rear end setup for autocross

[Turtlentz]

hey i'm pretty new to this site and a couple years new to mighty max/d50's. i know very little about suspension in general, but here's what i have for you guys. i have a 91 MM, 2WD, 4g64 and i want to race it at my local autocross. i plan on doing a 6g72 swap in the future as well, so i'm wanting a beefy rear end with disc brakes. i dont really care if its with springs or leafs. i just want a good setup that can handle the 6g72's power and have great cornering ability.

so there it is. what can yall tell me?

[irotagrup]

I dont doubt that the stock rearend is stout enough to hold its own, people have done v8 swaps and still use thestock rearend.

[pennyman1]

if you really want a stout axle with disc brakes, get a 2nd gen montero rear - they even come with an air locker on some models

[Lon Moer]

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I want to race it at my local autocros
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so there it is. what can yall tell me?
Just spend alot at the Belltech (http://www.belltech.com/products.html) site. Get the lowering kit, shocks and anti-sway bars. Then stop at the Energy Suspension (http://www.energysuspensionparts.com/products.asp?cat=Mitsubishi+Mighty+Max) site and get the rest of the polyurethane bushings you need; rear leaf spring, front lower control arm and strut rod bushings.

[Turtlentz]

any specific year? or just any 2nd gen montero?

and thank you Lon, those sites are awesome. i didnt think they made any aftermarket anything for the MM. and i've been looking for a long time too lol

[Turtlentz]

is there a way to swap in rear disc brakes if i keep the stock rear end?

[irotagrup]

there is always a way... lol

[Turtlentz]

is there any way you could elaborate? lol

[LSR Mike]

or, get a Ford Explorer 8.8 rear end with the disc's and all I understand it's a easy swap. Details are on the site somewhere...

[DroppedMitsu]

For autocross I would definitely get rid of the leafs and do a 4 link setup with coilovers or something. The rear end should hold up fine, and you can convert to disc brakes, just takes some custom fab work. Bracket, new rear lines, and whichever rotor you decide works good. I will be building a rear disc conversion for these trucks, but bit won't be for a little while.

[steen3rddensity]

hey guys i didn't really want to start a new thread but i'd say my questions are pretty related to this one. I plan on getting the doetsch nitro slammer shocks because i've read they outperform the belltech nitros. and also, the summit sport truck shocks are supposed to be rebranded doetsch shocks, except cheaper, sooooooo if anyone knows the part# for the doetsch for our mightyrams, we could get the summit ones by cross referencing w/ them i guess. (summit doesn't currently list their sport truck shocks as available for ours. it would be a saving of $40 so if we can't fig it out, no biggie.) and also if you guys had other opinions for lowered sport shocks. i would need some convincing if i was gonna drop the extra cash for the belltech street performers though.

i also wanna pick up the belltech sway bar set and haven't been able to find any reviews on here and on other forums, people are just posting when they put em on their big trucks. i know they're going to be great, but if anyone had personal opinions that'd be pretty sweet. i already love how my truck handles w/ the beltech springs and block drop 2.5/4 . i'm just super interested in sport truck handling and ill keep an eye on this thread.

[Turtlentz]

For autocross I would definitely get rid of the leafs and do a 4 link setup with coilovers or something. The rear end should hold up fine, and you can convert to disc brakes, just takes some custom fab work. Bracket, new rear lines, and whichever rotor you decide works good. I will be building a rear disc conversion for these trucks, but bit won't be for a little while.

is there a bolt on kit to convert from leafs to coilovers? or do i just swap the stock shocks with coilovers and remove the leafs?

