Mike Mileski Posted June 3, 2009 Share Posted June 3, 2009 Here's a picture (finally) of my new rear control arms. They are based on Cary's (tub80z)design with a couple of what I consider enhancements. I made some solid pieces with ears that take the place of the inner bushings, so the arms pivot on the two big, 3/4" X 3/4", heavy duty rod ends. In addition to having an adjustable floating leg, the other outer attachment point has an internally threaded shaft (similar to what Arizona Z Car used to have) that also allows it to be adjusted in or out without disconnecting anything. All of the other rod ends are 5/8" hole with 3/4" shank. I'll be installing them after powder coating. Mike Mileski Tucson, AZ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RB26powered74zcar Posted June 3, 2009 Share Posted June 3, 2009 Those are awesome looking Mike!! Must be nice to have your control arms in hand... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMortensen Posted June 3, 2009 Share Posted June 3, 2009 Looks good. Nice fab work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators RTz Posted June 3, 2009 Administrators Share Posted June 3, 2009 Nice Job. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tube80z Posted June 3, 2009 Share Posted June 3, 2009 Cool stuff, I like! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dat260 Posted June 3, 2009 Share Posted June 3, 2009 Hi, Very nice! I have your front setup. Can a sway bar attached to this LCA? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Mileski Posted June 3, 2009 Author Share Posted June 3, 2009 The large outer adjuster has a 3/4-16 thread all the way through it. Its rod end, even when threaded in all the way in, still leaves at least 1" of unused thread on the inner side (see picture). This just happens to be right in line with the end of the sway bar. I'll probably just thread in a short 3/4-16 bolt, tap the head with a 5/16" thread, and attach a 5/16" rod end for the sway bar link. I'll post a pic when I finish them (hopefully in a day or two). Mike Mileski Tucson, AZ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Mileski Posted June 3, 2009 Author Share Posted June 3, 2009 I had the parts for making the sway bar links so I just knocked one out, only I used a 3/8 rod end instead. See picture. Mike Mileski Tucson, AZ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Mileski Posted July 16, 2009 Author Share Posted July 16, 2009 Powder coated and ready to install. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dat260 Posted July 16, 2009 Share Posted July 16, 2009 Hi Mike, Do you have an extra set? I want to match the front set I got from you. Pm me with info. Cheers, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heavy85 Posted October 5, 2013 Share Posted October 5, 2013 (edited) Old thread but this design is the best one I've seen IMO and making a set is going to be one of my off season project. Several questions on material specs. - Assume 1" x 0.095 tubing? - The treaded tube where the rod ends attach - is that solid bar that was drilled and tapped or can you buy pretapped thickwall tube somewhere? - I've never seen one before so where can you get that bolt on clevis? - Seems 3/4 is overkill - has anyone successfully used 5/8 rod ends? - I really like the inner pivot rod ends that bolt in to the factory mount idea - is that a threaded tube in the middle between the rod ends and the outer piece with the ears that bolt to the chassis just has a through hole? - Going through the effort of making these, is there any geometry changes that would be usefull to build into them? Thanks Cameron Edited October 5, 2013 by heavy85 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMortensen Posted October 5, 2013 Share Posted October 5, 2013 tube80z used 5/8 and AZC used 5/8. The complaint was that the rod ends wore out really fast. 3/4 just gives a better lifespan for the rod ends. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beermanpete Posted October 5, 2013 Share Posted October 5, 2013 FK sells weldable tube ends. Take a look here: http://www.fkrodends.com/WELD44.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Mileski Posted October 8, 2013 Author Share Posted October 8, 2013 Cameron, I'll attempt to answer your questions. - Assume 1" x 0.095 tubing? No, it's 1" X .188" wall, same as all the rest of the tubing, except for the short piece where the "V" portion intersects. - The treaded tube where the rod ends attach - is that solid bar that was drilled and tapped or can you buy pretapped thickwall tube somewhere? All the tubing is the same, tapped for 3/4-16 thread when required. I can't remember who I bought the RH/LH threaded tubing pieces from (I'll keep searching). I know that they sell them in one inch increments all the way up to about 18" long. I'd pick a length just over what I needed, shorten it to the required length and rethread the shortened end. - I've never seen