Raceco-USA TT Lower Trailing Arms

[Zambo]

Can't you simply fixture the arms so they come out the same? Never done anything like that so I don't know how precise you can get (or need to be for that matter).

[SPONSOR]

Membership in the largest desert racing community has its advantages - Participate in Forum Discussions - Send and Receive Private Messages - Maintain Public Photo Albums - Access to Groups - User Profile in our Social Network - Increased Access to more Sub Forums - Reduced Online Advertisements Join our community today

[atomicjoe23]

I was also wondering about that. . .parts move around all over the place when you weld them (all over the place being a relative term. . .for me all over the place is more than .005-.010") and a fixture would help, but I haven't done much fixture welding so I don't know how much parts "spring" once you remove them from the fixture.

What about making a jig so that you can adjust each LCA to be exactly the same length, but that would only work on a square chassis. . .and how square is a chassis after welding?

[DustyMetalFab]

For production parts all my fixtures are built with adjustable stops and fast clamps (VGs). All stops are set up out of print so after they are welded they pull and shrink to print. All my parts must stay .030 in to print specs. Lots of material and time to dial in fixtures like this but worth it in production. I have done trailing arms, control arms and many other parts this way. As long as the welders follow the weld patterns for the parts they stay very consistent. PEACE!

[scottm]

Good idea dusty.. Welded parts shrink no matter how you fixture them, but fixtures that are too rigid make it very hard to get the parts out. Sometimes you have to heat the part back up with a torch to get the fixture bolts out. If you have to make an arm fit up to an existing design, like a subframe, you either have to account for the shrinkage or you will have to make new spacers or bushings every time.