A real suspension system for a quigley!!!

[ujoint]

Well, a few things.

This is a "johnny joint" There are a few styles made by different companies. The JJ name is commonly used because they were brought to market by Currie,and that's what they call them. It's a ball with poly on both sides, held together by snap rings and has a grease fitting.

A Heim is more traditional, but isn't good for all applications. They can be noisy, and can wear quicker. Some guys swear by them, and say that if they're used on race trucks, they must be the best. But what happens to race trucks after most races??? They get tore down, cleaned & rebuilt. I only use them for stuff like sway bars.

 

[dsw4x4]

Radius arms have there place and when properly set up you can get gobs of articulation out of them. My purple bronco flexs like there is no tomorrow with a wristed pin radius arm set up and I love it. But the bronco is light and not carring around a v8 diesel over the front end.
I guess I do not NEED 37s on my van for that matter I do not NEED a van at all. Earlier this summer I stuck my van on a muddy trail by steamboat colorado and spent from 10 at night till 7 am digging it out in the rain with my girlfriends help I think a aggresive larger tire with a bigger foot print would of helped me out in that situation. We like to go off the beaten path on a very regular basis and push the limits of our toys all because we are curious I guess! I enjoy wheeling not digging so I think I want a bigger tire these van are long and heavy so clearence and floatation can be very help full. You can always argue that in snow and mud under the right conditions a skinny tire would work better but for me I find fatter works better because most snow drifts I try to cross are deeper than any tire that tries to reach the bottom.

Dans van
Thanks for the info I was thinking of trying older front coils a while back but I sort of forgot about it. I will try to score some from a junkyard and give that a shot. Some nice bumpstops and shocks that will probably work pretty sweet. I love you snorkel I plan on building one this winter.

Ujoint my track bar is mounted behind the axle and would be a simple modification to beef up or move it around. My van got the death wobble once I simply replaced track bar bushings and kingpin bushings/springs and it never came back. It has been my experince with death wobble that some rather simple trouble shooting can cure it. I have had some horrible experinces with it as kid building all my own rigs. Some simple physics/ geometry learned the hard way and you tame any wild front axle.
I now the newer quiglys have the track mounted in front of the axle I will need to look at one to see if that would be better or worse for moving the axle forward. The other thing I was thinking was moving the steering box forward to to help with tie rod issues I have look to deep into this yet but it is something to think about. I was thinking of using the longer control arms to move the axle forward rather than moving the attachment point backwards.
Thanks everyone for the input! It fun talking about the possibilities before I start hacking on my van AGAIN!!

 

[Stumpalump]

The trac bar takes a hell of a beating. Stock anything with that much lift is not a good plan since you plan to wheel it. Build the frame mount about 3 times stronger than you think it needs to be and if you plan to move the gear box then extending the trac bar mount to catch those mounting points if you can. Sounds like a cool project and this thread of info is great!

 

[dansvan]

I've seen two different trackbar locations on Quigleys, one in front of the axle and one behind. I can only comment on the one behind. It held up to the 37's and extensive wheeling just fine. I did replace the bushings in it with poly ones. No issues with the steering box. When I went to 44" tires and converted to pathfinder leaf springs the steering box held up fine. I did however as a preventative measure install a steering box brace. I bought one for a Jeep CJ from M.O.R.E. offroad and modified it to fit. The difference was very noticable. It tightened up the steering alot!

I also have seen several styles of control arms that quigley uses. Different C channel in different configurations and actual boxed arms. Mine were installed as "C" I've also seen them as "n". Not sure how that plays into flex. Even with the relatively short arms it still flexed very well.

 

[dsw4x4]

Stumpalump,
I could not agree more a faillling track bar or bracket would be disasterous for every one involved and some that are not.