one before so where can you get that bolt on clevis? PSC Motorsports sell them (http://www.pscmotorsports.com/small-clevis-per-pair.html) - Seems 3/4 is overkill - has anyone successfully used 5/8 rod ends? See Jon's answer above. - I really like the inner pivot rod ends that bolt in to the factory mount idea - is that a threaded tube in the middle between the rod ends and the outer piece with the ears that bolt to the chassis just has a through hole? That's exactly right. - Going through the effort of making these, is there any geometry changes that would be usefull to build into them? I'm going to build another pair where the swing arm attaches to the front of the upright. Even though I've never had any issues with my arms in three years, the consensus on the forum seems to be that a front attaching swing arm design might be better. When I do this, I may consider lowering the inner pivot points. Again, that's been discussed here too and it seems that it would improve the rear suspension geometry. I would do it by welding the ears on the outer mounting pieces a bit higher, maybe all the way on the top, which would lower the inner mounting pivot point almost an inch over stock. Mike Mileski Tucson, AZ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
socorob Posted October 8, 2013 Share Posted October 8, 2013 What is the purpose of the heim/clevis part in middle of the section? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
d3c0y Posted October 8, 2013 Share Posted October 8, 2013 If you are interested in knocking up a few sets i know a few of us in Australia that would be keen on buying some. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMortensen Posted October 8, 2013 Share Posted October 8, 2013 What is the purpose of the heim/clevis part in middle of the section? The toe link needs freedom to move on both ends. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tube80z Posted October 8, 2013 Share Posted October 8, 2013 Old thread but this design is the best one I've seen IMO and making a set is going to be one of my off season project. Several questions on material specs. - Assume 1" x 0.095 tubing? I did a second set stil based on a stock arm for the inner and one leg. I used 1 inch by 0.095 because I had it laying around. I would have probably gone to 0.065 if I had it. - Seems 3/4 is overkill - has anyone successfully used 5/8 rod ends? I used 5/8 with 3/4 shank. First set wore out really quickly. Upgraded to an Aurora 3 piece and had no issues for 2 seasons on another V8 car. First set of heims were the 2 piece variety. I wouldn't recommend using those (QA-1) - Going through the effort of making these, is there any geometry changes that would be useful to build into them? Going forward I would like to have a subframe that bolts into the stock inner location and has tabs with extra hols the arms would bolt into. In this design the inner pivots would now be heims too, rather than using the stock pivots. I started with mine level front to rear but you can add angle to try things without the binding you get from stock. One of our local competitors used this idea to add significant anti squat to his car and loves it. He uses softer springs. I wasn't happy when I tried that but a lot of this comes down to personal preference rather than theoretical optimums. If you haven't moved to a sway bar hanging from hiems or similar low friction mount add that to your projects. It's not too hard but helps to free the suspension up a lot, especially if you use poly mounts for the bars. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heavy85 Posted October 9, 2013 Share Posted October 9, 2013 Thanks for all the info. Change of plans - after more searching I came across Cary's pic of his modified stock arm. http://forums.hybridz.org/topic/62776-yet-another-rear-control-arm-design/page-5 I'm still curious about comments to lower the inner pivot. Seems that would be the same as lowering the rear of the car? I would have though it would be better to raise the rear roll center on a lowered car and therefore would want to raise the inner pivots? Whats the thinking here? Thanks Cameron Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tube80z Posted October 10, 2013 Share Posted October 10, 2013 I may have missed those comments but generally I wouldn't lower the inner pivots. Either the same or raise them up depending on how low you go or if you want to raise the RC to help turning. What I found after a season of playing that game is it was better to run a lower rear RC and a swaybar. With a raised RC the car had good turn in but lost the ability to put power down. With the RC lower it would put the power down but was lazy on transition. I know a number of people don't like to use a rear bar but I think you'd want to at least try it. Results will vary as they say. Cary Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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