9 replies to this topic

[UCSLE]

anyone know what LH steering arms are made of ?

looking at cutting and welding them 

 

I am thinking that they are cast steel but not sure 

[Dr Terry]

They are forged steel.

 

AFAIK it is not legal to weld them.

 

Dr Terry

[ReplicarSLR]

Firstly why are you cutting and welding them? And as the good Dr said you are not allowed to weld them or heat and bend them on a street registered vehicle anyway.

[Heath]

In the drift world it's very common to cut and shut steering arms (they call them 'knuckles' typically) on strut and double wishbone Japanese cars with very good results, but it's not a very accessible welding process, so only a few people/shops are confident enough to do them. Useful for changing steering ratios (and consequently maximum available lock), ackerman angles, etc.

 

Certainly illegal for road use - like welding on a steering column. Once done correctly there seems to be nothing wrong with the structure. Cars will hit walls and tear all of the suspension out of the subframes without bending or breaking the cut-and-shut steering arms. I assume they are made of the same materials? Although I actually had assumed they were cast steel also, and could be wrong.

Edited by Heath, 11 February 2021 - 10:14 AM.

[UCSLE]

thanks for the reply's 

the car wont be used on the road but still need it to be safe

 

the reason about cutting them was that i have some camaro stubs that I,m deciding to use but the holes for the arms are a little bit further apart

 

if they are forged steel that idea will get thrown in the too hard basket

 

 camstub.JPG   42.95K   4 downloads

[neglectedtorana]

Interesting, are the Camaro stubs dropped? Same kpi?
What benefits?

What about Camaro steering arms?

[76lxhatch]

If it doesn't need to be road legal I'd be looking to make some new ones to suit, will be a lot easier to get everything exactly where you want it by machining holes rather than trying to line up welded pieces

[UCSLE]

Interesting, are the Camaro stubs dropped? Same kpi?
What benefits?

What about Camaro steering arms?

 same 9° Kpi but the downside is they are 15mm shorter (can be fixed with longer top balljoint )  and give about 8mm wider track each side

 

no real benefits they where cheap when i got them , thought i would give them a try

 

camaro arms look longer and the tie rod bolts from the bottom

Edited by UCSLE, 13 February 2021 - 10:33 AM.

[Bigfella237]

An easy way to tell if something is steel or iron is to touch it with an angle grinder, if you get sparks then it's most likely steel as cast iron just gives off a kind of black powder.

[axistr]

An easy way to tell if something is steel or iron is to touch it with an angle grinder, if you get sparks then it's most likely steel as cast iron just gives off a kind of black powder.

 

Yep as Bigfella said hit it with a grinder and watch the sparks. An old bloke once showed me the difference between the sparks. Steel gives off sparks that are in short straight lines, iron gives off sparks in crosses. Try it some time it still freaks me out a bit.