replacing quad shocks with solid bar?

sgarlic · Nov 18, 2006

This is for my buddy who bought my old '88 GT. He removed the quad shocks, and says he feels the rear end floating a lot now. His dad is a fabricator, and said he wants to have him make some sold billet bars to put in place of the quad shocks. I would think this would be very hard for the rear end and basically eliminate the possibility of it flexing if necessary.

Is this a common thing to do? Are there benefits to this? Or would it be better for him to just leave the quad shocks off and put nothing else in their place?

Roland69 · Nov 18, 2006

that would be the stupidest thing to do IMO....I would rather have no shocks and bounce all over than have no rear suspension at all

4dStang · Nov 18, 2006

I think that the steel would tear the connectors. I have upper/lower CA's and removed my quad's. I would like to add a panhard bar to my four link but I have no problem so far after adding subframes and re-enforced Torque boxes.

Chris

gruvee87vertgt · Nov 18, 2006

We should all stay away from your friends dad's shop......what next replace the Struts and Shock with billet bars?

HISSIN50 · Nov 18, 2006

Andy, I agree that this is not too hot an idea. If the dynamic of the rear axle was explained to your friend, I think he'd see why.

Aftermarket control arms are not too pricey, and should take care of the hop.

4dStang · Nov 18, 2006

sgarlic said:
This is for my buddy who bought my old '88 GT. He removed the quad shocks, and says he feels the rear end floating a lot now. His dad is a fabricator, and said he wants to have him make some sold billet bars to put in place of the quad shocks. I would think this would be very hard for the rear end and basically eliminate the possibility of it flexing if necessary.

Is this a common thing to do? Are there benefits to this? Or would it be better for him to just leave the quad shocks off and put nothing else in their place?

My mom is a fabricator (quilts) Any body can fabricte. Get references before getting you stang fugged bad. Use tested aftermarket and ask alot of question.

Snikt89GT · Nov 18, 2006

When can you remove the quad shocks? I'm putting on some Pro 3i LCAs soon

Do you need UCAs and LCAs or just LCAs? What's the pro/con for removing them?

Thanks

old_blue · Nov 18, 2006

removing them allows you to run bigger wheel and tire combos. but you will increase wheel hop greatly unless you add a good uca and lca combo then those will take care of that.

Daggar · Nov 18, 2006

Hmmmm... Let's think about this for a second.

Solid bars with bushings on each end. So long as they were not setup to try and prevent lateral movement but instead... only correct rotational movement of the axle, then I don't see why it would cause any "issues". I wouldn't perform the exact same job as the buffer with the quad shocks but it would certainly limit any dipping of the pumpkin under torque.

I mean... you shouldn't have to use it to help locate the axle front to back... although the stock control arms are crappy and relatively flexible, they should do a reasonably good job of that at least.

Am I missing something?

Also... just a footnote... Upper lower control arms that use bushings that attempt to positively locate the axle laterally, often create more problems than they solve. A pan-hard bar should be used for this... not solid of spherical bushings. Sure, stiffer bushings can delay the time it takes to get into a bad situation but when you do finally reach that suspension threshold, it's often much uglier than it would have been with even the crappy rubber bushings.

MikeC · Nov 18, 2006

Wow, you just invented the 6 link rear suspension!! Can you say bind.

71swing · Nov 18, 2006

The quad shock are basic shock that help resist movement in the rear, and help prevent wheel hop. They are shock for a reason. They need to have travel for when the rear end moves up and down.

since the mount for the shock are straight bolt up to the rear and frame. If you were to put solid bars on there you would prevent the rear from moving at all. It would eliminate suspension travel all together. This would make you car ride like a fork lift and would only last till the end of the street where the 1/2 bolts that mount the quads on would flex and brake.

If you bolt a solid bar inplace of the quad you could take out your springs because you would need them anymore.

Why stop there you could just weld the whole rearend straight to the frame, and eliminate the quads, springs, shocks, and the upper&lower control arms. Then i would say the rearend will never feel like its floating again.

Mustang5L5 · Nov 18, 2006

71 swing is right

With solid bars in place of the quads, it would totally prevent any up and down movement of the rear at all. As the rear moves up and down, the shock needs to expand and contract slightly.

I don't understand why everyone is so willing to ditch the quads. Everyone gladly spends hundreds of dollars for high-performance shocks and struts and yet runs their 15-year old 100K mile quads that are oozing fluid and complains that they do nothing and takes them off.

Even with quality control arms, you should still run the quad shocks because they WORK when they are fresh.

Replacment quads are dirt cheap. Autozone sells Gabriel quads for $25 each. They are listed under "steering dampener" in their computer.

Even with quality LCA and UCA's, you should still run them.

