My trailing arm idea, what do you think?

[glock35ipsc]

I have been kicking around an idea to start building trailing arms that working men and women truck builders can afford, and wanted to ask an opinion of the masses:

What would you think if you could buy a trailing arm that was pre-bent to correct the pinion angle of a lowered truck? Since the pinion angle takes a nose dive the lower the truck is, well, lowered, I was thinking that trailing arms could be made available for trucks that are, say..... stock, lowered 2", 4", or 6". OR..... I could build a replacement front trailing arm mounting bracket with a number of holes to let the owner select the location to adjust the pinion angle at any time using stock trailing arms.

I'm still in the planning phase, but I am looking at building stock replacement trailing arms at a minimum. I am also looking at putting together the following kits, just for starters:

* Reinforcement plates and templates for shortening frames
* Complete frenched antenna kits
* Laser cut shaving kits for - marker lights, stake pockets, fuel filler, heater, door handle & key
* Auto trans crossmembers
* And of course, the trailing arms

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated!

[byrd]

I think you have some really good ideas, I personally would like to see the frenched ant kit. There is a guy on Ebay and I believe he is a member here that sells the precut metal to shave the firewall,fuel filler,stake pockets, sidemarkers and door handles, may want to see what he is getting for them to see if they are worth your time. I got the shaving stuff from him, pretty nice stuff too, but I can't remember the prices right off hand.

The trailing arms would be nice if you can build them cost effectively, but the shipping is ALWAYS going to be an issuse with them. GOod luck in your venture and I know there is a market for the stuff mentioned, just how big is yet to be determined... just my .02 Randy

[glock35ipsc]

Thanks for the reply Randy. We have a pretty tight relationship with our steel supplier, and they do a lot of laser work for us, so I should be able to get very good pricing through them on the shaved parts.

I think the biggest hurdle for the trailing arms will be the jig to form the bend. Beyond that, they should be pretty straight forward fab work.

[slammed71]

Sounds like a great idea to me!

[Longhorn Man]

A more cost effective way to solve the lowering/pinion angle...
Have one part number for the trailing arms, and have the price include a set of angled shims... ride height will dictate the P/N of shims... or wedges.
If you only sell 3 of the 4 inch drops in a year, you are only stocking X.00 dollars of parts, and in a smaller area, rather than storing $XXX.oo in parts, that hog up valuable storage.

Just a thought.


As for shipping, look into DHL, they are 1/2 the price of UPS, although, they just did a 100 pound cap on packages. maybe it'd still be cheaper to ship 2 seperate packages?

[glock35ipsc]

Good thinking Andy, thanks!

As for DHL, I refuse to use them. At least around here, they suck! Always a day late for pickups. I ship alot to Canada, and they have yet to deliver on time when the customer requested them.

I don't have near the discount with them either as I do with FedEx or UPS. I seem to be one of the few that gets both good service and pricing with them two. I just can't get DHL to up the discount to make them more competitive with UPS and FDX. I have a great discount with FedEx, both Express and LTL, and use them whenever possible.

[68GenIII]

Best bet for the trailing arms would be a universal arm and and ajustable front mount as you mentioned. Some nice chromemoly tubular arms would be trick and drop some weight

[arkracing]

You have to be extremely careful when selling "suspension" parts.

That is a HUGE liability if soemthing were to break. Remember people are sue-happy.

You would be best to talk with a lawyer and maybe draft up some type of disclaimer saying that the purchaser is modifing the vehicle from the original and assumes all responsibilty.

[Hart_Rod]

Originally Posted by 68GenIII

Best bet for the trailing arms would be a universal arm and and ajustable front mount as you mentioned. Some nice chromemoly tubular arms would be trick and drop some weight

Isn't that how CPP designed theirs?

[68GenIII]

Originally Posted by Hart_Rod

Isn't that how CPP designed theirs?

No idea? I do know that CPP did not have this in mind:

I have been kicking around an idea to start building trailing arms that working men and women truck builders can afford, and wanted to ask an opinion of the masses.

As the author of this post did.

[madiron]

somebody needs to make an affordable step notch for our frames the 195.00 that kp sells is very pricy but from what im told is worth the money now if someone can just make it cheaper i would have my install done

[dirtball]

What about using a beefy heim joint to get the length/pinion angle adjustment needed?

[mark69]

I'd be in for a set of trailing arms for my C20 here in the rusty Northeast. Like the CPP but too expensive and are overkill for me...

[glock35ipsc]

I'm still working on designing a press/jig to put the bend it the tube. Stay tuned.......