Dansvan,
Your making me drool I would love to put 44s on my van, it kills me when I my curiosity gets the best of my and my vehicle is not capable of keeping up witht the curiosity. I hate turning back. However I want some decent highway manors for pulling a boat and my crawlers so 37 is going to be my compromise for now. I did not think about a steering brace but that is a very good idea I built one for my broncos and one for my jeep it did make a big difference and was not that hard to build. My van has the quigly round tube links they look pretty stout and I have wheeled them pretty hard with no wear and tear to speak of so far, and yes it flexes pretty darn good. I turned a lot of heads in Moab running stock street tires and running trails like poision spider mesa. On poison spider I never had to take more than one shot at any obstacle and the van would walk it. I only lifted a tire a handfull of times, and drug my rear bumper, well lets say way more than a hand full of times:Wow1::Wow1:
Anyway when I bought my van it got death wobble right away so replaced the poly track bar bushings with oem rubber so far I like them but that is a time test so we will see. I also replaced the kingpin bushings too just because it's high mile van and I figured it needed it anyway.

 

[dansvan]

dws4x4- I too left a few gouges in the rock in Moab. Mostly the bolt for the swingout tire carrier digging in. Was good times seeing people in smaller rigs seeing the van. After watching the tour Hummers there though, man they work good.

I replaced my D60KP spring over bushing design with highsteer arms from PartsMike that were of a shim preload design. This also was a noticable upgrade. Bushings showed no sign of wear whenever i checked them and steering feel was again improved. Might be something to consider if deathwobble from worn kingpin springs is an issue.

 

[dsw4x4]

I wanted to use that shim/preload design on my kingpins but I was pressed for time to go on a trip and was able to pick up stock bushings locally so I could be on my way. Next time I will go that rout when I have a little time. My death wobble was all in the track bar bushings. That cured it immadiatly.
Ya it is fun with these vans they turn heads on the trails. How did you keep 44s balanced on your van? I have always had problems keeping big tires balanced for any sort of highway use. It was never much of an issue on crawlers but I want my van to roll down the highway as smooth as possible.

 

[Kelster]

You'd have to cut off all of the Quigley brackets and weld new radius arm friendly C forgings to the housing. A lot of work, but doable. Also, I heard they went under. Just called, no answers......

Looks like Quigley has a new website, it seems they're still in business.

 

[arz]

I put 37"s on my Quigley quite easily by installing coils from the earlier series E350 Ford vans (they are longer) and putting a set of rear shocks on the front. Trimming was included of course. Drove it from Alaska to Moab and back including many points in between. Shackle flipped the rear. Front was done in a couple hours.

when you say earlier series E350, how much earlier are we talking? and how much taller are they? any need for longer shocks?

I just picked up an '03 EB quigley with the 7.3PSD. Needs some seats and a bit of interior work to be ready for me to go.

Currently has 265/75-16s but I'm looking at going a touch higher with maybe a 255/85-16.





Hi Stumpy. :flipoff2:

 

[ujoint]

Looks like Quigley has a new website, it seems they're still in business.

Wasn't talking about Quigley, I was referring to Cage Off Road.

 

[ntsqd]

Wasn't talking about Quigley, I was referring to Cage Off Road.

WHOA! Cage did not go under if that is what you were thinking. Page is still live.
http://www.cageoffroad.com/
Jim posted to an email list that they have been having comms issues (phones & email both - same vendor).

 

[ujoint]

WHOA! Cage did not go under if that is what you were thinking. Page is still live.
http://www.cageoffroad.com/
Jim posted to an email list that they have been having comms issues (phones & email both - same vendor).

Interesting... I heard from a reliable source, and even called before posting that to avoid the old foot in the mouth routine. I got no answer from either phone line.

 

[ntsqd]

Interesting... I heard from a reliable source, and even called before posting that to avoid the old foot in the mouth routine. I got no answer from either phone line.

I'll check and post back.

 

[ntsqd]

I heard back directly from Jim Cole and this is his email to me:

Still here, even working a bit on Sunday as well as welding up more parts through the week. Some changes coming down the pike very soon but I will be making parts for a long time to come yet (I figure I have at least 30 years left to work until retirement).

Seems during Soccer ( I coach two teams) and hunting season (I hunt and guide) each fall when I don’t answer the phone 70 hours a week and get behind on emails people get a bit antsy. Regardless, just to affirm, I will be making parts for many years to come so radius arms and such will still be available no matter what.

Thanks for posting for me.

Jim

 

[ujoint]

Good deal. Glad they're still open.