RR suspension parts sort

[Brad C]

Greetings to all , i have a 87 RR with a 2 inch spring lift and 2 inch body lift , and 1 inch spacers under springs and run 255x85x16 mudders Rancho shockers , my questions may seem dumb but trying to find someone without alterior motives over here in the West is some what hard either your a bunny and they have shelf items to move or they are scared you know more than them .
I am looking for either a Rovertym type aframe spacer and rear trailing arms with a bend to off set the presure on the bushes ,and front radius arms with an offset /Safari Guard set up {if any for sale in OZ} to improve the castor angle .
Can anyone assist with any ideads or info on better ways to improve the geometry of suspension of my RR would be fantastic !!
Thanx in advance [/list]

[Strange Rover]

For the rear lower trailing arms i have seen guys bend the tube right near the chassis mount to relieve the pressure on that mount.

The best fix is to cut the chassis mounts off and move them higher and further forward (and then extend your factory arms). Doing this will will improve off road ability more than any other suspension mod. It will stop the rear wheels from hopping (when on the throttle) and also stop your rig from doing wheelstands when driving up steep stuff. It also stops you from getting hung up on the ears cause you move them from hanging below the chassis to totally beside the chassis. I can post you some pics of my setup if you want and I can also post some step by step pics of how to do it when I do the mod to my bobbed rangie ute in the next few weeks (maybe)

For the front I would just bend the radius arms at the chassis end (probably heat them up a bit) to relieve the pressure on the bush and then pull the swivels off and die gring the holes so that you can rotate the knuckles back to get your caster. You could get them machined but v8grunt did it with a die grinder and reckoned it was easy to do (I think John Davis Motor Works does this mod on an exchange basis????)

I think that bending the front radius arms would be OK, i think they are mode out of a fairly mild steel. The US guys bend them, cut them and weld them and then sell them so I think this sort of mod could be done.

Now in terms of any of this being legal is another story but I would guess you would be past that point anyway.

Sam

[Brad C]

Thanx Sam , good advise that will be followed up on .I have sourced a pair of modified heavy duty front arms with off set for 3 inch lift -5 inchlift off ebay and won the bid ! I was hoping that you will send some pics of yours once done so i dont butcher mine and then kick myself later . Again thanx for the info , it was well heeded .

[lowbox]

Bending the radius arms can be done - Neville did it to his Rangie
http://home.off-road.com/~highrange/Mod ... _lift.html
and then he had some fuss about the warrant of fitness/certification/roadworthy :(

>the engineers were not happy with, nor could they find a ruling regarding the heating and bending of suspension swing arms. The modified swing arms seemed to have all the expects scratching the heads.  Numerous phone calls to Wellington concluded that if I could supply a materials testing report, complete with the signature of a suitably qualified person, which stated that the structural strength of the swing arms had not been severely affected, they would allow them to pass.

>I phoned Heated Treatments Limited and spoke to their Quality Engineer.  He was more than happy to carry out some comparison hardness testing between the heated and unheated areas on the swing arms.  This was duly completed, and revealed that the original steel hardness was approximately 17 Rockwell C, and the heat affected steel was approximately 15 Rockwell C.  (For any other you who have an understanding of steel hardness, the swing arms are manufactured from very soft steel.  They have probably been designed this way so that they act as a crumple zone in the event of an accident)

>The Quality Engineer was more than happy with the results and supplied me with a certificate to that effect.  This in turn satisfied the Certifying Engineers.

[HSV Rangie]

Hi Brad,

Front arms.
Yes the front arms bend easy plenty heat required. cranked them to match the lift.
I made my rear arms from 40*20 dom tube. cranked to match lift.

Rear A frame spacer block is easy to make.

Car now sits well and drives very well.

will post pics soon.

Regards Michael.