The quad shock myth needs to die along with the TPS myth, the EGR coolant hose Myth and the dogebone on the rear myth

8950HO · Nov 18, 2006

Why did he remove them?

Shakerhood · Nov 19, 2006

Mustang5L5 said:
71 swing is right

With solid bars in place of the quads, it would totally prevent any up and down movement of the rear at all. As the rear moves up and down, the shock needs to expand and contract slightly.

I don't understand why everyone is so willing to ditch the quads. Everyone gladly spends hundreds of dollars for high-performance shocks and struts and yet runs their 15-year old 100K mile quads that are oozing fluid and complains that they do nothing and takes them off.

Even with quality control arms, you should still run the quad shocks because they WORK when they are fresh.

Replacment quads are dirt cheap. Autozone sells Gabriel quads for $25 each. They are listed under "steering dampener" in their computer.

Even with quality LCA and UCA's, you should still run them.

The quad shock myth needs to die along with the TPS myth, the EGR coolant hose Myth and the dogebone on the rear myth

X2, those Myths need to die instead of getting passed on to more people that pass them on!!!

Daggar · Nov 19, 2006

So it's the difference in location of the attach points of the quads vs. the attach points for the control arms. I see what you're saying.

The quad shock myth needs to die along with the TPS myth, the EGR coolant hose Myth and the dogebone on the rear myth

Not sure what this means though... Are you referring to folks that are under the impression that they will improve performance by removing these items?

z2o_what · Nov 19, 2006

Mustang5L5 said:
Replacment quads are dirt cheap. Autozone sells Gabriel quads for $25 each. They are listed under "steering dampener" in their computer.

advance sells them for $15 and they come with a blue boot.

Snikt89GT · Nov 19, 2006

Shakerhood said:
X2, those Myths need to die instead of getting passed on to more people that pass them on!!!

I'll add the myth of the 8mm track width with 96+ spindles

GTOreturns · Nov 19, 2006

I would replace the quads and the regular rear shocks with solid steel pieces.Also take the front shocks out so you can pull wheelies off the line!!

sgarlic · Nov 19, 2006

He took them off because they were falling apart completely, and he's about to put some wider wheels in the back.

Thanks for the responses, I'll be sure to pass them along to him.

stang&2Birds · Nov 19, 2006

Daggar said:
The quad shock myth needs to die along with the TPS myth, the EGR coolant hose Myth and the dogebone on the rear myth

Click to expand...

Not sure what this means though... Are you referring to folks that are under the impression that they will improve performance by removing these items?

Those above "performance mods" are all PURE BS!

1) It's STUPID to remove the dogbone on a car that isn't a PURE qtr mile car. It's another classic example of people who do NOT have a Engineering degree in that subject splewing PURE BS about "performance mods". Ford put it there for a reason!
http://www.tccoa.com/articles/tranny/transmission/page17.shtml
If you don't understand EVERYTHING on that page, then do NOT screw around with something you do NOT know about.

2) Only MORONS "adjust" the TPS. Yes,only MORONS can "adjust" a NON ADJUSTABLE PART! There is NO performance mod to be seen from the TPS as long as the EEC does not throw a TPS out of range code.
http://www.veryuseful.com/mustang/tech/engine/Mustang-TPS-FAQ.html
(I design/architect computer control/response systems for a living and taught control/response systems. What "qualifications" do those other people have? Grand Master of Nintendo?)

3) Removing the EGR coolant hose with a working EGR is again STUPID. Again, clueless people doing mods when they don't have the knowledge or education.
One thing the coolant hose does is to "cool" the intake because it can get hot from the EGR. It also "helps" in some Very Rare Very Cold conditions. But, now, it's been determined/shown that in reality, under real-life conditions it's much harder go get icing in the upper than the OEM's once thought. Also, with changes in the EGR set up, better computer EGR algorithms, and better intake designs to further reducing the possibility of icing, many OEM's no longer "heat up" the intake.

Last: The same is true for removing the Quad shocks without going to a new rear-end architecture. New UCAs and LCAs (without the quads) are NOT enough to keep the rear-end in alignment under heavy acceleration! Again, unless someone has some Mechanical Engineering background (I'm "3/4th's" an ME by course credits. But, I don't need the "official ME degree". I have a MS in CS/EE/CE along with some PhD work and 8 semesters of teaching Engineering.), then do NOT go around modifying a Ford design unless you're going by a WELL RESPECTED after-market company.

Although, "well respected company" does bring up a sore point with me on how Flaming River has MORONS working for them and how they should be sued massively for selling MORONIC designs that even a 2nd year ME would know is UNSAFE!. Do a search on the Corral for my name and Flaming River.

So, even "well respected" company's (Note: C&L is NOT respected!) can sell cr*p that is dangerous!

replacing quad shocks with solid bar?

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