Car wants to change lanes when lifting from WOT

[Azar]

Alright!!! I was reading about homemade toe links!

This suspension stuff is just...above me. I read it, and it's like another language, just don't get it.

[usmcpi]

In a nutshell, to make you own adjustable rods, just measure the distance from center to center of each bolt.  Subtract 3" (round DOWN, for example 19.5" - 3 = 16.5".  Get 16" rod) and thats the length of threaded rod you need.  Pick appropriate rod ends and jam nuts and you are all set.

I made my own control arms and watts links for my 8.8 swap this way.

[digitalsolo]

Actually, Azar stopped out tonight and we fixed it up.    There was a bolt flat out missing from the rear suspension hub.  Just... gone.

In fairness, this car was town down to do suspension and transmission work, then towed to a transmission shop.   Apparently that bolt was missed during the bolt check.  I'm sure it was there, just not torqued properly.  Luckily there are 3 points on the rear hub, so while it was unsettling, it was unlikely to cause a failure.    We replaced it and all is well.

I'm on a roll for fuck-ups this week.

[usmcpi]

Hence why i always put a wrench on every bolt i may have possibly touched after doing a project, whether i know for a fact i torqued it or not, or someone else said they torqued it, whatever, doesnt matter.  If it had a chance of even being loosened, i check

[digitalsolo]

Hence why i always put a wrench on every bolt i may have possibly touched after doing a project, whether i know for a fact i torqued it or not, or someone else said they torqued it, whatever, doesnt matter.  If it had a chance of even being loosened, i check

Yeah, I worked on a professional race team, I'm very familiar with that concept.   The fact of the matter is when a car is torn down and moved between locations in a half assembled state, it's very easy for things to get missed unfortunately.    It is concerning to me that the alignment shop didn't notice this though.   I could feel it in the wheel as soon as I jacked the car up.

[Azar]

Meh, water under the bridge...just happy not being scared to go WOT.

[BeasTT]

Only bitches and gays are scared to go WOT

[Speedfab]

Connect your left turn signal to your gas pedal upstroke.  Problem solved.

[theantirotor]

In a nutshell, to make you own adjustable rods, just measure the distance from center to center of each bolt.  Subtract 3" (round DOWN, for example 19.5" - 3 = 16.5".  Get 16" rod) and thats the length of threaded rod you need.  Pick appropriate rod ends and jam nuts and you are all set.

I made my own control arms and watts links for my 8.8 swap this way.

These swaged steel tubes are the way to go.  There is a company that makes a kit that uses aluminum rods as well.  I was looking at them one day and one of our engineers at work saw me and asked what I was up to.  After describing what these bars do he said stay away from aluminum.

[Infidel]

i'm with you on the no aluminum, mine are currently aluminum and i've done my own alignment 3 times in a time period of about 3 months. after they were set the first time they were hella out the next 2 times. gonna switch out the aluminum for that style.

[usmcpi]

hmmmm....well the pic i posted of my control arms are steel, however the watts links i made out of aluminum tubing and aluminum jam nuts.  The rod ends are steel.   I made my control arms from steel because i figured they would take a lot of abuse.  I figured the watts links didn't need to be indestructible, so i went with the lightweight option.  Plus, the aluminum tubes have like .156" wall diameter compared to the steel around .09x"

I can tell you they held up fine when my wheel smacked into a curb, which resulted in the wheel being destroyed, the axle snapping at the wheel flange, the watts pivot point ripping off the bracket, and the whole 8.8 being pushed over about 3 inches.  Aluminum watts links still fine.  I guess only time will tell.