DS a-arm kit information needed.

[fabr]

We knew you would be impressed.

[dsrace]

Had a great trip to the dunes 👍
I'd say I broke the new front end in quite well there. And it passed with flying colors. It definitely is more of an improvement that I imagined it would be. I would say my current set up is pretty good for dune running.
We did some trail riding over the holiday weekend as well so it gave me a chance to see how it would do and compare there as well. Agian, no complaints and it exceeded my expectations in about every aspect. The trails around here can get pretty beat up and it rode really well. I am going to make a small spring change just for the trail riding we do but I'd say it's more out of curiosity to see what it does and how it changes things. The width is definitely more noticeable in some of the less open areas we run but was manageable.
With the new front, now it has us really discussing and re-thinking the rear suspension now...😄 more on that later.. and the possibility of doing another a conversion on another rail that's in the stable.
Which reminds me,  I may have sold another one as a gentleman at the dunes came and checked it out and asked a ton of questions. He didnt believe us that 3 weeks before we were there that it was a beam car!! I told him to look up the website. 👍 he was pretty interested

fabr is correct..... we did know you would be impressed 

very nice picture and great review. a good front end always makes a huge difference! not saying a beam front end properly set up isn't a good front end but they have limitations as all front ends do. bringing the back end up to par with the front will make another large change that will impress!

let us know how the spring rate change works out. you did a very nice job converting it and apparently good enough that people cannot tell it was converted, that says a lot unto itself!

i know you had mentioned yours sons car had an a arm front end as well. not saying one is better then the other or asking anyone compare in that sense. how do they compare in the sand and in the trails? does one have more carving capability in the sand? tighter turning radius? does one have more steering feedback or steer easier? little aspects like that as one may do better in diff conditions where the other may shine in diff conditions as well.  maybe they handle the exact same? always curious as one never knows where there is room for improvement.

[dsrace]

as doug is building them now, i asked that he join the discussion. i am not sure why he hasn't to date but maybe he will at some point. 

[Aprilfools]

as doug is building them now, i asked that he join the discussion. i am not sure why he hasn't to date but maybe he will at some point. 

The gentlemen we talked with, i referred him here to see the discussions and the projects that are shown here converted. I referred him to the SandParts website for the kit so Doug may here from him on it.

[Aprilfools]

Had a great trip to the dunes 👍
I'd say I broke the new front end in quite well there. And it passed with flying colors. It definitely is more of an improvement that I imagined it would be. I would say my current set up is pretty good for dune running.
We did some trail riding over the holiday weekend as well so it gave me a chance to see how it would do and compare there as well. Agian, no complaints and it exceeded my expectations in about every aspect. The trails around here can get pretty beat up and it rode really well. I am going to make a small spring change just for the trail riding we do but I'd say it's more out of curiosity to see what it does and how it changes things. The width is definitely more noticeable in some of the less open areas we run but was manageable.
With the new front, now it has us really discussing and re-thinking the rear suspension now...😄 more on that later.. and the possibility of doing another a conversion on another rail that's in the stable.
Which reminds me,  I may have sold another one as a gentleman at the dunes came and checked it out and asked a ton of questions. He didnt believe us that 3 weeks before we were there that it was a beam car!! I told him to look up the website. 👍 he was pretty interested

fabr is correct..... we did know you would be impressed 

very nice picture and great review. a good front end always makes a huge difference! not saying a beam front end properly set up isn't a good front end but they have limitations as all front ends do. bringing the back end up to par with the front will make another large change that will impress!

let us know how the spring rate change works out. you did a very nice job converting it and apparently good enough that people cannot tell it was converted, that says a lot unto itself!

i know you had mentioned yours sons car had an a arm front end as well. not saying one is better then the other or asking anyone compare in that sense. how do they compare in the sand and in the trails? does one have more carving capability in the sand? tighter turning radius? does one have more steering feedback or steer easier? little aspects like that as one may do better in diff conditions where the other may shine in diff conditions as well.  maybe they handle the exact same? always curious as one never knows where there is room for improvement.

That's a good question and one we hadn't even discussed until now. But, I haven't spent much time in my sons car, especially driving it. He has driven both on the dunes and in trails. When i asked him first thing he said was mine has more stability, steers easier and handles better through the bumps. But my rear suspension is set up better so that may effect overall bump absorption. One really noticeable thing we both notice as we are bigger guys is his design narrows the front or "tapers" it to accommodate the arms reducing leg room as the chassis gets closer to the front. Mine does not do this or hinder leg room at all. We will do some comparisons and I will report back. I am curious what differences we can come up with

[dsrace]

as doug is building them now, i asked that he join the discussion. i am not sure why he hasn't to date but maybe he will at some point. 

