granatelli k-member

ok so the welds are fine.

but there's one very small thing.......

they advertise that stock a-arms work with it. so i didnt buy any. they don't. i am cutting the spring perches out anyway, so they aren't really much heavier than tubular. i would have purchased them if i had known they aren't even close.

well its too late now. i want the car on the road tomorrow. so i cut the a-arm mounting points off and i am making some stainless replacements that will mount the factory a-arms AND return the wheelbase to factory.

otherwise i am satisfied with it. it mounted fine and all of the holes lined up.

its not going to break.

i have 6 x 15" ---" 3" backspaced front runners. i cant afford more caster. they will hit the fender.

i adjusted them a little. instead of losing it all i just moved the front tire 1/2" back.

it may be a copy, but its a strong one. it only needs to handle 165/80 r-15's. not much force really.

i recommend it if you buy their a-arms of course. this would have been a 3 hour job.


i have 1 side of the brackets welded on, and the 2nd side brackets are cut out and i am tacking them in place. once they are aligned and have the ride height set, i'll finish them .

i am using 309 stainless 3/32" sticks with 60 amps. stainless brackets for the a-arms to mount to. stringered root and weaved cover pass. front and back plates are boxed and double welded.

14 gauge stainless plates.

i am a certified welder. they are fine.

welding on heat treated metal is fine. you can even rework it once before the metal crystalizes at the weld area. i am weldding after grinding the old weld out. what you cannot do is use acetylene for cutting or burning holes, as it will remove the heat treament and make the metal extemely weak, ie instead of 100.000psi it can go low as 30,000 or worse have a very hard surface that is glass hard and shatters on impact.

i doubt this is heat treated. this stuff doesn't require a lot of loading and mild steel is fine with enough thickness. i welded semi traler suspensions for 3 years and reworked them. those are all heat treated in the beam and axle.

when you consired the loading of one wheel say a good tire with traction at high speed, the loading at 1.0 g is still only the proportion of the weight over both tires depending on the sway bar/spring, etc. it wont get to the 60 percent of full front weight. for example ifi have a 3000 lb car with 56 percent up front, i get ~1600lbs. at 1 g both fornt tires are contributing to cornering. the outside can be taking no more than the weight of the car where the tire begins to break loose. i am sure there are fellow willing to calculate the actual number , but lets sat its 70 percent or 1100 lbs. that would be a car with little sway bar in it like mine. (the back tires take the cornering force in my car).

so if 1100 lbs / 2 bushings = 550 lbs. in a double shear setup 550lbs is not that much weight.


i guess the actual weight each wheel takes is less than that.
the k-member is using 16 gauge mild steel for the shackles, and i suspect most others are too.


with the front and rear pivot points well overlapped and welded there is lot of strength there for cornering.

you dont have to heat treat an aluminum chasis or anything else after welding, with threads being the counter point. you can low temp Tig weld treads and remachine them.

well it is all together. you talk about riding different. some things i cant explain. the ride height dropped 1". that doesnt make any sense.

it turns out my measurements didnt take out as much wheelbase as i thought. it still added some. the handling is much crisper. the manual steering feels like power. camber is the same pretty much. i'll have to adjust it a tiny bit. i run camber for lowering rolling resistance anyway. i just toe it in a bit for good treadwear. (relatively)

i did go over a few welds i found during the process. i think they were ok, but i added metal anyway. 309 SS makes for a tough and strong tensile weld.

learning to weld like i do or other professionals takes training and years. as good as i see myself, my welding skills are a sad joke comared to a 15year boilermaker welder.