I did the same to my Patrol - bent the steering arm hitting a rock. Pulled it off and straighted with a sledge hammer and have had no problems. Be carefull tho as they naturally have a bend in them (or at least mine did) - what I did is look at another Patrol the same type so that I knew what bend to keep.Red_MAv wrote:In one the Outback Challenge videos a bloke was straightening one out with a sledgehammer on a big rock. He did an awesome job and it looked pretty straight once he'd finished. They appeared to be bloody tough so I'd have a go at straigtening it first.
thats a preety big statement, would you put your welding of a steering arm up for an x-ray? i am no expert welder, but i do know that you can stress the metal if the correct procedure is carried out.........so, sometimes it might be stronger, and others not. i wouldnt risk itkrimnl wrote:i would just straighten it and weld some angle olong its lenght top and bottom.
just as strong as a aftermarket one and costs nothing to do.
ill agree, when it comes to steering and brakes, its like playin russian roulette, id never weld a steering arm, unless, it was to put it onto a trailer or get it out of the bush,mickyd555 wrote:thats a preety big statement, would you put your welding of a steering arm up for an x-ray? i am no expert welder, but i do know that you can stress the metal if the correct procedure is carried out.........so, sometimes it might be stronger, and others not. i wouldnt risk itkrimnl wrote:i would just straighten it and weld some angle olong its lenght top and bottom.
just as strong as a aftermarket one and costs nothing to do.
same thing if you have an acco with 35's on they are not legal but we all have them.ozy1 wrote:ill agree, when it comes to steering and brakes, its like playin russian roulette, id never weld a steering arm, unless, it was to put it onto a trailer or get it out of the bush,mickyd555 wrote:thats a preety big statement, would you put your welding of a steering arm up for an x-ray? i am no expert welder, but i do know that you can stress the metal if the correct procedure is carried out.........so, sometimes it might be stronger, and others not. i wouldnt risk itkrimnl wrote:i would just straighten it and weld some angle olong its lenght top and bottom.
just as strong as a aftermarket one and costs nothing to do.
if you have an acco, and they can prove your steering failed casue of you, you become uninsured, and liable for every thing,
in saying all of that, have you checked how much a replacement from a wrecker would cost, that would be a much simpler fix, and safe tooHeathx4 wrote:I appreciate the concern over hack jobs on steering components, but can anyone offer something a little more concrete than "What if it lets go? Think of the children!". Specifically, I mean, what are the likely failure modes if he were to straighten and then weld angle along it?
That arm is obviously not subjected to torsion, just compression and tension. The compression and tension forces could be relatively high, say if you hit a pothole while cornering, but certainly not enough to bend or separate the arm in its original form. There will of course, be the occasional lateral force as well, as evidenced in the original picture, but only in extreme cases - impact and 4wd'ing.
Now, if the arm was straightened, the bend point would be weakened. If it were welded too, it may be further stressed by the heat, and the weld itself may fail. But what, pray tell, is actually going to happen on the road? Are you suggesting that the bend point would be weak enough to separate or bend and snap from the normal compression and tension forces? That is, steering input and road feedback would be enough to actually break the bar?
I'm certainly not in any position of authority, but I can't imagine that the bar would catastrophically fail if it were to be straightened and welded to. Completely different story if the weld were to form the main structure of the arm - ie. be a link in resisting the compression or tension forces!
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