What to strap my Front end at?

[Grunion]

I have a beamed front end today I cycled it through 25.5 inches of travel. How much would you guys strap this at? I dont know how much the limit straps will stretch, I was guessing around an inch less maybe an inch an a half.

[ASHCRAFT]

Do you have the shocks all mounted or is this related to the question?

[Grunion]

yes there mounted. I need to know how much stretch a strap will have so the shocks dont top out.

[Beat98TJ]

It depends on the length of the strap. something like 1"/foot?

Out of curiosity, how much over are your beams and what length shocks are you using?

[Grunion]

Front track width is 88 if I remeber right. and there 14s on the radius arm part of the j-arm if that makes sense.

[Grunion]

this is a old pic the shocks are not mounted in this pic

http://grunionfabrication.com/Gallery/albums/album138/cbrown006.sized.jpg

here it is bottomed out I will not have it go this low it touches the ground here.

http://grunionfabrication.com/Gallery/albums/album138/cbrown007.sized.jpg

I will take a few pics with the shocks and steering mounted later in the week when time allows.

[ASHCRAFT]

There are a couple of ways you could stretch them. I have a couple of fat boys that pit for me both about 275lbs. I had them both stand on top of the 37 with the suspension fully droped out an bounce up and down on it. Worked for me. Another way is to secure one end of the strap and use a come along or large ratchet strap to help stretch.

[Grunion]

There are a couple of ways you could stretch them. I have a couple of fat boys that pit for me both about 275lbs. I had them both stand on top of the 37 with the suspension fully droped out an bounce up and down on it. Worked for me. Another way is to secure one end of the strap and use a come along or large ratchet strap to help stretch.

How close to your max shock travel did you set yours to full drop?

[bigdognathan]

a beamed truck doesn't need 25 inches of travel or even more than 16 inches of travel in the front. play it smart and strap it around 16.

[Grunion]

a beamed truck doesn't need 25 inches of travel or even more than 16 inches of travel in the front. play it smart and strap it around 16.

16:rolleyes:

[tre5]

Also keep in mind your steering.

[151fab]

The Pyrotech straps stretch 1" for every 12" of strap. I would check with the manufacturer or the retailer for other brands.

As for measuring for them; I would use bailing wire, rope, etc to suspend your droop from the strap mounts and then cycle your steering. Do both corners this way to find the point of bind (each side will be different), subtract two inches, and you've got your total strap length at max stretch. Multiply that number by .92 (for Pyrotech straps) and you have the length of strap you need to order (they are usually stocked in 1" increments). Use the clevis mount and figure that into your length at mid adjustment (clevis mounts usually have about 4" of adjustment), this way you can fine tune your total droop, if you change your caster or toe-angles it might limit or extend your total droop in the future so keep that in mind too. The straps will wear with time and the sunlight, water, and dirt will expedite that wear so keep an eye on those straps.

Oh, and it's pretty bold to say that all beam suspensions should be limited to 16" when you don't know the individual set-up, application, beam lengths, ride height, etc.

[Grunion]

thanks 151fab that was the answer I was looking for. I already knew about the steering just didnt know what stretch the strap had.

[151fab]

Something I've wondered is how they can tell you 1' per every 12" across the board. Wheel/tire weight, rebound valving, and the angle between the strap and the lower arm or beam would all play a role in stretching the strap. I figure the number they give you is an extreme and that the staps are unlikly to actually ever see that much stretch.

Anyways, good luck.

[therail]

Something I've wondered is how they can tell you 1' per every 12" across the board.

Because I don't think the fibers themselves stretch. Rather they settle into each other, pack a little tighter and that causes the elongation. Kind of like stretching out a sine wave, or that's how I viewed it in my mind....

[151fab]

Interesting, if thats the case than you would still need a minimum weight to get to that point.

[therail]

Interesting, if thats the case than you would still need a minimum weight to get to that point.

I dunno, Ashcraft mentioned using some of his pit crew, so it may not take as much as one would think. Ya know, depending on where the strap is fixed to the lower arm.