quad shock debate

1991notchbackLX

Active Member
Dec 25, 2007
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I don't necessarily consider this a tech question, but if the mods feel otherwise feel free to move this to the appropriate section.

I am going to have to remove the quad shocks in order to get my wheels to fit properly. I've been doing some reading on a few forums and some say they are necessary to avoid wheel hop while others say they're completely useless.

It seems to always be the "I've had 12 foxes and removed the quads on all of 'em without a problem!!" guy vs. the "I took off my quads and had wheel hop so bad I had to go buy replacements right away to fix the problem" guy. :shrug:

What is the consensus on here about the quad shocks?? Am I going to run into any unforseen problems by removing them? Thanks in advance for the info.

Chris :nice:
 
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Get a three link set up and read this ARTICLE.

Ford finally wised up and put a three link in the +05 models. Oh look the quads disappeared.

37.jpg
 
I really don't know a whole lot about mustangs, but i really don't see why they would be needed. Most people want a fox that launches good, and most of the race cars i know run a 4 link out back. Is that not what mustangs come with? So from the factory you already have the best setup, granted the arms need beefing up, but it is still a 4 link. put some coilovers on and your ready for the drag strip. Just my opinion, i don't know anything
 
it all depends on the rest of your suspension. if you have worn out springs and stock replacement shocks with factory control arms, you're going to get wheel hop without them. my bro's car was like that and the guy he bought it off of removed the quads to fit some wider cobra r wheels on it; my bro actually pasted away in the car a few years ago because of losing control due to wheel hop. my car on the other hand has new tokico shocks/struts, upr uppers and lowers and cheap maxspeed springs, i had to remove the quads to fit a 10" wheel out back and i get no wheel hop. in short, there are other factors that can cause your car to have wheel hop or not without them.
 
first, sorry to hear about your brother cenok :(

i don't know much about three or four link, or any link for that matter, i'm pretty retarded suspension-wise, would a panhard bar take the place of the quad shocks? just so you guys know i'll be running megabite jr. LCAs, MM c/c plates, tokico blues shocks/struts, and eibach pro kit springs
 
i don't know much about three or four link, or any link for that matter, i'm pretty retarded suspension-wise, would a panhard bar take the place of the quad shocks? just so you guys know i'll be running megabite jr. LCAs, MM c/c plates, tokico blues shocks/struts, and eibach pro kit springs

A panhard bar would be used if you went to a three link setup. with the factory 4link, the top control arms being angled make it a triangulated 4 link, which means it doesn't need anything to keep it moving side to side. with a 3 link you have nothing keeping you from moving side to side, hench the need for a panhard bar which is a side to side limiting device. like cenok said, if you have good bushing in all of your control arms, have good shocks and springs, you shouldn't have any wheel hop. with your setup, i would think that you would be fine.
 
I have Maximum Motorsports lower control arms, 1" lower springs, and urethane coil spring isolators at the rear. I removed the quad shocks with mounting brackets (5lb weight saving) and I don't have any wheel hop. I'm thinking out replacing the stock UCA's with a pair of these:

Edelbrock 5255 - Edelbrock Adjustable Rear Upper Trailing Arms - summitracing.com

This will leave me with 4 control arms that have spherical bearings at the axle end allowing it to move freely but at the same time locating the axle.
 
GET RID OF THEM!!!!

They are not necessary.

I took them off both my notchbacks. Both cars had UCA and LCA's with poly bushings. I had no wheel hop at all.

It also depends HIGHLY on TIRES. My black notch still hopped with bald and cracking BFG KDW tires. I put on new Goodyear ZR45's and the hop went away. Cheap/old/bald tires are garbage....get rid of those and get a name brand tire with good tread and you'll be fine.

Hack Job had Goodyear F1's and NO wheel hop.

It also depends on how you tighten the bolts on the UCA and LCA's. They only supposed to be torqued to 85-95ft lbs with the suspension loaded. Don't tighten them in the air, or the suspension will he held up, the suspension will bind and it will cause wheel hop.
 
I don't see why people are so adamant about removing them. They weigh what? 1.5 pounds each?

What is the benefit of letting them be vs removing them? You take them off and you have the potential of wheel hop. You leave them on, and provided they are in decent shape, they don't hurt.


It's like the guys who think you need to remove the EGR coolant hoses, or disable the EGR completely because everyone else does it.

Just because person A runs no quads sucessfully doesn't mean you should just go out and pull your wheels and yank them off. There is no harm leaving them there...so just do it.

Now if you want to fit larger wheels, then it's one thing to ditch them, but personally, i would make ever effort to put a nice new quad shock on the car and call it a day.
 
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I don't see why people are so adamant about removing them. They weigh what? 1.5 pounds each?

What is the benefit of letting them be vs removing them? You take them off and you have the potential of wheel hop. You leave them on, and provided they are in decent shape, they don't hurt.

Just because person A runs no quads sucessfully doesn't mean you should just go out and pull your wheels and yank them off. There is no harm leaving them there...so just do it.

Now if you want to fit larger wheels, then it's one thing to ditch them, but personally, i would make ever effort to put a nice new quad shock on the car and call it a day.

That's why I said get rid of them. I am under the assumption he's putting larger tires and wheels on his car. I ditched all of mine when I did the 5 lug swap and 17's.

I agree about the weight thing. Taking a few pounds outta the car won't do anything to make it faster. So if people take them off for that reason, that's stupid.
 
Put the quad shocks back on if you took them off or don’t have them installed.

The quad shocks are a roll of the dice. No matter what the combination of tires, control arms and shocks, some cars will wheel hop without quad shocks and some won't. There are so many variables in 31-15 year old cars with wear, misalignment and combinations of suspension components and tires that one unchanging answer won't work for everyone.

I personally would install them, and make sure they are in good shape. I do know this, that Ford is cheap. If they could have made changes in some simple component like bushings or control arm construction and saved $20, they would have done it. Multiply $20 times all the Fox body Mustangs ever made and you would be almost as rich as Donald Trump. That's a lot of $$$, and good incentive to engineer something to do away with the quad shocks.

Part number for quad shocks or “steering dampener “ is Gabriel #14039
 
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it all depends on the rest of your suspension. if you have worn out springs and stock replacement shocks with factory control arms, you're going to get wheel hop without them. my bro's car was like that and the guy he bought it off of removed the quads to fit some wider cobra r wheels on it; my bro actually pasted away in the car a few years ago because of losing control due to wheel hop. my car on the other hand has new tokico shocks/struts, upr uppers and lowers and cheap maxspeed springs, i had to remove the quads to fit a 10" wheel out back and i get no wheel hop. in short, there are other factors that can cause your car to have wheel hop or not without them.

I would agree. I took mine off my 89, and had massive wheel hop with the stock 100K mile suspension.