Lower arm mod...spherical bearing inside pivot and braced bottom.

[Opentracker]

These arms are for a '67-'68 car but the same work can be done to a '65-'66 arm. The parts, a free aftermarket replacement arm, spherical bearing, sleeve with locking ring, spacers to fit the bearing to the car and the brace.

A close up shot of the parts and the finished piece.

Before and after the brace.

I used a hole saw to prep. the arm for the sleeve. The brace is made from 14ga metal. Total cost is $47.95, $29.95 for the bearing, $6ea for the spacers, $5 for the sleeve and brace. Much better than paying $300+ for aftermarket arms. It's not hard work and it didn't take long. Any comments are welcome and as always I will be glad to help if someone wants to make some.


John

 

[65 fastback]

Once again, way to go John. We all really appreciate your fabriciation skills and your willingness to share them.

Tim

ps: Have you come up with any good ways to modify the tie rod ends?

 

[Opentracker]

Once again, way to go John. We all really appreciate your fabriciation skills and your willingness to share them. ps: Have you come up with any good ways to modify the tie rod ends?

We haven't had any trouble with tie rods. The aftermarket doesn't have anything for me to copy. We use a bump steer kit that replaces the outer tie rod with a greasable heim joint.

A lot of good people took the time to share ideas and answer my questions at the tracks. Most of what I do is copy other peoples work, I like to share my ideas but saving money is the real deal. You folks are a great bunch, I learn something new every time I log on.


John

 

[monk302]

Opentracker, I have been taking a look at these last couple fabrication posts that you have put up. I am curious to what kind of equipment you are using to weld. MIG or TIG. I would love to try what you are doing but I only have a gasless MIG welder from Sears that I don't think would do the trick. Thanks.

Mike

 

[tweet66]

I mark every onw of your posts so I can "borrow" from your ideas . Couple of questions though, do you have the part numbers on the bearings, what are the sleaves made from, part no. on the heim joints, where do you order all your cool parts from .
Ken

 

[bnickel]

yeah john a parts/supplier list would be really cool, especially for the sleeve and the spacers or did you have to fabricate those? thanks in advance

 

[RajunCajun]

Most of the stuff can be bought at a lot of diffrent places, a few for info are mcmaster which isnt to tech to confuse you and http://www.nationalprecision.com/ which will give u some detailed info and just about anything u want to know about the parts I personnely order parts from a local distributor that deals in industrail needs for where I work where dia of a bearing could be feet not inchs

 

[Opentracker]

The parts are easy to get or make. I had the spacers made at a local machine shop. The sleeve is a piece of thick wall 1 5/8" tubing that has been drum sanded to fit the bearing. A lath would be nice, I don't have one. The bearings are from National Precision Bearing #MS14104-12. This arm is my copy of the GW arm that they sell for $322pr. Add the cost of the GW strutt rods ($379.95pr) and a set of Maier upper arms ($495pr), on this car I will save over 1K by making my own upper and lower arms and strutt rods. Tires and brakes is where the money should be spent in my opinion. I think the brakes are the most important part of the car.

John

 

[bnickel]

hey john, i just went to the link you provided for the bearings and they don't show the part number you listed. do you have a different part number or the dimensions by any chance? i found a link to these spherical bearings and was interested in them because they have some teflon lined units

http://www.racerpartswholesale.com/ under qa-1 rod ends and these spherical bearings are fairly inexpensive, what do you think of these

 

[Opentracker]

The teflon units are fine. They don't list all the part # on the web site. You can call and ask Scott Dunan at ext. 212 about the part # I gave. I also use a MS14102-12.

John

 

[bnickel]

cool, thanks john.

 

[C0V3R]

Did it help as much as the roller perch mod?

 

[mdjay]

Do you intend to do more work in strengthening the chassis where these mount?

TCP and Global both are not using bushings to mount the lowers or the strut rods. Isn't there some logic in having some bushings dampen the road vibrations! Have you taken a close look at what you are mounting to? Especially the front strut mount bracket. Without adding some strength to these brackets, I see failures coming. I think it works for a race car, but not just a bolt on for a daily driver without the addition consideration for the chassis.

 

[dodgestang]

Gee a pair of those would look good on the 65

So how do they work on the track?

 

[latamud]

Looks good John,

Haven't gotten around to finishing up those perches I started. Did get the Cuda on the road. I like the feel of the hydraulic clutch. I took your advice and shimmed the tranny out 1/8". You were right, the retainer was hitting the disc. I still have a painful rining in my ears, definately permanent. I'm a few hours away from dropping the 351 into the Stang. Feels good to have the cars I want to drive driveable. Funny thing too, blew a head gasket in my Jeep so the Cuda is a daily driver for now. 4.11 in 5th gear is not so bad on the highway. I'll keep in touch.

 

[Opentracker]

Do you intend to do more work in strengthening the chassis where these mount?

TCP and Global both are not using bushings to mount the lowers or the strut rods. Isn't there some logic in having some bushings dampen the road vibrations! Have you taken a close look at what you are mounting to? Especially the front strut mount bracket. Without adding some strength to these brackets, I see failures coming. I think it works for a race car, but not just a bolt on for a daily driver without the addition consideration for the chassis.

If you look close at the stock bushing, there isn't much to it. I don't think the spherical bearing/heim joint will put a lot more stress on the chassis. Hard driving will. I do brace up the strutt rod mounting point when we put cars on the track. I have a idea how to lower the inside mounting point of the LCA 1 1/4", that mod will have bracing. Most of what I do is for racing and the car gets a full check-up after each event. We have a set of my lower arms on my daily driver '64 Falcon Sprint with no problems 'yet'. GW and TCP have been selling LCA's with a solid inside pivot for a long time. I have not seen a broken mounting point but I have seen a broken TCP LCA and that was on a track car that went off the track at speed. You have to figure too that the arm is only going to get as much stress as the traction of the tire to the ground will give it. The tire will slide before the metal breaks, unless you hit something!

Did it help as much as the roller perch mod?

No. The roller bearing perches make a major change to the car. I could hardly tell the difference with the new lower arms. The lower arm mod is to keep the camber from changing at speed on the track.


John