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Pretty sure uninformed/Sergio has hardness tested the arms.
I'll give him a ring or PM him about this thread.
There was a Kiwi bloke that had tested them pre and post bending (IIRC he used a large forge for heat) and again, IIRC there was bugger all difference in hardness after bending.
He had a good site on how he went about it but I can't find it ATM.
I'm not sure why you don't think the bottom one's been heated and bent ?
If anyone here has the facilities or the ability and we can arrange the facilities I'll put my hand up for modifying my set (D2). How do they go bending and accounting for spring back post deflection?
I honestly think bush distortion is a non-issue, particularly if you use Super-Pro bushes on the pin.
To my mind, correct the chassis bush angle and your castor and uni joint angle is out so you need another bend at the diff end (and your uni angle is out the other way)
Articulation is restricted by bush bind at the diff end, this is why Haultech's old 'holey' bushes worked so well. (and why three link front ends work)
Use castor corrected bushes at the diff end and you'll bind the front end up more due to the placement of the sleeve to wall thickness of the bush.
(90/110130's use a two sleeve bush. RRC's and Disco's use a triple sleeve bush that stiffens the front end a lot in comaprison)
Having said that you're snookered a bit with a DII as you can't castor correct the swivel.
No RA's were bent stock (unless involved in an accident) The RA's will bend with OR without heat. For example, it took 1800psi with a 5 inch dia cylinder to bend a RA 150mm back from the rear bush, being supported at 300mm apart....as far as needing a huge gas axe, Nope, just time depending on your tip size....a standard #15 cutting tip would cut through that let alone heat it....As a side note, the stock ones we tested were approx 1.5 times harder than mild steel.
as Rick said, run straight arms, super pro @ chassis, either SP or oem rubber at axle and castor correct swivel if needed. Re uni, stock arms on a stock truck swing through an arc that the uni angle/propshaft has been set up for....lifting a truck on its springs is still using this same arc....bending the arms changes this, making the unis and castor worse than a stock arm on a lifted truck
And on a D2 we don't need worry about chassis end bind but castor correction is the issue.
My thought today is, When you lift the diff rotates through it's arc and effectively (though admittedly very slightly) shortens the wheelbase. If we bend the arms at the chassis end as per the picture it will improve clearance but worsen the castor. It needs another bend in the opposite direction at the diff end to both push the castor back into at least the lifted value if not all the way back to standard. On top of this we need to lengthen the arm as the second bend will add to this shortening of the arm and movement of the diff backwards in the wheelbase.
I'd like an arm with the bend at the chassis as in the picture plus another (or simply some sort of correction) at the diff end to both adjust castor and lift the radius arm a bit higher at the chassis to improve clearance.
correcting the castor with the RA will give the wrong pinion angle....as the diff travles down the pinion wants to point more up towards the T/case, if you correct the castor it will rotate the pinion down away from the T/case....aftermarket prop shafts can fix this.....IMO a straight arm is the way to go...in either design the chassis end is NOT the limiting factor/bushQuote:
Originally Posted by clubagreenie
I often think that the best way out of this is a fabricated chassis mount maybe an inch or two down and an inch forward. With the panhard rod mount also bought down to make it parallel at the lifted height.
Solves all the issues of caster , diff angles etc. Need a longer drive shaft, but you could also make it 2 inches forward and fit much bigger tyres.
I note that these are now available for Patrols.
Regards Philip A
Drop boxesQuote:
Originally Posted by PhilipA
You don't wanna shift the Panhard as far as I know as it wants to travel in sync with the drag link
The lower arm in the pics looks to only of been cranked to relieve stress, making castor worse
I have a set of cranked arms here, out of a wreck, Micheal, HSVrangie cranked them
if you are dropping it down to return to stock angles, why then move it forward??? As said, you will come into trouble with your panhard.....Quote:
Originally Posted by PhilipA