John P
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| posted on 3/9/13 at 05:20 PM |
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Making Trailing Arms for DeDion Axle. Advice Please.
I’m building a car with a GTS style DeDion rear axle and now need to sort out the trailing arms and Panhard rod.
Finances being very tight I’m trying to do this at the minimum cost and could do with some pointers.
I can weld but I’m not totally confident the quality will be good enough for suspension items, especially when welding round tube to round tube as I
find this much more difficult than box section.
So, what’s the easiest and cheapest way?
I thought of using 25mm box section for the trailing arms and cutting the ends to suit the bush tubes with a hole-saw. That way the welds would be
basically straight which I’d be more confident to do well but does one end really need to be adjustable?
Alternatively I’ve seen reference to using Nissan Bluebird items but obviously these are now so old that they seem impossible to find but has anyone
used anything from other more current vehicles?
Any advice would be appreciated.
John.
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big_wasa
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| posted on 3/9/13 at 06:52 PM |
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If your not happy with your welding just tack them and get some one to weld them up for a few beers.
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britishtrident
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| posted on 3/9/13 at 07:52 PM |
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I made a set of heavy duty square section trailing arms to take the larger size of Triumph rubber bush they worked fine.
What I would suggest if are going to make all 4 fixed length you need a really solid jig and make sure you make them as near 100% accurate in
length as possible.
[I] “ What use our work, Bennet, if we cannot care for those we love? .”
― From BBC TV/Amazon's Ripper Street.
[/I]
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craig1410
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| posted on 3/9/13 at 10:40 PM |
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I'd say your best bet for de-dion trailing arms is to use round tube and matching threaded inserts. This is what I used for my de-dion setup
which you can see here: http://www.meerkats.uk.com/meerkat-rv8-build?tag=de-dion
McGill Motorsports sell a range of rod-ends with matching inserts and tubing so you can construct whatever length trailing arm you need. Their
rod-ends are also very cheap compared to other places and are of very good quality. Note that if you get a left hand thread at one end and a right
hand thread at the other end then you can adjust the length of the trailing arm without having to remove either end. This is very handy! You will need
lock nuts at each end to stop them turing once you've adjusted the length.
http://www.mcgillmotorsport.com/rod-ends-bearings-imperial-unf-rod-ends-accessories/
Alternatively you can get ready made linkages (with left and right hand threads as described above) in a variety of lengths here:
http://www.mcgillmotorsport.com/imperial-unf-rod-ends-accessories-turnbuckle-linkages-unf/
If you don't want to use rod-ends then maybe you can source poly bush ends instead but I don't know where you would get those. I've
got rod-ends throughout on my car and it's really good. Don't bother with dust covers though, just get PTFE lined rod-ends ideally. I went
for 1/2 inch rod end with 1/2 inch threaded shank to give me plenty of strength.
HTH,
Craig.
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