Stainless Steel Rear Trailing Arms...?

[Spray-Bomb]

[Hart_Rod]

Why not replace the wood with metal? I guess you're going for originality, .

[metalmassfab]

Originally Posted by Hart_Rod

Why not replace the wood with metal? I guess you're going for originality, .

Oh, gosh yes, we could never stoop so low as to change the original woodwork of such an antique...
Might be the funniest thing I've heard this month

[metalmassfab]

I read elsewhere on the forum that guys were needing some adjustment, more than the stock U bolt would allow, for rearend alignment. A set of the steel rectangle tube arms are almost done, but I'm wondering about this alignment deal. I think all thats needed is 1" or less of front-to-back adjustment for the rearend. Something simple like a bolt in a threaded tab on each arm; tighten the bolt, that side of the rearend moves forward, loosen to move back. I'd appreciate some thoughts or ideas on this...

Next topic;
The new X-members. These are not required with the new arms, its just that we are updating these trucks everywhere else, so why not? The main thing with these is the dropped driveshaft loop to make 1 piece shaft conversions easier. When I installed a 700R4 and 1 piece shaft in my C20 longbed, I had to cut the bottom of the rear X-member driveshaft loop out and fabricate a 2" droop section so the shaft would clear. Exhaust routing is another thing. I like exhaust tucked up, out of sight. Routing the pipes through hole it the X-member will go a long way towards tucking the pipes. There are 'probly aftermarket X-members available already, but I'll take a stab at this as well...at least just for my truck.

[Hart_Rod]

Originally Posted by metalmassfab

I read elsewhere on the forum that guys were needing some adjustment, more than the stock U bolt would allow, for rearend alignment. A set of the steel rectangle tube arms are almost done, but I'm wondering about this alignment deal. I think all thats needed is 1" or less of front-to-back adjustment for the rearend. Something simple like a bolt in a threaded tab on each arm; tighten the bolt, that side of the rearend moves forward, loosen to move back. I'd appreciate some thoughts or ideas on this...

You mean something like this.......

[LUV2XCLR8]

I'd luv a set of the round arms in SS, if they were comparable to CPP in $

[metalmassfab]

Hart_Rod...thats what I was thinking. Probly drop it down inside the arm, adjust from the back. Clean, simple and hidden. Good!

I'm not going to comment on the CPP arms...ok maybe so. Those are priced the same as the factory replacement arms, and why not? No other real competition, they can ask what they want. The deal here is to have the rectangle stainless arms fairly close to those, even though the stuff is sometimes over $20 a foot... We'll see.

[metalmassfab]

Ok, sit down, this'll take a few minutes. I know I said something about 'stainless' here somewhere but I went with the poll results thus far... so the first pics are of the steel rectangle arms. These things are fully reinforced at the angle joint, beefed to the equivalent of a 1" thick solid plate. I did this because I plan on doing some seriously demented things with my truck when (...if...) it gets done. Things like dune jumping at Glamis... and it'll always remain a real C20, with full 3/4 or 1 ton running gear because I like to be able to throw 2500 lbs of stuff in the bed... and I think these new arms are more than strong enough.
I decided around 5 years ago that the 2x3 tubing by itself just doesn't look right, kinda cheap an flimsy. Anyway, as you can see the rear 18" or so of these are widened to mimic the stock units in width. More area to distribute the load of the spring, and the factory shock/overload spring brackets fit better this way. All the welds will be completely smoothed, making it look like some really expensive CNC hydro-forming machine was used I'll weld shock mount tabs on these arms if someont wants, makes for a cleaner setup I 'spose.
(1) Internal E-brake cable: Still being worked on, looks like it may take custom cables...checking on that.
(2) Adjustment for rearend alignment: Again, still working on it. I really can't decide if I like the idea of having slotted holes for the U-bolt to move in, or putting the adjustment at the bushing end (front) of the arm. All that is needed is 1/2" or so, and I'm kinda leaning toward the front adjustment idea.
(3) The U-bolt, spring, and bushing holes in these arms are all getting heavy wall (.185+) machined tubes pushed in and welded to remove the clamping stresses from the rectangle tubing.
(4) These arms will come with either rubber, polyurethane, or polygraphite bushings installed, whichever y'all want. And there wont be any of the 'ya gotta use the original metal shell' crap either. I think a grease fitting for the bushings to kill potential noise may be good too.
(5) To go with these arms, I guess I'll do an adjustable track locater bar too, in steel and stainless.

My dad, (mr. polish the stainless rearend) won't shut up about polishing a set of the stainless trailing arms, so that is on the board too. I'll be nice and warn anyone interested in polished SS arms... $$$$ Its a long, tedious process that I don't enjoy! But I'll do it. More pics (better ones...) coming soon, I 'snuck' into my shop this morning and took a couple spy pics for you guys. I finally tried out the spot-weld feature on my tig machine, killer for set up work.
Back to work...

