A four link rear suspension system is an excellent suspension upgrade over your Classic Mustang's stock rear leaf spring suspension. Invented in the 1700's, leaf springs are a tried and true suspension system component. However, while leaf spring technology has greatly improved since the horse and buggy days, leaf springs still have some major limitations in what they can do. The stock classic Mustang rear leaf spring is expected to have the overwhelming task of locating the rear axle housing (both fore and aft and side-to-side) under the Mustang, AND simultaneously suspend the vehicle's rear chassis.

This leaf spring design is fine when the Mustang had 7 inch wide tires and lower horsepower produced by the original 6 cylinder or small block power plants of the early 60's era. However modern tires and engine combinations can quickly push the stock leafs to their limitations.

Many Mustang builds these days are outfitted with sticky modern performance tires and engine swaps with much higher amounts of horsepower/torque outputs over stock power plants. When these performance adding components are introduced into the overall equation, the limitations of the stock rear leaf springs are quickly realized. Stock leaf spring configurations when put to the test of higher power and larger performance tire combinations, often will produce unwanted wheel hop when launching AND allow for unwanted lateral migration of the rear axle housing at launch/stop and especially during hard cornering. Wheel hop will produce limited grip yielding poor traction upon launching. Furthermore, lateral side to side movements will cause the rear end to feel unpredictable and shifty while cornering introducing unwanted rear steer inputs from the rear tires. These unwanted events caused by leafs springs under higher forces, will translate to an unpredictable feel for the driver and certainly does not inspire driver confidence when pushing the Mustang in Pro-Touring, or track style events.

The good news is advancements in suspension design and technology in the modern era have proven there are better ways to isolate the two crucially important suspension functions of locating the axle and suspending the vehicle. This is accomplished by using a separate spring used in conjunction with a solid rigid control arm configuration, also known as a "link".

Hence, there is no surprise the 4 Link rear suspension systems are now very popular upgrades for Classic Mustang builds. 4 Link rear suspensions will provide immediate improvements in both ride quality and handling characteristics when converting the rear suspension from leafs to links. Many of the 4 Link kits Stang-Aholics offers are straight forward bolt-in designs with a few of them requiring some welding to your rear axle housing, but no major or permanent changes to your Mustang's floor or frame rail structures.

Bolt-In Four Link Suspension Kit Benefits/Features Overview:

• Eliminate Rear Wheel Hop - Yielding Better traction which improves acceleraton and launch times -
• Limit Lateral (side to side) rear axle housing movement - With a panhard bar or triangulated upper arms, the rear end is kept planted and centered under the car
• Adjustable Ride Height - Adjustable Coil-Overs and Multiple vertical shock mounting points usually allow 1-3 inches of height adjustment
• Multiple Adjustment points to fine tune rear suspension performance - Including upper and lower control arm and panhard bar length adjustments, lower control angle adjustments for improved launch grip.

As you can see from the outline above, a 4 Link suspension system is something worth considering when building the new and improved higher horsepower re-incarnation of your classic Mustang. When installed with the complete suspension system in mind (along with the front suspension) you can greatly improve the overall handling and driving characteristics of your Mustang.

Stang-Aholics Offers different 4 Link rear suspension systems from these industry-leading brands:

Heidts Suspensions - Parallel Bar Design w/ Panhard

TCI Engineering - Triangulated Bar Design

RideTech - Triangulated Bar Design (with Air Ride Options)

Detroit Speed - Parallel Bar Design w/ Panhard and Mini Tub Option (for Large 315/335 Rear Tires)

Total Control Products - Triangulated Bar Design

If you would like to discuss your project and suspension goals with one of our Mustang enthusiasts we would be happy to help assist you determine what 4 link suspension brand and design is a good fit for your classic Mustang project!

Lastly, since a 4 link rear suspension may not be right for everyone and the goals of their unique project Mustang, we offer other rear suspension solutions such as: Performance Rear Leaf Springs, Performance Composite Mono Leafs, Torque Arm Rear Suspension and even a Bolt-in Independent rear suspension system for Classic Mustangs!

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