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No more torque arm. G-force suspension setup

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Old 10-29-2006, 10:27 PM
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I've been up in the air about it for awhile, bu now that I've talked to someone about it, I'm a lot more confident in spending my money with G-Force. I'd like to hear the manufacturer's comment on leaving the torque arm in, because honestly I'd really like to get rid of it so I can tuck my true duals up a little higher and lose some weight at the same time. Anyone have a clue if QA-1s will work? I'd think so, but I'd like my suspicion to be confirmed.
Old 11-02-2006, 12:18 PM
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Ok, I just installed the ladder bar conversion minus the coil overs (using stock springs and Bilstein HD's). I must say the product is of top quality and installation was fairly straight forward. I had to do a little grinding to clearance the new upper arm mounts, but nothing major. The ride is great and it seems to certainly handle better, but those rod ends are noisy! They clank and clunk like nobodys business! You don't necessarily feel it, but you certainly do hear it! No more than when I had lowering springs in though, but the springs you felt over every crack in the road. So far I'm happy, but we'll see how my track times fare with the new set-up. I'll be heading to E-Town on the 18th (hopefully) and I'll post up my results at the strip. I'm hoping my 60's get better and I pick up from the weight removal from removing the torque arm. I'm at 12.12 now, I'd love to have that 11.99, but I don't know if a .13 improvement is overly optomistic. I'll keep ya posted!
Old 11-05-2006, 10:56 AM
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Any more updates? Will the ladder bar kit fit a third gen? I do not need the coil overs. I am very interested in this kit if it will work for me.
Old 11-06-2006, 09:52 AM
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Well...the 4th gen suspension is almost exact to the 3rd gen in the rear. So it will work. Almost everything is interchangable. I was thinking about buying just the ladder bar set up, however I wanted to hear some more reports on performance and road manners. My car wont see as much track time as some of yours...so Im more interested in street driving and daily driver duty.

Extra noise is definetly not a plus...however my car is so loud I might not even notice it. haha.

Justin
Old 11-06-2006, 11:29 AM
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Well one person says he has almost gotten rid of all cabin noise using this set-up and another person says it adds noise... So which one is it? Perhaps install error?
Old 11-06-2006, 11:48 AM
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Originally Posted by PowerShift408
Well one person says he has almost gotten rid of all cabin noise using this set-up and another person says it adds noise... So which one is it? Perhaps install error?
I was wondering the same thing. In my case, I have lost all clunking noises. I'm wondering if the poster with noise, is just due to the locking nut on the adjustable links being loose. Another possibility is that the hardware that comes with the kit is not labled. The larger hardware, although very close in size, is not all the same. During my install, I had actually used the wrong bolt on one portion, and it allowed a little play. But I quickly realized, and corrected it. If during the install, (the guy that had noise) you had to use a decent amount of force on any of the hardware to get it in place, I bet that is something to look into.
Old 11-06-2006, 01:48 PM
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Damn thats nice......
Doesnt look like much at all.....Id really like to see what it does for 60ft times though
Old 11-06-2006, 06:21 PM
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Yeah...Ive actually heard of two people that reported less noise. However, the info on driving manners is kind of scarce.

Ide just like to know if any extra stress is caused. I know it was reported to cause no extra stress...but its most important to me because Ill be installing these on an older f-body. 87 vs. 98-02...

Ide really like to ride in a car with them... I mean... I have no problem trusting g-force when they say it works. My commitment issues comes in when I end up selling my spohn stuff and getting a new crossmember. Then if Im not happy with the ladder bar stuff...I have to replace them with another torque arm set up etc etc. Call me a wuss. haha. I just like to know some more info on it... mostly user feedback.

J.
Old 11-07-2006, 03:30 PM
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Hey! I'm the guy that reported more noise. I don't hear more "road noise" just "clunking" reverberating in the cabin. I'm gonna check the hardware again as posted earlier and grease up the bushings real good (they squeak like hell) because , like an idiot, I didn't do it upon install. I spoke with G-Force today because I think I'm going to put my LCA re-location brackets back on. I wanted to check to see if that would be ok, to which they replied yes. Reason being is that I definately feel like I'm not hitting the tires as hard as I was. No track times or drag radials yet, but I can feel it. I'll post up some track times in 2 weeks when I go back out.
Old 11-19-2006, 05:19 PM
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Default Track results with this set-up

