Bending front radius arms

[Rotazuk]

Hi
had enough of the stiff front steering in my 91 rr so am going to get it sorted once and for all . It has a 2 ' spring lift and its a bit twitchy . From the past posts soem people have problems and some don't . Well going to take it into a tyre shop and get then to check the castor angle and see what it is . If its out I will look at new arms . Van across an old post that someone has bent there arms .
How did this go ? Anyone else tried this and how did you do it .

Also my steering is notichy each 90 deg , I would say due to the 2 ' body lift it also has that the joints in the shaft are binding . What can you do about this .

Cheers
Chris

[HSV Rangie]

Chiss,
bending the arms is very easy and will not effect them.

Just heat up untill dull red then bend.

there is a guy a NZ who also did this and got them approved by NZ rego.

http://www.rangie.com/articles_topic.ph ... &subCat=94

Michael.
My front arms.

[110 TUFF]

Still havent got round to doing this on my truck yet! to much of a slack ass!

so you just heated it up with an oxy then placed in a vice and bent them or have you got bending equipment? I can build a house out of timber but dont know anything about steels.

Drew.

[HSV Rangie]

had a press to bend with .

also have just used a vice or similar.

Have used both oxy to heat with and used to have full blacksmiths shop forge excet.

Michael.

[110 TUFF]

A forge. That would come in handy!

Drew

[HSV Rangie]

It did but Dad sold it damn.

Michael.

[CQ Davo]

Wouldnt bending them like that cause the front diff to rotate and alter front tailshaft angles which in turn would effect handling and tailshaft vibration?

[HSV Rangie]

there are 2 bends this brings it all back into stock relationship.

if unis clash then just fit DC shaft.
Michael.

[CQ Davo]

ok cool. thought that there may have been.
Cheers

[110 TUFF]

Ok i found a very good condition set of front and rear arms all for 55 bucks each. i think thats no to bad . gonna get them on the weekend and give bending them a go. Gonna crank and strengthen the rears while im in the mood. hey HSV, could you post another pic of your rears for me on this thread?

drew

[defender kev]

G'day Drew i dont no about cranking the original rears they are not very strong to start with and i have heard of a few defenders which have had the rears let go and make a hell of a mess.Maybe you could cut the bush end off and make a set out of heavy wall tube for the rear.Michael will have a better idea as i believe he made a set of rears for his rangie

Cheers Kev

[CQ Davo]

Grab your rears Drew and sleve them with pipe and then use a 20t press to bend them. Have done it to mine but no pics as yet.

[110 TUFF]

sleveing them is what i was going to do. The other option is maybe that i might bend the original rears first then get some heavy angle and weld it on the underside of them for strength. Dave, did you bend the rears once or twice on your truck? if bent once does the knuckle that attaches to the axle housing bind on full droop with your rear setup ?

drew.

[HSV Rangie]

Ok i found a very good condition set of front and rear arms all for 55 bucks each. i think thats no to bad . gonna get them on the weekend and give bending them a go. Gonna crank and strengthen the rears while im in the mood. hey HSV, could you post another pic of your rears for me on this thread?

drew

Rears are made from 40*20 dom tube.

regards
Michael.

[110 TUFF]

Cheers Mick

Drew

[swamp]

G,day all.
Just a quick querie, if you bend the arms in one or two places doesn't that make their overall length shorter, and might the reduced length upset the geometry and or pull the axle lines closer together .
The rear seems easy to lengthen, but not so much the front.
My 9/34's rub on the firewall at full stuff with about 30mm clearance before they would hit the top of the inner guard with a 40mm body lift.
If possible I would like to push the front out, and still get the benefits of the bends.
Regards,
Michael.

[HSV Rangie]

Mine ended up 2-3mm shorter.

Michael.

[Bush65]

Hi
had enough of the stiff front steering in my 91 rr so am going to get it sorted once and for all . It has a 2 ' spring lift and its a bit twitchy . . .
Cheers
Chris

Reduced camber resulting from a spring lift should make the steering light, not stiff.

You might have some other problem, maybe to do with power steering, siezed uni-joints in shaft between steering column and steering box, or large scrub radius from large rim offset!

[andrew e]

i am considering bending the front arms on my county. HSV rangie how did you cool yours? slow in sand or lime or fast in water? would this be a way to fix my camber issue (4" springs) or is rotating the swivels better option?

[p76rangie]

Can someone comment on the legality of bending parts of the suspension. The bends would have to weaken the arms.

[HSV Rangie]

i am considering bending the front arms on my county. HSV rangie how did you cool yours? slow in sand or lime or fast in water? would this be a way to fix my camber issue (4" springs) or is rotating the swivels better option?

just let them air cool.

they are made of soft crap steel.

Michael.

[Rotazuk]

-------------------
Reduced camber resulting from a spring lift should make the steering light, not stiff.

You might have some other problem, maybe to do with power steering, siezed uni-joints in shaft between steering column and steering box, or large scrub radius from large rim offset!

-------------------------

Yep it has made the steering light , but twitchy as it does not want to stay in a straight line . I believe the body lift is binding up the u joints making the steering stiff . As I said it is only stiff at each 90 deg , have not had a good look at them yet , too lasy but on the list this weekend .


Cheers
Chris

[Aquarangie]

It doesn't take much of a spring lift to make your steering twitchy.

I only have a 40mm lift up front and it's a bit like that. I hope to get my swivel housint turned out soon to correct this somewhat

Trav

[swamp]

Michael,
How do you make sure the arms are bent straight,ie perpendicular to the bolt holes .
REgards Michael.

[HSV Rangie]

I used a press, they bend easy not hard to keep true.

Michael.

[Rosco (Aust)]

Hi chris,
The notch that you are getting about eveery 90' is most likely 99% your stearing shaft uj's. For the past 10 to 20 or 30 years of our vehicles at standard they only ever had to rotate throught a cirtain radius / angel. Then us folk grab the rigg and throw 2" lift in the body and they now have to go further than ever before. These areas are normally in a near state of seizure because the area has never been used.

To fix use a penitrant oil preferably or inox or similar before you go to bed on both joints heavily then in the morning all should be better. re do same in the morning and repeat medication every couple of months depending on type of use. VERY expensive to replace them.

[James Brittain]

Hi guys, im new to the forum, i run a 90.
Ive been reading all the stuff on bending radius arms and was wondering if its safe enough to do if i use the defender as a daily drive as well as for off roading? Its not uncommon for me to do 3 hour + motorway drives.

[HSV Rangie]

no issues with mine I regularly drive many miles.


Michael.

[cooter]

how much difference does this make offroad and does any1 have an arm they could show me

[Bush65]

how much difference does this make offroad and does any1 have an arm they could show me

Probably will not make much noticeable difference offroad. But it does make a difference to the rubber bushes, and the radius arm mods (together with castor corrected swivels) fixes other issues.

For pic of modified radius arm, see 2nd post in this thread.