WELD/SUTTON DIRT MISSILE build

[craig510]

Please keep an eye on the T/C Rods on the lower control arms. The bend in them makes me nervous. They will be under compression under braking which puts a large bending moment on them and they are pre-yielded from the bending process.

With enough wall thickness and yield strength they could be fine but it is something to watch. If you have trouble with your caster alignment changing they could be bending further.

[Ron Sutton]

Originally Posted by craig510

Please keep an eye on the T/C Rods on the lower control arms. The bend in them makes me nervous. They will be under compression under braking which puts a large bending moment on them and they are pre-yielded from the bending process.

With enough wall thickness and yield strength they could be fine but it is something to watch. If you have trouble with your caster alignment changing they could be bending further.

Hey Craig! You are spot on correct. As you know, any time you pre-bend a tube, you make it more susceptible to bending easier. So you have to make it beefier or brace it.

We ran FEA analysis on these arms before we ever made any, just like I do with all my control arms. We build that curved strut (and the main LCA) out of 1.25" OD x .120" wall 4130 tubing. At 1.7G we have a 1.69 safety factor. We have had 1 or 2 DIY customers use .095" DOM, against our advice. They failed. That curved tube HAS to be strong.

[GregWeld]

Ya but.......... how are we going to slow it down!?!?! LOL