[Rahtid]

I have the nitro drop 2 shocks on my truck with a 2.5/4 drop with 18 inch wheels and my truck handles and take corners just like my awd lancer, for the summit shocks,for the front s10 shock will fit, for the rear shocks for a nissan pickup from 87-03. what prices are you getting for the shocks,
http://imageshack.us/a/img41/2807/imagejpeg23tx.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/41/imagejpeg23tx.jpg/)

[Turtlentz]

i have a feeling i'm going to have to replace my A frames with ones set up for shocks and springs in order to do a coilover conversion

[Turtlentz]

I have the nitro drop 2 shocks on my truck with a 2.5/4 drop with 18 inch wheels and my truck handles and take corners just like my awd lancer, for the summit shocks,for the front s10 shock will fit, for the rear shocks for a nissan pickup from 87-03. what prices are you getting for the shocks,
http://imageshack.us/a/img41/2807/imagejpeg23tx.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/41/imagejpeg23tx.jpg/)

then again, i might just do what you did and get the nitro set and replace my leafs. (they're kind of old)

[steen3rddensity]

thanks for the info Rahtid! doetsch nitro's are $45.44 each. the summit sport truck (which are supposed to be rebranded doetschs) go for $36.97.

[steen3rddensity]

but dang, if you're feelin the nitro drop 2's that much, then i might as well go for those! decisions decisions...

[Rahtid]

steen3rddensity No problem, I looked at getting doetsch(summit) shocks but I able the get all 4 nitro drop II for the price
of the doetsch nitro's,

Turtlentz you can try using s10 coilovers http://umiperformance.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=256_286_328&products_id=713&zenid=ch7f2nibhgccuir9gq7ul2u7i3

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/HAL-GE401-10450C/?rtype=10

[pennyman1]

the 1st gen s10s and our trucks use the same shock length, so if it bolts into an s10 _ it should work on our trucks. However, the valving is different, so get adjustable bounce/rebound shocks on the coilovers for fine tuning. also consider running negative camber when autocrossing - about 3 degrees negative to start

[t8erbug]

the 1st gen s10s and our trucks use the same shock length, so if it bolts into an s10 _ it should work on our trucks. However, the valving is different, so get adjustable bounce/rebound shocks on the coilovers for fine tuning. also consider running negative camber when autocrossing - about 3 degrees negative to start Do they make camber/castor plates for the mightyram? I had them on my mustang and they were awesome. I'm sure if they don't it wouldn't be extremely tough to make some from another model work.. Just be sure to change your camber when you're doing your daily driving otherwise you'll go through front tires faster than you go through rears.

[BradMph]

These? 6524

or...
1989 MITSUBISHI MIGHTY MAX 2.0L L4 : Suspension : Camber Plate (http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/raframecatalog.php?carcode=1430283&parttype=13516&ck[ID]=0&ck[idlist]=0&ck[viewcurrency]=USD&ck[PHP_SESSION_ID]=e3ame56r32fdv6h05k8jarimi3)

[pennyman1]

actually the mitsu trucks are one piece with 2 slots to drop in between the upper control arm shaft and the frame - those are fender shims. Unfortunately, that is what everyone sells now...

[t8erbug]

I camber/castor plate looks like this- http://www.cjponyparts.com/product.aspx?p=CCP26&utm_source=google&utm_medium=merchant&utm_campaign=shopping&gclid=CNHu34vwtrkCFRPl7AodpTEAYg
It mounts to the top of your strut and makes it fully adjustable forward and backward for caster and side to side for camber. They're a very good mod if you're doing anything on a racetrack or just to get your camber back to normal after a big lowering job so you don't wear the insides of your tires down to the cords in a week ha

[BradMph]

Ahhh, those are much better. Thanks for the visual :thumbup:

[Rahtid]

camber plates are for vehicles with macpherson strut suspension, they still sell the one piece spacers for the A arm suspension that these trucks use http://www.speedwaymotors.com/Aluminum-A-Arm-Spacers,3532.html http://www.speedwaymotors.com/JOES-Racing-Products-14250-Tapered-A-Arm-Cross-Shaft-Spacers-Set-4,34039.html but the body shims are cheaper and easier to get.

[pennyman1]

those are like the factory ones, thanks for the info

[sleeps]

Hold up, whats this about 1G s10 coilovers? Anyone have pics or have done this?

