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11-01-2006, 02:09 PM | #1 |
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Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Minnesota
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The birth of trailing arms
Well I saw the 2" x 3" tube trailing arms ece is selling and thought WOW $500 for them. Granted they are bolt on with u-bolts and spring cups but I'm gonna try my handywork at a pair. I picked up what I need for $40 at the local steel supplier. Here is the start of them I got them cut with a little head scratching using my old ones as a pattern, we'll see how they turn out. I'll keep you updated.
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11-01-2006, 02:12 PM | #2 |
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Re: The birth of trailing arms
sweet.. keep the updates coming
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11-01-2006, 04:44 PM | #3 |
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Re: The birth of trailing arms
Very Nice!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
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11-01-2006, 06:12 PM | #4 |
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Re: The birth of trailing arms
Hi everyone, This is my first post. I'm the new guy. I'm really glad this topic came up. I am planning on doing the same thing myself except without the bends because I'm going to lower my truck to the ground. When I put the stock arms up to the frame the pitch is real high on the arms pushing the axle forward of it's original position. I hope you understand what I'm talking about. I definatelly will keep track of this post. Thanks, Dan
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11-01-2006, 06:31 PM | #5 |
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Re: The birth of trailing arms
Those look really beefy,way better than original I'd bet, and it'll probably cost 1/3 of an aftermarket set, not including your time of course. Nice.
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11-01-2006, 07:09 PM | #6 |
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Re: The birth of trailing arms
Look good, and welcome to the board slam72.
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11-01-2006, 07:33 PM | #7 |
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Re: The birth of trailing arms
Be sure and take a bunch of pics. Would be nice for a FAQ post. I'll be watching as well.
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11-01-2006, 07:34 PM | #8 |
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Re: The birth of trailing arms
LMC sells them for $299 still alot more than you will be paying, but cheaper than ece
http://www.lmctruck.com/features/cb/CBCR1.htm
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11-01-2006, 07:58 PM | #9 |
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Location: Mesa, AZ
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Re: The birth of trailing arms
ECE sells there's for 499.00 a pair a LMC are 299.00 each. But still expensive either way you look at it.
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11-01-2006, 08:38 PM | #10 |
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Re: The birth of trailing arms
get with bagged74 he built his from sratch too the same way.
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11-01-2006, 09:01 PM | #11 |
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Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Minnesota
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Re: The birth of trailing arms
I will keep updates on these. I rounded the ends tonight in front of the bushings so they don't rub in the mounts. Hopefully I will get the holes drilled and welding done this weekend. The cheapest new set I have seen is $449 for a pair.
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11-01-2006, 09:37 PM | #12 |
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Re: The birth of trailing arms
Great start What are you going to use for pivots though?
Shane |
11-01-2006, 10:25 PM | #13 |
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Re: The birth of trailing arms
anyone ever seen or have pictures of the LMC ones? the catalog image is horably pixelated?
ondrew |
11-02-2006, 08:02 AM | #14 |
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Location: Minnesota
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Re: The birth of trailing arms
I'm going to get the poly bushings that come without the metal housing or cut off the metal housing off the standard bushing and use either dom or standard pipe which ever is closer in size.
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11-04-2006, 07:04 PM | #15 |
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Re: The birth of trailing arms
I got the holes drilled & the butts welded up now I have to wait for my bushings to make sure I have the right size pipe for the pivots so far so good. The biggest expense so far was a couple decent drill bits.
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11-04-2006, 08:43 PM | #16 |
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Location: Southern Pines NC
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Re: The birth of trailing arms
I was curious, when ECE designed the aftermarket trailings arms why do you still have to have a block for lowering? With all the other suspension stuff they sell why wouldn't they offer trailings arms that don't need a block, they would look a lot cleaner and maybe a little stronger.
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11-04-2006, 08:59 PM | #17 |
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Location: Minnesota
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Re: The birth of trailing arms
I dont know? I just kept them the same as the factory ones. I studied the ece picture for quite awhile to try to duplicate them. I bought 4" drop Belltech springs so I dont plan on using any lowering blocks. I was going to make a less of a curve on them then decided to keep them the same as all the other ones. Maybe there is a reason. After I get them on I could build another set with a little different design and see how they look. The second set would be alot easier to make.
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11-04-2006, 09:17 PM | #18 |
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Re: The birth of trailing arms
speaking of springs are those things chromed or stainless? excelent work btw. would you be up for making a few sets for board members? i'd love a set.
ondrew |
11-04-2006, 09:37 PM | #19 |
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Location: connecticut
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Re: The birth of trailing arms
Looks great!!! make a few pairs and sell them on the board,I'll buy!! I have wanted to ask you , I'm redoing my arms and ece sells that renforcement kit, why no strips to box the sides in? should I have some made up or is what they give you enough? THANKS JOHN
Last edited by "67"StepSide; 11-04-2006 at 09:39 PM. |
11-04-2006, 09:45 PM | #20 |
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Location: Dyer, Indiana
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Re: The birth of trailing arms
In the November issue of SportTruck the one with the red 68 on the cover... theres a bunch of pages with products for our trucks and they show the arms there
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BOBBY _69 SWB_ 1000 pics of 67-72's>> http://s193.photobucket.com/albums/z...-72/?start=all << |
11-04-2006, 09:47 PM | #21 |
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Re: The birth of trailing arms
Thats my only concern if I should reinforcent the sides or not. I'm pretty confident with my welding. I like the clean look of these like the ece ones. I think the tubing would bend before the welds would break. My only hold back from selling them is the liability if something broke on them.
I do plan on closing the ends up but I am going to leave that til the end to make sure everything works with the pivot points. The springs are powder coated silver. Last edited by Ram-Man; 11-04-2006 at 09:51 PM. |
11-04-2006, 11:40 PM | #22 |
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Location: san marcos tx.
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Re: The birth of trailing arms
what thickness of metal did you use? i've seen a guy put a backing strip on the longer sides of the tube and leaving a 1/8 gap so when he weld the pieces together it penatrated all three pieces giving it less of a chance for the weld crack
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11-05-2006, 12:09 AM | #23 |
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Re: The birth of trailing arms
The arms look very nice! If it were me, I would go ahead and do the re-inforcement plates. There will be a lot of stress on that weld... better safe than sorry!
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11-11-2006, 07:12 PM | #24 |
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Re: The birth of trailing arms
Well, They are about done except for paint. $500 for a set looks like a bargain after I look at all the time I have into these. The poly bushings were about 1/16" of an inch too large for the 1 1/2" pipe for the pivots so I chucked them up in the drill press and took off a 1/16" with sand paper and flat files. This was time consuming. Here are some more pics if anyone wants to take a shot at building a pair.
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11-11-2006, 07:13 PM | #25 |
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Re: The birth of trailing arms
One more view.
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