Chassis Q: Diagnol vs. Wishbone

At what ET do you go to a Wish bone in?

Just curious, when does it really help? Is it for hard leaving cars or what determines when to switch?

My Duster and S/P Cuda both have diagonal links and anti sway bars.
The Duster went 10.00 at 134.+ MPH on ET Street tires ladder bar and coil overs with the diagonal link, steady as a Lincoln on the street and strip
The Cuda has gone 8.86 at 150.+ MPH with no issues, it goes straight as a bullet, unless it spins on the line. 4 link with coil overs and diagonal link and anti sway bar mounted behind the Dana 60

Ohhhhkay.......I do know the radial cars need to have them. My car runs 9.40's....And it runs pretty straight even when it breaks the big tires loose. Just wondering though, if there might be some gain in the 60ft with a wishbone.

Mine runs mid 1.2x 60ft @3325 using a diagonal link. Has 750 passes on it. Never bent anything. Changed the rod ends at 725 passes but they were not loose.
Doug

Warren Johnson ran a diagonal link in Pro Stock...I am good friends with Gary Hanson he loves telling that story about Warren getting cars and removing the wishbone. Gary owns his own chassis shop and ran Pro Stock for a long time. He will install wishbones but prefers a diagonal link. Thye both do the same job.

I have run high 7's with a Diagonal link with a 4 link and the Vette runs 7's with a diagonal link and ladder bars. Been 1.07 60' with one.

Cab, do you have [or anyone else for that matter] any pics of your sway bar and mounts ?

the only issue I have seen with Diagonal links is if they are under sized.. . the longer they get the bigger around they need to be. They will bend if too small a dia on hard leaving cars and in situations where the car gets out of shape.

My car has been 7.06 @ 195 with 1.02 60' with a diagonal link

Not that I know of, sorry.
BTW, the Duster did NOT have a anti sway bar, sorry.

I would go wishbone. No reason not to.

I have a sway bar in mine....I would not do a 4-link without one.

The diagonal link on ladder bars with coil overs works good, especially on the street

I used the WB only backwards, pivot on the housing, The Y part at the front of lower bar mounts on 4 link. I didn’t want a broken u-joint dropping the shaft into either.

My SC/SG friend runs X links, they moved away from wishbones. It's throttle stop stuff though so I'm not sure how applicable it is to door cars.

Is the preference of the diagonal link because of the weight reduction? Or because it functions better? I imagine a wishbone being heavier and requiring more maintenance.

Most of the better chassis shops in SO CA years ago told me to use the KISS principle on all race cars. AKA as "Keep It Simple, Stupid"
Works good, lasts a long time

Dragula, that pic was exactly the example i was looking for. Thank You Sir !

WIN, what would you consider under size ?

^^^ Agree.

I had a wishbone. At the time I thought they were the way to go. Changed my mind when I discovered how much wear the slip joint incurred. Car was unstable. Switched to large diameter 1 1/4 diagonal and could not believe the difference. Car ran 4.70. 1.04 60".

Dave

What is the consensus on an x bar?

anything less than 1"x.083 (then it better be short). As stated prior as length increases diameter should too. There is a customer car here in the shed that has a .875dia by 44" long that I am going to recommend a larger diameter. The bending moment forces increases dramatically as Tube Dia increases marginally so bigger in this case is better with little to no weight penalty.
The advantage of a wishbone is you can make suspension tune changes (4 link bar position/length) without adjusting the wishbone. Additionally the wishbone can be mounted above the axle center-line allowing for center section/drive shaft drop out ( 8 3/4 or 9") where a diagonal link cant. Also a wishbone has three load points vs two on a diagonal link.
An X link is to a degree an upgrade from a wishbone as it has four load points and it pivots about the center of motion... seems like over kill but they were introduced at a performance level above my experience so there may be some benefit .

Thank You Sir !
looks like i will be building a new diagonal link for my "eternal project". the diagonal link now is 7/8x1/8" tube, 34" long, including the 5/8" heims.
would 1 1/4"x1/8" wall be good for this ?
believe it or not, someone told me years ago when i was making the one i have now, to use 1/2"x.083 wall tube with 3/8" clevis ends. ..........er, um......NO.

Pretty much every suspended dragster on the planet uses them.