Truck arm suspension ?s

[joemac]

I have a '95 Ranger that I'd like to get rid of the leaves. I'm thinking that a link from the stock front spring hanger to the rear, a panhard, and coil overs is essentially a truck arm suspension. Every truck arm setup I've seen does not have straight arms, they are mounted well inboard. I'm assuming there is a reason for this.

Will they work if they were mounted outboard of the frame? What would be some of the drawbacks? The benefits to me are simplicity of fab, cost and an improvement in ride and handling over the leaves.

In the meantime I'm adding a panhard to the leaves and Caltrac bars. This should be a major improvement over stock.

[CraigS]

The truck arms are mounted very close together at the front so the car can roll. Think about your idea a minute. An arm solidly bolted to the axle housing at the spring perch on each side. That would allow the axle to go up and down in a straight line. But it couldn't roll because you have built an infinitely stiff antiroll bar out of the axle housing.