[metalmassfab]

One more thing: I found stainless U-bolts...but you guys don't want to know how much they are. I'll see about making those too, but no promises.

[RACINJASON22]

Sounds GR8 to me. Keep us posted and I'm sure they will be more than stong enough. RJ22

[72CSTC5]

Those are sweet looking no doubt.

[LUV2XCLR8]

[Sonny]

Man, those look sweet! These, along with a camaro rear disc setup and I will be set for my truck's rear end!

Sonny

[metalmassfab]

Thanks for the encouragement, fellas... its 4:04 a.m. here, back to work! I'll have more pics to post in a couple days. Better pics! I think we'll call these trailing arms 'Ironclads', considering how they are made. For you guys interested in the stainless round tube arms, be prepared to wait a bit! I try to make things have nice lines, and flow together (like our trucks...) and attaching round tubing to a larger square piece is usually butt-ugly. And if I dont like it, you wont see it come out of my shop, unless its en route to the scrap yard. The first 'rounders' are going to take some playing with to get worthy of being installed on a Chevy truck!
There are a few other 'projects' in the works for our trucks, the main thing other than the trailing arms right now is slick new radiator core supports, in steel and stainless... should I start another thread for those, or put them on this one? Remember, I'm the new guy, and I'm still getting the hang of this forum bit. I shoulda used a broader topic here, I guess.

[Sonny]

My truck is and will be a daily driver so the square tube regular steel is what I am looking for. How do you plan to do the U-bolt holes and spring perches?

Sonny

[metalmassfab]

Originally Posted by Sonny

My truck is and will be a daily driver so the square tube regular steel is what I am looking for. How do you plan to do the U-bolt holes and spring perches?

Sonny

Glad you asked, Sonny!
The U-bolt holes are going to be cut with a milling machine to maintain accuracy on these things. There will be a piece of heavy wall round tubing (.185"+) pressed in and tig welded in place to eliminate the 'crushing' tendency a through-bolt has on tubing. I also am going to try using some oval/oblong tubing inserts to gain some adjustment for rearend alignment. These arms will be built on a jig to keep tight tolerances (less than .010") between the bushing and the U-bolt holes.
Spring perches/retainers will be pretty much the same as the stock setup (they seem to work well enough) with the round tubing pressed in and welded too. Daily driving, drag racing, road racing, off-road racing, salt flats...thats what these arms are for, being used and abused! They are being built to what I would call at least 3/4 ton specs, and they will be lighter than the stock units. I think its important for something like these arms to bolt on just like the stockers, and use the stock spring retainers, shock mounts, etc. But, as before, custom shock mounts can also be welded to the arm if someone wanted. The wife and I are hoping to have a few of these listed on our website in a week or so, and pics of a complete arm will be posted here in a bit...

[Sonny]

Sweet! Is your goal still to stay in the same range of $500 or less? With the champagne dreams for my budget build I need to plan accordingly.

Hmm. Project: Champagne Dreams!

The wife has already named the truck Audrey.

[metalmassfab]

Originally Posted by Sonny

Sweet! Is your goal still to stay in the same range of $500 or less? With the champagne dreams for my budget build I need to plan accordingly.

Hmm. Project: Champagne Dreams!

The wife has already name the truck Audrey.

That was the goal I may have complicated them a bit too much to bee under 5... as in there are over 30 individual pieces cut, shaped, and welded for each trailing arm I guess I cant claim these things are '1 piece', eh? The price will be in that area though
probly should not have mentioned the 'over 30 pieces'... scared everyone away...

[Sonny]

As long as they are close to that I will be on your list to purchase a pair.

[special-K]

For sale:Nice original trailing armsI would like to run those,if I go that far on my project.The plan was to stay basic,though.Plenty of interest out there,I`m sure.

[metalmassfab]

Ok, computer fried itself.... I went to get a new one for $800... wife talked me into a $2200 laptop!
The steel arm partially pictured above has been scrapped --- --- A 'slight' change was incorporated into a new one (stainless). On this one the 2x3 tubing is straight for only the first 12" from the bushing end. It widens in the next 24" on each side, from the original 2 inch width out to 3 1/2", and stays 3 1/2" to the rear. This new one looks much better, and a little less tubing is used, which will help with the cost of these units. Pics coming tomorrow night... maybe kinda late as in 2-3 in the morning though. This is the final one, no more changes!

[RACINJASON22]

Sounds even better on the arms. Also sounds like my x-wife she liked to spend more money than needed also

[special-K]

What do you figure the first set`s gonna cost,$3,000?

[metalmassfab]

Originally Posted by special-K

What do you figure the first set`s gonna cost,$3,000?

Add another 0.....

[RACINJASON22]

Why not subtract two and you cover shipping also