Ridetech Control Arm updates?
 

I haven't been able to find anything but I swear I remember either reading or being told that Ridetech was about to come out with an updated set of UCAs. I want to say it was supposed to be shortly after the first of this year.

I'm really close to pulling the trigger on the remaining pieces I need for the TruTurn now that it appears I might have necessary clearance. I also need to get a different design of UCA. So as close as I'd be I thought it might be worthwhile to just go all Ridetech up front and have an "engineered system".

Anybody got any info? Brett?

Maybe I was dreaming...

I'm a ride tech Dealer Call me and I will get all your questions answered.1.785.five nine four.74841Scott.

Will you please post what you find.

Thank you

I haven't said much about the delrin bushing/caster slug cross shaft revisions yeat because I wanted to be ready to ship first. We'll be changing over the A body stuff first in a couple weeks with the early F body next around the end of May. C10 and G body come right after. I'll post images and text within a couple of weeks.

Thanks you sir :thumbsup: . I'll sit tight and wait it out then.

Well I guess that throws me out of the loop.:thankyou: Brett.

Scott, I called yesterday and left message. Greeting was generic so I wasn't sure if I got the correct number. There were too many numbers listed above so I just went with the first 10 :).


Bret, any possibility that you'll be bringing some of the new arms to Nashville GG to have on display? :D

Though we've been keeping this quiet, I guess now is a good time to let the cat out of the bag.

The control arms for our popular applications have gone through a complete re-design. This included, altered ball joint positions for vehicle specific requirements, a forged cross shaft with caster slugs, and self lubricating Delrin bushings.

Here are the highlights. . .

Bushings:
-injection molded Black Delrin with PTFE (Teflon for self lubrication)
-no maintenance required
-screw driver slots for easy removal (should they ever need to be serviced)
-internal grease slots (should one want to add lubrication zerks)
-direct replacement for popular poly sizes

Control Arm shaft:
-forged steel
-caster slug slots
-aluminum caster slugs
-liquid ferritic nitrocarburizing (sort of like anodizing for steel; this is the same process many guns go through) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferritic_nitrocarburizing)
-inner sleeves (like those use in poly bushings) are built into the shaft (fewer parts and mitigates potential for noise)
-control arm "locking" feature

Control arm "locking" feature:
Though 99.99% of the populace will never need this feature we added it cause we could.
We found in very extreme cases that the control arm could deflect under braking. . .basically pulling the control arm sleeve away from the shaft nut over the bushing toward the front of the vehicle.
To solve this issue the cross shaft has a large "washer" built into it on the rear side which holds the bushing. The steel control arm sleeve has a ledge machined into it and the bushing has a ledge that fits inside. Once assembled this locks the rear of the control arm to the cross shaft so the control arm cannot move forward or backward, only up and down.

I have attached a couple of images for reference.

We will have the arms, cross shaft, delrin bushings [and Britt] on display at Nashville. The new system will be installed on our 66 Chevelle that will be running the autocross.

The delrin material we are using is self lubricating so there is no grease mess neccessary. We've run this material in Rodney's Suburban for the last 2 years to test durability...they've been quiet and no wear at all.

Because we've made the investment to injection mold the delrin versus machining it from solid stock, we've been able to incorporate some cool design and functionality features...AND with no extra cost to the customer.

BUT...before anyone asks...in most cases, they are not retrofitable to the previous style StrongArms. Doing that would have prevented incorporating several of the design and performance features. We chose to leapfrog ahead with a complete system instead of being tethered to the previous dimensions.

Will this be done to the arms for the 67 chevy B-body? My Belair is crying out!