Do the arms from other amc car modles fit our eagles? if so can someone tell me what they thing about the a arm kits that are here?
http://www.freakride.com/2011_amc_suspension.pdf
thanks
Wow, I'll have to contact them about the Eagle. I bet the upper arms could be used, but the lowers arms are definitely different from the 2wd AMCs.
I spoke to them at a show in Atlanta. The product is a work of art in person but at over $3,000 for just the front end kit, it will put 99.9% of the Eagle owners out of the picture. If they thought there was a market for it they would make something for an Eagle.
I am fairly certain that everything from the front A-Arm on up is identical to other AMCs. The knuckle and lower arm are different to clear the front axle.
I played with lifts on Eagles some time ago and wished I could find a modified upper arm with 2-3" of lift built into it. I made a spacer setup, but that's just not the same.
Most Eagle owners do not have welding skills and are overwhelmed by the thought of lowering our IFS or even installing a solid axle. They want a bolt together solution for about 3 inches of lift. If this company could offer that for less than 2K I think they would have sizeable sales.
The bare minimum kit to accomplish that would be a custom top A arm, a crossmember to unibody spacer, and a custom control arm bracket.
Its true that everything from the top A-arm up is identical to all the other AMC's after 1970. Their kit shown on page 5 of the link would be a good place to start. Its apparent that they used original ball joints so our Eagle spindle and wheel bearing assemblies would be directly compatible. It would be easier to modify their kit than to make your own from scratch. The catch is that if you had the skills and resources to do the necessary modifications, you would probably not be willing to spend the money they want for their kit and you would then just end up choosing to make the whole thing.
Their upper arm is intended to have the coilover shock go through the center of it and attach to the lower control arm. That would not work because we have a CV shaft in that area. We would have to add a landing area on the top A arm for the bottom of the shock. Then we'd need to use a stock shock and spring or push their shock up higher into the original shock tower. The Eagle lower control arm is very similar to the Spirit one they based theirs off of except that it is flatter because the entire cross member is thicker and lower on the Eagle.
I think this company would see sales to Eagle owners if they offered a bolt together only kit that raised an Eagle 3 inches while keeping the CV shafts straight and using the original crossmember and axle supports. This is rather possible but also rather complicated because you would need to use the original upper control arm bolt locations. One person here on the nest pulled that off but had to machine a custom spindle that was longer than original. Ideally it would be better to change the A arms than the cast spindle but it takes much more work to maintain the original geometry.
In my future projects I plan on replacing the entire front subframe and incorporating the upper control arm bolts to solve that issue in a different method. I could incorporate a minor lift easily by welding in a new subframe and lower shock tower instead of changing the original hardware or geometry. That is a better solution for a rusted out Eagle that already needs subframe reinforcement. Obviously it would be much more involved than a bolt together solution like this company could potentially offer.
Thanks for the great link! Its inspirational.
Thanks for the info this is why i love this site! The price does hurt, a lot! I think that coilover setup is what i want. And i really like the idea of spacing the drive train down. thanks. has anyone done coilovers and gained lift?
Quote from: captspillane on February 13, 2012, 04:29:34 PM
Most Eagle owners do not have welding skills and are overwhelmed by the thought of lowering our IFS or even installing a solid axle. They want a bolt together solution for about 3 inches of lift. If this company could offer that for less than 2K I think they would have sizeable sales.
The bare minimum kit to accomplish that would be a custom top A arm, a crossmember to unibody spacer, and a custom control arm bracket.
Its true that everything from the top A-arm up is identical to all the other AMC's after 1970. Their kit shown on page 5 of the link would be a good place to start. Its apparent that they used original ball joints so our Eagle spindle and wheel bearing assemblies would be directly compatible. It would be easier to modify their kit than to make your own from scratch. The catch is that if you had the skills and resources to do the necessary modifications, you would probably not be willing to spend the money they want for their kit and you would then just end up choosing to make the whole thing.
Their upper arm is intended to have the coilover shock go through the center of it and attach to the lower control arm. That would not work because we have a CV shaft in that area. We would have to add a landing area on the top A arm for the bottom of the shock. Then we'd need to use a stock shock and spring or push their shock up higher into the original shock tower. The Eagle lower control arm is very similar to the Spirit one they based theirs off of except that it is flatter because the entire cross member is thicker and lower on the Eagle.
I think this company would see sales to Eagle owners if they offered a bolt together only kit that raised an Eagle 3 inches while keeping the CV shafts straight and using the original crossmember and axle supports. This is rather possible but also rather complicated because you would need to use the original upper control arm bolt locations. One person here on the nest pulled that off but had to machine a custom spindle that was longer than original. Ideally it would be better to change the A arms than the cast spindle but it takes much more work to maintain the original geometry.
In my future projects I plan on replacing the entire front subframe and incorporating the upper control arm bolts to solve that issue in a different method. I could incorporate a minor lift easily by welding in a new subframe and lower shock tower instead of changing the original hardware or geometry. That is a better solution for a rusted out Eagle that already needs subframe reinforcement. Obviously it would be much more involved than a bolt together solution like this company could potentially offer.
Thanks for the great link! Its inspirational.
Been contemplating on this one for quite a while. Have figured out pretty much all of how to do it. Just gotta get off my duff and get a car to work on.
If we just spaced the drive train down do you think there would be leaverage problems on the origanal mounting points? going with 2 to 3 inches of lift. from the countless hour that i have stared at it, it "seems" like it could be done with a little plating. but our buddy leaverage makes me nervous. any thoughts?
Quote from: standup650 on February 16, 2012, 08:51:12 AM
If we just spaced the drive train down do you think there would be leaverage problems on the origanal mounting points? going with 2 to 3 inches of lift. from the countless hour that i have stared at it, it "seems" like it could be done with a little plating. but our buddy leaverage makes me nervous. any thoughts?
http://forums.amceaglenest.com/index.php?topic=36720.0
thank you for the link eaglefreek. the more i look into it i should just do a solid axle and build a sub frame.