake specific backing plates only. Turns out I was supposed to cut off the curry supplied backing plates and use only the Wilwood backing plates. Not sure why curry would send their plates if I'm to use the Wilwood brakes but it all worked out in the end.

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