turtlevette

Looking through racing cats it looks like i can put together a set of rear strut rods rather cheaply.

What size heim joints do i need to order? They come in stainless so there would be no worries about rust welding to the shock mount.

Measuring the bolts it appears to be 1/2". I would think its the same on both ends.

norvalwilhelm

They are all 5/8th inch.

84rzv500r

I'd suggest 5/8 x 5/8 with steel tubes and 5/8 x 3/4 with Alloy tubes.

My buddy and I made mine on a lathe and mill in about an hour. I used 1"x0.250" wall 513 DOM tube... Over Kill maybe; should not break. Rod ends are the most expensive part of the job. You'll need some spacers to make up the difference in the mounts. We used 1" 316 stainless round stock.

Yellow73SB

I just use 5/8th aluminum tubes.

turtlevette

OK,

So 5/8 hole in the end and 5/8 -18 threaded rod. Behrent's sells pre cut threaded aluminum rod tapped left and right hand threads so i don't have to do anything.

Looks like i can put everything together for about 60 bucks.

WashingtonRacer

Now someone correct me if I am wrong, But when making strut rods or suspension linkages in general, shouldn't you be using the left/right
threaded inserts that you weld to the tube? From my understanding
if you try and either buy tubing with prethreaded ends, or thread them your self, they stand to be much weaker, thats why they sell the threaded inserts.

aworks

I'v made a few sets of strut rods and other adjustable rods for other things. I always use chomemoly tubing and theaded inserts. I would not trust alum. pre made rods for any suspension parts.

84rzv500r

I made my Spreader bar like that, pre threaded inserts and 7/8 4130 0.095 tube.
I made it as light as I could in steel. It's only in compression and I wasn't woried about brittleness of the resulting component.

For my suspension componets I used mild steel ASTM A-513 DOM I'd have to look as there are a ton of differnt 1000 series compositions but I think it was 1018 a middle of the road alloy about 2/3's as strong as 4130. Bigger dia (1") and thicker wall (0.250) and will deform much more before failure. I sacrificed a little weight for saftey in this case.

Maybe some of the practicing ME's will chime in.

http://www.aws.org/wj/apr03/AWfeature.html

BBShark

I went to Bahrents site and did a search for "rods" then "strut" them searched chassis components, misc. etc. etc. Could not find them. $60 sounds good. Can you tell me where you found them?

norvalwilhelm

I use aluminum threaded left and right and never had a problem with pulling threads or anything else. Coleman racing sells these rods in any length in anodized aluminum cheap. Yes $60 should get you everything.

Yellow73SB

Does coleman have those threaded hex tubes?

Edit:
Nevermind they don't. I will just have to make my own thread hex rods with a lathe.

And aluminum tie rods wil probally hold 7000 pounds probally more? It will be pretty hard to put 7000 pounds on one tie rod. You have to have 2+ g's exerted to only one wheel.

DaveL82

Turtle,

The strut rod at the spindle is 5/8's. You'll need some shims to center it between the spindle ears.

For the diff mount I recommend you measure what you have since my 80 had a smaller size at the diff. I have since opened it up to 5/8 so all is common.

FYI Daymotorsports.com has both solid aluminum and hollow steel rods that are threaded at one end for right hand thread and the other left hand. Just order the right heim joints. The steel ones were light and cheaper but for all out light weight go aluminum. Just order the length you need pre threaded.

I used the day motor sports heim joints since I don't drive on the street much these days but if I did I'd used teflon lined ones from QA1.

Dave

turtlevette

I know i can't find the stuff on their site either. The paper catalog has them.

edit:

here http://www.behrents.com/PDF%20files/suspension.pdf

pages 92 and 95

BerniesVette

I bought 5/8's by 5/8's heims and aluminum rods at a local shop that are rated at 8,000 lbs. static for my spreader bar. Plant to use the same thing to make struts eventially.
Bernie

Red 69

I find this thread very informative and relivent since I am facing upgrading the rear on my 79. Everything is ver clear to me except for how you shim the narrower than stock heim ends in the stock strut rod bracket and bearing support? Would fender washers drilled for the
5/8ths end bolts be acceptable as shims? I'm having a problem accepting the restriction of the heim joint movement shimming this way. Thanks for the great information and guidance.

Yellow73SB

Get the expensive heim's if you drive on the street. It is pretty much useless if you only drive on the street and don't race.

Red 69

I am setting the car up for bracket racing, but will need to drive it two hours to the track. I always though something good enough for racing was overkill for the street. Am I missing sometyhing here?

Yellow73SB

Thats alot of miles just to the track. More than I drive my car in a year probally. If you want to do this get the good 25-29 dollar heims becuause you don't one breaking on you in your 2 hour trip or at the track.

Red 69

Thanks, if that is the case I'll just use the smart struts. They will end up being the more economical alternative.

84rzv500r

A spacer called a half moon is used to give maximum clearance...

using a rod end as a bolt for illustration...