Building Radius Arms

[texan79&96]

do yall know of any heim ends that threads on to the end of the arm that can then be welded? or would it need to be pressed in? would it need further reinforcement? what size is recomended for this? it seems like building brackets with heims and maybe a little extension with a wristed arm would be the way to go. this would eliminate frame end bushing bind busihng bind right? just curious and extemely bored.....what do yall run?

 

[STLKIKN]

If you plan on running this truck on the street, I would not recommend heim joints.
You will probably end up replacing them fairly often. They transmit noise and don't absorb road irregularities well.
If you need to run a system like that look into something like Currie Enterprises "Johnny joints" They are rebuildable, but I still wouldn't recommend them for a (daily) street driven rig, they too can take a lot of maintanence to keep them tight especially if you run in mud or high dust situations.
I run two EBs with factory style bushings ( one rubber, one with poly) the poly truck is lifted about 6" (suspension) with no drop brackets and works well for minor off road and as a daily driver. The rubber bushinged truck is street driven only. There is a third truck (currently being built) that will be using spring eye bushings with threaded adjusters/ twisting arms. I don't currently have access to a digi cam, but will be posting some pics and specs as the project gets a little closer to completion.
Also instead of building them yourself, you may want to look into a long arm system like this one from Cage....
Tubular arms

 

[texan79&96]

why poly bushings for offroad isnt rubber more flexible? i assume you are using a 7 degree c bushing for the 6" lifted truck w/ no brackets but wuoldnt that make for alot of coil bow and little droop? are your steering knuckles correct? ive talked to the guys at cage before but i dont have that kind of cash.

 

[STLKIKN]

Poly is less flexible than rubber, the 6" truck is probably 95% street driven....
Yes, 7* bushings are in place.
Coil bow is taken care of by shimming the lower coil perch (Broncoholics typed up a good article about it, its around the site somewhere)
I still have around 3* of caster... plenty for what I use this truck for.
(3.5* is preferred spec)
And it still flexes better than my somewhat stock suspensioned, rubber bushinged 73...