I am getting ready to rebild the arms on my toyota. I used mild steel for my first time. I was only 16 at the time though and now i know that its probly not the best to use. Should i use Chromoly or DOM tubing. Also i have a miller mig welder and will mig welding be ok for welding the arms or should i tack everything together and take it elsewhere to have it TIG welded. The last question is is it better to use heims or bushings at the pivot points for the upper arms and strut for the lower arms.
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Your design and layout should dictate the strength, not solely the materials you use. Most strength comes from tieing everything together properly and gusseting high stress/load areas. MIG welding will work fine as long as your MIG welding is good. Do you have plans to make tubular or boxed arms?
i havent decided on tubular or boxed arms yet. Which one in peoples opinions would be best. Im open to all suggestions. I do have some pics of the arms. I know they arent the best, but i was 16 when i made them and had never touched a suspension before. I only got 12 inches of travel out of them but i know where my mistakes where, the main problem was the upper arms and the plate the ball joint attached to, it put the ball joint in a bind too soon. the other problem was the steering, i need to go to heimed steering because they are 5+ per side. the pic only shows the lowers, i can try to get some of the uppers tomorrow
I also wanted to ask if its really necessary to use uniballs on the lowers. I plan to use uniballs on the upper. Ive seen toyotas get 18 inches of travel with stock ball joints so do i really need to use the uniball on the lower.
this is what happens when you make a-arms out of mild steel. .120 wall 1.5" HREW. now my arms have lasted for 2 years now of serious abuse and the right upper just folded over the weekend. right at the end of the gussett. just metal fatigue, i guess. some re-designing is necessary. see pics...
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