The gentlemen we talked with, i referred him here to see the discussions and the projects that are shown here converted. I referred him to the SandParts website for the kit so Doug may here from him on it.

not saying doug builds them as good as i do but he does build some nice equipment   

[dsrace]

Had a great trip to the dunes 👍
I'd say I broke the new front end in quite well there. And it passed with flying colors. It definitely is more of an improvement that I imagined it would be. I would say my current set up is pretty good for dune running.
We did some trail riding over the holiday weekend as well so it gave me a chance to see how it would do and compare there as well. Agian, no complaints and it exceeded my expectations in about every aspect. The trails around here can get pretty beat up and it rode really well. I am going to make a small spring change just for the trail riding we do but I'd say it's more out of curiosity to see what it does and how it changes things. The width is definitely more noticeable in some of the less open areas we run but was manageable.
With the new front, now it has us really discussing and re-thinking the rear suspension now...😄 more on that later.. and the possibility of doing another a conversion on another rail that's in the stable.
Which reminds me,  I may have sold another one as a gentleman at the dunes came and checked it out and asked a ton of questions. He didnt believe us that 3 weeks before we were there that it was a beam car!! I told him to look up the website. 👍 he was pretty interested

fabr is correct..... we did know you would be impressed 

very nice picture and great review. a good front end always makes a huge difference! not saying a beam front end properly set up isn't a good front end but they have limitations as all front ends do. bringing the back end up to par with the front will make another large change that will impress!

let us know how the spring rate change works out. you did a very nice job converting it and apparently good enough that people cannot tell it was converted, that says a lot unto itself!

i know you had mentioned yours sons car had an a arm front end as well. not saying one is better then the other or asking anyone compare in that sense. how do they compare in the sand and in the trails? does one have more carving capability in the sand? tighter turning radius? does one have more steering feedback or steer easier? little aspects like that as one may do better in diff conditions where the other may shine in diff conditions as well.  maybe they handle the exact same? always curious as one never knows where there is room for improvement.

That's a good question and one we hadn't even discussed until now. But, I haven't spent much time in my sons car, especially driving it. He has driven both on the dunes and in trails. When i asked him first thing he said was mine has more stability, steers easier and handles better through the bumps. But my rear suspension is set up better so that may effect overall bump absorption. One really noticeable thing we both notice as we are bigger guys is his design narrows the front or "tapers" it to accommodate the arms reducing leg room as the chassis gets closer to the front. Mine does not do this or hinder leg room at all. We will do some comparisons and I will report back. I am curious what differences we can come up with

that is interesting.   i'm always interesting in knowing comparisons such as those. i do understand the narrowing effect you speak of.  what rear suspension changes are you considering?

[Aprilfools]

that is interesting.   i'm always interesting in knowing comparisons such as those. i do understand the narrowing effect you speak of.  what rear suspension changes are you considering?
[/quote]

Currently we have removed the torsion's and are running coil overs on 3x3 arms. While an improvement unfortunately now with the a-arm front the rear short comings and the "semi" trailing arms become more apparent. Obviously a-arm would be the best solution but probably not ideal to convert our current rails to. I have been researching a dual mount trailing arm to change the angle of the motion reducing the camber effect we get. And possibly going a tad a wider and longer as well. But that depends on CV issues i may introduce. Still in the "what if" stages, but with winter around the corner here in Michigan riding season comes to a pause so its a good time to tinker again. We just be doing another front conversion over the winter to....

[dsrace]

That's a good question and one we hadn't even discussed until now. But, I haven't spent much time in my sons car, especially driving it. He has driven both on the dunes and in trails. When i asked him first thing he said was mine has more stability, steers easier and handles better through the bumps. But my rear suspension is set up better so that may effect overall bump absorption. One really noticeable thing we both notice as we are bigger guys is his design narrows the front or "tapers" it to accommodate the arms reducing leg room as the chassis gets closer to the front. Mine does not do this or hinder leg room at all. We will do some comparisons and I will report back. I am curious what differences we can come up with
[/quote]
I've experienced his too.There's difference in stability
[/quote]

what is the difference in stability from you point of view?

