Fab your own ext. radius arms

[infantry grunt]

Im thinking of extending my radius arms via welder and some bolt stock along with some steel to reinforce/strengthen the area.What is yalls opinion on this,adding some bolt stock on top of the radius arms where it mounts to the radius arm brackets,and making the stud longer.I have a good welder and can weld good enough that I trust my welds.Is this a safe procedure?Reason I ask is extended radius arm cost ALOT of money,and was hoping its something I could do myself,besides its fun building things.

 

[Surrey]

do a search. this is a very common thing there is plenty of info around here on how people have done this.

Have you checked the tech library?

 

[Surrey]

Heres a good link

http://www.therangerstation.com/forums/showthread.php?t=34439&highlight=extended+radius+arms

 

[PanamaExpat]

Check Brinker88's build thread. I plan on copying the ones he set up. So far they are the best DIY setup I have seen.

http://www.therangerstation.com/forums/showthread.php?t=136219&page=2

http://www.therangerstation.com/forums/showthread.php?t=125429 Brinker's build thread.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

I built my own this time around on my choptop. The first time I put it together I had a guy from the forums (redneckwelder) fab me up a set. They worked and they were cheap since he just used some spare parts and scrap laying around, but when it came time to put a D-35 under the choptop, I decided to do a new set of arms.

The first set worked but I had some tire rubbing issues with 33's, never got around to trying to tweak the arms to try to adjust for that. Also the D-28 shock mounts were not working out for the shocks I had and they were a PITA to bolt up since the back was plated. Rod ends were used for the frame mount end and I wanted something beefier that didn't require shims for freedom of movement. I also wanted to extend them slightly and to change the frame bracket design so that I could attach a transmission crossmember to it.

I looked around for awhile at different designs, the easiest and cheapest way to extend the arms is to use the stock bushings - just cut the end of the radius arm off with the stud, extend it with a piece of steel and stick the stud in the end of the steel, then make up a frame bracket to accept the stock bushing. Really it would work fine for all the travel that a TTB axle has. But mine were rusted pretty good and I wanted to go all out....

I bought some Ballistic Joints along with threaded inserts and jam nuts, prefab shock tabs, some 2x2x.250 tube, and some 1/4" steel for plating purposes. Then I did some careful mockup work, tacked it all together, took it out and welded it up and now I'm hoping that it all worked out, lol. You can check out my build thread if you want, http://www.therangerstation.com/forums/showthread.php?t=128887

 

[infantry grunt]

thanks for the info,and no I havent done a search yet.I basically wanted to know if it would be safe,but now I have something to go on,thanks again guys

 

[straycat]

do a search. this is a very common thing there is plenty of info around here on how people have done this.

Have you checked the tech library?

^^what he said. A few post on this aready.

 

[infantry grunt]

I hope yall dont think Im just too lazy to do a search,just wondered what some who have done this,have had any safety issues.I feel pretty confident in my ability,and know what materials to use,now.Thanks for the posts and links guys,mush appreciated.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

I used a stick welder to put my extended arms together. I'm not all that great with arc welding yet, but I'm not afraid to take a grinder and grind out a weld if I think it has a problem. I used 6011 for some of it since it burns really hot and has nice penetration. Most of it I used 7018 rod. I used some 6013 where I had to build up a bit of weld since it splatters less and I've found it easy to work with.

Not that my limited welding knowledge is worth anything, lol.

Best thing is to make sure you get the metal as clean as possible where you're welding and to make sure you have good penetration. Things like boxing in the back of the arms are really just extra reinforcement. I cut the stock radius arms, fit the square stock in, lined it up and tacked it, then welded the tube to the stock arm as fully as possible. Then I plated the back and welded it up solid. I'm fairly confident that it should hold up for what I'm using it for just fine - street and mild off-road. When I get around to building a crawler, I'll probably use a thicker wall tube for any control arms I have to make just because it will be subject to much more abuse.