[Rahtid]

http://umiperformance.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=256_286_328&products_id=713&zenid=ch7f2nibhgccuir9gq7ul2u7i3

[camoit]

hey i'm pretty new to this site and a couple years new to mighty max/d50's. i know very little about suspension in general, but here's what i have for you guys. i have a 91 MM, 2WD, 4g64 and i want to race it at my local autocross. i plan on doing a 6g72 swap in the future as well, so i'm wanting a beefy rear end with disc brakes. i dont really care if its with springs or leafs. i just want a good setup that can handle the 6g72's power and have great cornering ability.

so there it is. what can yall tell me?


1997 Isuzu Rodeo = Dana 44 with disk brakes. Lockers, LSD, lots of ring & pinions to pick from. Parts are easy to get.

[sleeps]

http://umiperformance.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=256_286_328&products_id=713&zenid=ch7f2nibhgccuir9gq7ul2u7i3

Wow, nifty. Thanks for the info.

[t8erbug]

I actually took a look at the truck's front suspension this weekend when I was working on it and it has a double a-arm set up rather than a strut set up which is good. However, it means you cannot use a camber castor plate on this vehicle. Camber and caster are adjusted through other means which I've yet to dig in to. I'd imagine there would be something on the ends of the a-arms that would make it so you could adjust length of the upper or lower a-arm. Idk though I'll have to dig into it some more when I get my lowering springs

[Rahtid]

you adjust the camber/caster using shims on the upper controls arms,http://www.speedwaymotors.com/Aluminum-A-Arm-Spacers,3532.html you can also adjust the caster by adjusting the strut rod on the lower control arms.

[noahwins]

you adjust the camber/caster using shims on the upper controls arms,http://www.speedwaymotors.com/Aluminum-A-Arm-Spacers,3532.html you can also adjust the caster by adjusting the strut rod on the lower control arms.

Any idea what size and how many of these to get in order to kick out 2-3* of negative camber (assuming you're starting from no shims in the upper control arms)?

Nice stance on your truck, BTW, love those Titan steelies.

[camoit]

Theres no telling how many you need. It depends on where it starts from. Normally you would have a hand full of them. But you can look at how many you have now. Pull them out and remeasure and that will tell you how many inches of thickness will Move the front end X degrees.

[Rahtid]

What is the reason your looking for -2 or -3 camber. Glad you like the wheels, looking to change to wheels to these http://www.fnwheels.com/new-products/bfd/ maybe:)

[noahwins]

A little camber looks bitchin on old school minitrucks.

Back on topic, would it be possible to do a 4 link with the bars going to a crossmember at the end of the frame? Or do they have to go towards the front by the tranny tunnel?

[Rahtid]

what are you setting the truck up for

[noahwins]

Drifting.

[Rahtid]

for drifting it would have to go to front of the frame, have you tried drifting to the truck with factory leaf springs, you might be suprised

[noahwins]

What kind of application would it be OK to have rearward 4 link?

[Rahtid]

For show trucks with airbags, You could try it for drifting and see how it works out.

[noahwins]

I intuitively sort of get why you'd want the links to have the axle trail the links instead of the other way around. But all you want a 4 link to do is keep the axle from traveling laterally and pitching on the axis of the hub. Right?

I was thinking this would be beneficial for autocross or drifting because it would move the weight rearward, onto the driven wheels.

[Rahtid]

If it's setup correctly it will work,

[pennyman1]

Max Fish did an article in MiniTruckin about rear facing 4 links - he said that even though he has done them, he does not do them anymore, then explained why. They are a terrible idea suspension - wise, all the suspension action is going away from the instant center of the vehicle, destabilizing it. Consider an alternative to a 4 link - try a 3 link like a 90's camaro - it will locate the axle without the stiffness of a 4 link, and easier to tune.

[noahwins]

LOL Pennyman you truly are the human D50 encyclopedia. Thanks.

[BradMph]

He is a Funken Wagnel Encyclopedia, with a pink truck, :lmao: