Quote:
Originally posted by Milan
A local guy put bends in both uppers and lowers. But this is where I'm afraid they might "fold" on me when backing down off of an obstacle and landing with most of the weight going through the arms. But maybe I'm worrying about stuff needlessly.
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If the axle end of the lower arms are relocated upward and mounted to the center point of the axle tube, they should be entirely responsible for locating the axle under the vehicle from front to back, and hence carrying most (if not all) of the rig's weight when it starts to go nose up. If they are triangulated, they should also assist with locating the axle side to side.
The upper links should be responsible for assisting with side to side location, and controling axle tilt (pinion height). Consequently, I would think putting a slight bend in the uppers shouldn't contribute much to failure (assuming it happens) in that situation. But I would manufacture the lowers out of some pretty stout material; say 2" OD .5 wall tube, and use a gradual radius in the bend.
After studying this a bit under my rig, I can't see where a mild bend (say 15-20 deg) in the lowers would result in contact with straight uppers. Bend them any more than that, and rear axle pinion will be the low point (assuming a low pinion axle to start with). The rear swaybar links are a given problem, and will be removed/replaced by a rear AR.
I think Currie's J-arms are less than 1/2" wall (7/16" IIRC), they seem to hold up well with their mounting location.