O.K., I went to E-town yesterday and while my 60's didn't really improve, they were more consistent, 1.72's, and I did run a bit quicker and faster, but not enough to be worthy of note. 12.11 @ 112.65. The noise issues that I posted before were my error. I didn't have the upper arms adjusted evenly, almost 1/2" off side to side. Yikes! I'm an idiot! With everything adjusted properly the ride is nice and quiet and no more banging. It really made a big difference. I am happy with the system, now I want the coilovers though!
Old 11-23-2006, 07:00 AM
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Any more updates??
Old 11-23-2006, 11:23 AM
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Few more weeks I'll be ordering up and I'll let everyone know of my experiences. I wasn't really expecting better 60', but compared to buying a torque arm setup for me (Spohn adjustable with relocation), it was gonna run me $800+. So the fact that you're still pulling the same 60' with less road noise and a little less weight, the G-Force setup looks very nice to me.
Old 11-23-2006, 05:18 PM
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I would think that the lift point being in the stock location Vs. the front LCA mount would be mutch better for weight transfer. Take a broom stick and lift it from the far edge, then lift it from the center. Your going to have half the effort lifting the stick from the center. There for the nose of the car wouldnt rise and plant the weight to the rear end like it would at the stock lift point? I would also think drive shaft/Ujoint binding would be more of a concearn also with a tighter rotation from the shorter arm?

It would be the same difference as shortening the TA by approx. two thirds, how could that be good for performance?

Im sure someone will tell me if im wrong, if this set up does work good for drag race applications I will also be buying them.
Old 12-07-2006, 03:15 PM
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I'm going to be using this with the eibach pro-kit springs, LCA relocation brackets and Koni SAs. Hopefully be the end of the month. Any other people running this since last update?
Old 12-07-2006, 04:13 PM
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this is basically the same setup principle of the Pete-Z bars. i got a set thats going on my car from tim h. "95formula". he still had his torque arm on his car just for insurance incase the rod ends broke off but he said alot of stock eliminator guys run the setup and love them. the cars hook hard with this setup at the track. these arent anything you want to take on the street, they are rigid and make the car and suspension alot more solid. a set up like this is well worth the time and effort to put on but for 3k i would go somewhere else. look up a search of the pete-z bars and you will see. you can run stock shocks and its the same setup like this for alot cheaper. just my 2 cents. hope that helped yall out.

now you can get the same with a good torque arm but thats just whatever you want. im running the bmr trak pack and the pete-z bars together just incast the links do decide to break.

for the guys wanting this type of setup i would just get the madman t/a or something simular.
Old 12-07-2006, 04:18 PM
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Originally Posted by PowerShift408
Well one person says he has almost gotten rid of all cabin noise using this set-up and another person says it adds noise... So which one is it? Perhaps install error?
lets just say from what a previous user of the ladder setup told me.

" these arent designed for the hwy and arent really daily driver friendly"

i was also told that on the return lane at the track where there is bumps he would almost hit his head when he would hit a bump. im taking his word on it and they arent on my car but its just what i was told.
Old 12-07-2006, 04:40 PM
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Originally Posted by jldak318
lets just say from what a previous user of the ladder setup told me.

" these arent designed for the hwy and arent really daily driver friendly"

i was also told that on the return lane at the track where there is bumps he would almost hit his head when he would hit a bump. im taking his word on it and they arent on my car but its just what i was told.
Perhaps you should read some of the other replies. Even the person who experienced more noise fixed that with some adjustment and greasing of the bushings, making it quieter than the torque arm setup. Whoever told you that must not have used the ladder bar setup from G-Force.

Oh and those worried about the $3k price... You don't have to get coilovers you know. I'm using my eibach prokit springs with Koni SAs.
Old 12-07-2006, 09:37 PM
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two questions. You can use your existng shocks and springs with the ladder bar kit? Does this do away with the panhard rod? Thanks!
Old 12-07-2006, 09:40 PM
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Yes you can use stock shocks and springs and no it does not get rid of the panhard bar.
Old 12-08-2006, 07:16 AM
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Yeah...I dont see how these could cause a rougher ride.... If he hit his head on a bump, it was a big bump, and his suspension was already rock hard. The arms can retain the stock rear springs...and because they pivot on the same point (front of lower control arms), the motion is the same. So I really dont see how it would make for a bad street ride.

About the only thing I can see these doing, is causing the rear to be stiffer during cornering. If you are auto-x'ing, or road racing, you might want to reconsider.

Im really torn on my decision here... I really like these, and I think getting rid of the torque arm would be nice. Just from a "room under the car" standpoint. A guy over on thirdgen.org came up with a new trans crossmember that still allows the spohn torque arm to be used with the mount on the crossmember. So I think Im going to give that a try first. But the g-force arms are a close 2nd on my list... actually more like 1.5 because I still really like them. My exhaust is getting beat to crap though...so I need to act before next spring.

J.


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