Thanks all for the kind words.
Front cantilevers.
Man, this was a tough one to over come. The design from the start was for the little Integy shocks mounted pretty traditionally off the lower a-arm and tie into the chassis. But they aren't going to have enough spring or travel to get what I want. So, had to go the cantilever route. To find room for the mountain bike shocks, and make it look like they were supposed to be there was quite a challenge. And to top it off, I want to leave room up there for that Tone servo that I'm sure is going to end up on the vehicle. The shocks have 400# springs on them, and through some good general estimation, I'm going to overlever the front shocks 3.75:1 with the pushrod 2.5" out from the pivot on the lower a-arm. That should get me the arms at about mid travel with an estimated front end load of 40#... "I think". I can't wait to find out though. When you're loading shocks that hard I am of the opinion you need to beef up that kind of stuff. A spring under 400 pounds of tension is no joke. So most of the stuff where a shock is over levered for mechanical advantage is pretty beefy.
I like where the front shocks ended up. I think they kind of match the angle of the rear, and all of them are in the center of the chassis at similar angles. Looks pleasing to the eye.
These are 5/8" bolts with a tube over them that I'll weld the shock mounts to.
and OHBOY!!!! am I getting some good ideas for the next one of these!
