Hi all, Just sharing my recent discoveries. This is the left side ... both "front legs" are cracked on the inside radius. Been thinking about it and I guess it's the load from acceleration that does this. I don't think the right side is cracked but I need to wipe them off a little better and get some light in there to properly inspect them. Check these parts guys ... this would be a painful failure. I'll be designing and making a beefier version of this. Someone a few months back told me these aren't available anymore? cheers Image Unavailable, Please Login
Shouldn't be a problem locating one of those from a doner car. What do you think of beefing it up via a small steel 90 degree piece being welded into that area of the apex? I haven't looked lately so I am not completely sure there is adequate room......
yeah maybe ... I generally don't like welding on something critical near a failure point in case it creates a stress riser somewhere else ... I need to think about it a bit ... that sure sounds easier than making them from scratch and it's something that can be monitored. cheers
On the front side of the arms, the load would be deceleration...? wheels trying to hold the car back. Good Find!!! I vaguely remember some sort of recall on these parts? Was that the front ones? Sorry I just don't remember the details. Maybe someone has better recall on this issue than I. Rick
I thought that but I don't think so ... braking pulls them backwards and would crack them on the outside of this side ... or the inside of the back flange ... I think? Imagine a free body diagram rotating around the shock mount on the up right ... wheel bearing is pushing forward ... balance the forces ... it bends forward. It was fronts that were recalled.
Just find a salvage one, from a car that wasn't driven so hard... One of the "Hairdresser's GTSs".....
That's right Tex! ... the "Hairdresser" donated 2 of them to the "Alpha Dog" yesterday when I discovered this. "Alpha" also now has a rear lower control arm setup with solid bushings on one side instead of the poly .... the difference is amazing. When I snap the wheel back and forth really fast at like 50-60 mph the side with the solid bushings "carves" whereas the other direction she "mushes" into a set which does not inspire confidence. I'll hopefully get to the other lower one today and do the uppers tomorrow. For comparison ... when I first started playing with these cars when I would snap the wheel back and forth at ANY speed it felt pathetic ... like "you're not supposed to do that" ... you guys know what I'm talking about? cheers
I just recently bought a couple used ones in good shape from Rutlands for $35 each. The ones I took off my car were much worse than how yours look. Image Unavailable, Please Login
AFAIK, the updated forks were of a thicker material overall (5mm vs 4mm). I'm not sure if the rears were ever affected by the update/recall so I don't know if those are available in a heavier thickness. Unfortunately, you can't use front forks in the rear as the mounting stud is very short for those. Welding reinforcements won't do any good, they'll just transfer stresses and the brackets will crack again, next to the welds.
I would change the stud if that was the only issue ... the location of the holes relative to the stud is different. I think a doubler would reinforce them and not crack if properly positioned/"engineered". You just have to make sure you extend the material that you're reinforcing them with way beyond where the load/crack/weak point is. I remember a buddy welding up his frame on his Ford and it kept cracking. Finally an "experienced" guy took over and made doubler plates that extended 6" each way past where the crack was acheivinging 2 things ... reinforcing the broken area with fresh material thicker than stock without a weld at that point and moving the "stress riser" created by the weld out to a point where it was no longer stressed. Sometimes that's not obvious or possible. I've not thought about how to fix these long enough to consider whether or not that's an option. I have a buddy with a "ray gun" for lack of a better term that tells you what material things are made from. I might send him one just to see the material ... probably "hub cap". Making beefier ones would be a nice upgrade. cheers
hmm ... if they are made of recycled hub caps (typical mass produced steel), 7075 aluminum is stronger but has more flex for given cross section. What are the reasons to not make them out of billet 7075 if these are just regular low strength steel? I can make them out of a steel block but aluminum is soooo much easier. I'd machine a slot to lock the bolt in place and probably put a steel face plate against the surface the alignment shims rest against. That part being made of aluminum doesn't seem right though ... does it? Maybe the clamping force of the bolt is just too much for aluminum combined with the cornering loads? ... its just too soft maybe? Also, instead of going to all that trouble, they've lasted a long time. I don't know what may of happened before I got the car. I don't think the other side is cracked but I will know in a while. It doesn't seem very common in the rear and I use to do some pretty hurtful things "having fun" ... I'm glad I out grew that last year LOL! cheers cheers
Campaign 146/460 was for the front lower suspension arm forks. That may be what you were thinking of.
If I recall the 328 had thicker steel, probably for just this reason. I wonder if those would work? If so, I bet you need early 328 version, the later version has geometry changes and the holes might be in different places.
I think I know a guy who has some for sale. Not sure if they are 308 or 328. PM me if you want his contact info. Jim
5mm, 6mm, why not go to the local industrial steel supplier and get a meter of U shape in 8 or 10 mm thickness, enough to cut 10-16 forks from, then just drill the three holes in each.
Not sure if it would work, or if these guys can do custom orders but FWIW http://www.aa-mfg.com/pdshop/shop/item.aspx?itemid=482 Locally though you would think that maybe one of the off-road fabrication shops could do the same thing, maybe one the guys that does trophy trucks
