Thread: Metallurgy Question

Tweet

The span on this steering arm is just a little too wide for my spindle. Would heating and bending a forged piece like this cause any weakness? Or, would cutting and welding to fit be better?

I think it will.

if you gonna do one or the other, i'd heat and bend it before i cut and wielded it.

That looks like a camaro arm, what are you trying to put it on?, how much diferent is the holes?, can you widen the holes to make it work?

If you deside to heat it(which I think would be best) after it is bent to where you want it let it cool by itself NO WATER.

Yes, I think it may be from a Camero. I'm doing a straight front axle 55 Chevy, and thought I could use it to tie my rod from the box. The mounting holes are just a little wide for my spindle. If I could narrow it, and use longer studs to mount it, I'd have the link I need to steer. I just need to get a dropped pitman arm to fit the stock 55 steering box and run the crosslink over to the passenger side wheel. This axle already has the tie rod. Also, notice the extra tie rod connected on the cross tie rod. I wonder if I could just hook my crossover link to that spot? But it may not have enough leverage to turn the wheels.

you may be changing your bump steer also.

Originally Posted by drofdar

The span on this steering arm is just a little too wide for my spindle. Would heating and bending a forged piece like this cause any weakness? Or, would cutting and welding to fit be better?

A forged piece is a forged peice,heating and bending will weaken it.Cutting and welding it will weaken it also.

Either way you go it's not good. IMO I wouldn't do either. (I guess this is where college and metallury classes come in handy? LOL). If you heat and bend it then yes do NOT cool it down with water. But either way like I said, don't do it because you will have a weak spot there and a pot hole or bump and crack it or cause major problems.

on every race car i ever built i heated and bent the idler arm, to get the bump, steer that i wanted. some of the dirt tracks i ran on had corn row's you could loose the car in. never broke a idler arm.

Ok, I am new here on the site, Brian in my name. I want to get this clear what you are after. You want to install this Camaro steering arm on the right side spindle of your 55 Chevy so you have a spot for the drag link to hook up instead of using that tie rod end with the second hole that we see in the last picture? Is that right?

First off, why do you want to change what is there?

Second, if the length of the camaro arm is different than the other side you will have wheels turning at the wrong angle. This length needs to be the same on both sides from the center of the king pin to the center of the tie rod end pivot.

The "leverage" is going to be changed quite a bit by the length of the pitman arm as well. What you have now, without trying it you don't know.

Brian

Originally Posted by BigTruckDriver

A forged piece is a forged peice,heating and bending will weaken it.Cutting and welding it will weaken it also.

A good welder will disagree with this statment.
He would say a good weld is as strong or stronger than the area around the weld.
Ever try and cut through a good weld or try and grind on it??

True about the weld, but then the area around the weld will be the first to give.

Originally Posted by BigTruckDriver

True about the weld, but then the area around the weld will be the first to give.

Why??
If they welder does his job the area around the weld will not be compremised.
I had an old 454 1053 steel crank that I spun a rod on about 15 yrs ago.
I had it welded up and ran another two seasons on it.
12.5 to 1 comp. ratio and 7,000 rpm's.
Last I knew 4 years ago it was still in a street car and un-broken.
I think a lot of it depends on the welder's experience.

It is pretty common practice to heat and bend early Ford spindle arms to gain dropped axle clearance. I did mine 20 years ago, and still are ok. Heat cherry red in the spot where you want the bend to be, then slowly bend to final shape. As mentioned, let it cool naturally, and try to keep your bends to a minimum and only one time per spot. I had to bend mine first close to the backing plate, then a second time up to align with the king pin angle. Getting enough heat to soften the steel is the key to prevent cracking.


Don