[dsrace]

that is interesting.   i'm always interesting in knowing comparisons such as those. i do understand the narrowing effect you speak of.  what rear suspension changes are you considering?

Currently we have removed the torsion's and are running coil overs on 3x3 arms. While an improvement unfortunately now with the a-arm front the rear short comings and the "semi" trailing arms become more apparent. Obviously a-arm would be the best solution but probably not ideal to convert our current rails to. I have been researching a dual mount trailing arm to change the angle of the motion reducing the camber effect we get. And possibly going a tad a wider and longer as well. But that depends on CV issues i may introduce. Still in the "what if" stages, but with winter around the corner here in Michigan riding season comes to a pause so its a good time to tinker again. We just be doing another front conversion over the winter to....
[/quote]

5x5's??
btw dual rear a arms are not that hard to fabricate. no i don't make a kit for them 

[Aprilfools]

5x5's??
btw dual rear a arms are not that hard to fabricate. no i don't make a kit for them 
[/quote]

Yep, 5x5's. Well dang, sure would have been nice as they would really compliment the front...

We really weren't sure if we should just get 5x5's and use our current set up with the torsion delete plate so it keeps the angle or do the dual pivot removing this. It seems it's a 50/50 from what I have read. I really think if we went straight with dual mounts it would help with the terrain we ride in and help get rid of the "rocking" we can get in the beat trails that we encounter. I figured here would be a great place to get some opions on this.

[dsrace]

5x5's??
btw dual rear a arms are not that hard to fabricate. no i don't make a kit for them 

Yep, 5x5's. Well dang, sure would have been nice as they would really compliment the front...

We really weren't sure if we should just get 5x5's and use our current set up with the torsion delete plate so it keeps the angle or do the dual pivot removing this. It seems it's a 50/50 from what I have read. I really think if we went straight with dual mounts it would help with the terrain we ride in and help get rid of the "rocking" we can get in the beat trails that we encounter. I figured here would be a great place to get some opions on this.
[/quote]

to be perfectly honest....... i have only run one buggy with ta's. they didnt remain on that one very long before i converted it to a multi link rear end. in that build i built a 5 link rear end. not a design that i would use in wooded trails. it can be done but if you smoke a rod on a stump it could get crazy in a hurry    i do know that there has to be a certain amount of rake to the ta mounting point, concerning axle plunge. again i do not have a lot of info on that subject. so with a 5x5 ( again my opinion) if you were not increasing wheel travel it would stroke less to achieve the same wheel travel. may even reduce camber a tiny bit in doing so but not sure on the camber. depending on what the " rocking" feeling is.....one may be able to slow rebound down 2 full steps to help reduce that. in fact i would prob slow rebound down along with 5x5's.  out of curiosity......did you verify the rear end is squared/ aligned to the chassis?   i installed a front end for deano ( member of dts) and his first run down the pavement he said it got squirrly. i knew it wasnt my front end and double checked anyway. it was his 3x3 rear end. just over an inch off on toe and 1.5" out of square. set that and it drove damn good. also set his tires to 0 camber while we were at it. he had the torsion delet kit on, just had to redrill 2 holes to zero out the camber.

[fabr]

If at all possible I highly suggest you consider a dual equal length a-arm rear suspension. Properly done it is as strong as a TA/semi TA and ,IMO,handles much better. Now if I were running stuff like King of Hammers terrain I'd go with TA/semi TA but for all other uses it's dual equal length a-arms for me.

[dsrace]

If at all possible I highly suggest you consider a dual equal length a-arm rear suspension. Properly done it is as strong as a TA/semi TA and ,IMO,handles much better. Now if I were running stuff like King of Hammers terrain I'd go with TA/semi TA but for all other uses it's dual equal length a-arms for me.

i 100% agree with fabr on this one also the reason i've only had 1 trailing arm set up for a short period.

 i designed and ran multi link rear ends for years. decided to try my hand at a dual a arm rear end , def handles different than a multi link which handles far better than a TA rear end, imo.

 there are aspects of both i do like but all in all i pre fer the a arm rear end. mine is less conventional but i had to design it to fit an existing chassis. i would def do it a bit diff when i build a new frame for the next project.

a 5x5 may achieve you goal as well. hard to say but before you do anything i would check the alignment on the rear end.

[Aprilfools]

Good info.
A-arm would probably be the first choice but I am not sure if we have the room needed and top shock location could be tricky.
Gonna do some measuring the weekend, got me curious now. 
I'll report back my findings