EA82 Control arms on EA81?

[Gloyale]

So, I have seen threads mentioning people using EA82 control arms and axles on there EA81s. How are people doing this? I mean what about the different angle between the 2 arms. EA81 arms sweep backwards from the pivot while EA82 arms go straight out.

 

I used a complete EA82 front crossmember, so the whole front end carried over with no other mods.

 

But how are all of you dong it without swapping crossmembers?

[MilesFox]

you drill out spotwelds for the control arm mount off the ea82 crossmember, and weld it on the ea81 crossmember behind the original mounting point, essentiall relocating the control arm one width back. so the back side of the original mount serves as the front side for the new location.

 

you will have to swap over the ea82 radius rod, or modify the ea81 original

 

i did this on my 83 wagon. it was horribly sloppy, eyeball job, but if i took my time better, this is geometrically correct true for an ea82 track

 

you will have to mix and match tie rod ends, it may even be possible to use a whole ea82 rack. on mine i had a mix and match of manual steering inner and outer tie rod ends. you may just have to lengthen the inner tie rod, otherwise.

 

with my setup i use ea82 knuckles, brakes, axles, and struts.

 

I had to hog out the center of the ea 81 strut hat to fit on the ea82 strut shaft. I later parted off my car and donated the parts to a hatch build, where the next guy drilled out the strut towers to accept the ea82 strut top

 

my build was based on information posted by rguyver. you may find it in the archives, or in the old ezboard version of usmb from about 2002-2003

 

the parts will fit correctly as long as you are good with comparing, measuring, and welding. mine was a bit of a hack job considering the precision of my eyeballing skills

 

the front track will be wider than the rear. you can go as far as using ea82 trailing arms and larger brakes in the back if you use the ea82 pivot bolt and enlarge the mouting hole.

 

my example had a complete ea82 driveline: Motor, dual range 5spd, complete ea82 front end, and ea2 trailing arms installed on the e81 torsion tube, and the addition of ea82 coilovers in place of the shocks, doubling the spring capacity. All swapped into an originally FWD 5spd car

 

sorry i do not have documentation or pics of my work, other than random posts you may find over the years. I got rid of this car in 2004

[capn_r]

I had also read the post by jbbvw where he said the following,

 

"I put EA82 front suspension on my 4" lifted 81 wagon. I used the axles, knuckles/brakes, control arms and outer tie rods. I extended the EA81 inner tie rods 1" and extended radius rods 2". I'm still using the adjustable EA81 struts. This set up moves the tires forward 2" and out about 1 1/2" on each side, but the struts still limit travel. I've been wanting to try some different struts with more travel and move the top mounts forward so they're not leaning back so much. I've been very happy with this setup otherwise. Camber is not to bad. I'm pretty sure FWD suspension would work."

Jesse

 

I contacted him and was invited to look at his car / modifications. His combination is just as stated in the above excerpt and is something I'm going to try on my 82 DL wagon. He used the EA81 power rack that he extended the inner tie rods and he stretched the radius rods to match the length needed to hook the EA82 lower control arms to the EA81 crossmember mount. I should have taken some pictures but didn't. I like the idea of the EA82 axles and then getting the bonus of moving the tires forward. More Sube lego stuff with a small amount of fab work. I'm sure Jesse would fill in any blanks if you ask him.

[Gloyale]

 

 

the front track will be wider than the rear. you can go as far as using ea82 trailing arms and larger brakes in the back if you use the ea82 pivot bolt and enlarge the mouting hole.

 

Huh, I just used narrow offset front wheels and wide offset rear wheels.

[mountaingoatgruff]

I used a complete EA82 front crossmember, so the whole front end carried over with no other mods.

 

does it simply bolt up? with or without a lift?

does the wider track tweak the strut mounts?

 

i'm trying to figure out if i can use an EA82 crossmember to widen the track on my Brat enough to pull off a 5 lug swap without custom shortened axles or a lift.

[MilesFox]

the ea82 crossmember is physically wider than the ea81 framerail

[Gloyale]

does it simply bolt up? with or without a lift?

does the wider track tweak the strut mounts?

 

i'm trying to figure out if i can use an EA82 crossmember to widen the track on my Brat enough to pull off a 5 lug swap without custom shortened axles or a lift.

 

My car I incorporated the lift and the Crossmember modification. I think it could be done without the lift though.

 

The radius rods from the EA82 simply bolt into the EA81 mounts. So the only modification is the front subframe/crossmember.

 

The flat areaon the EA82 for bolt holes is too far apart [for the EA81 bolt holes to line up] and rounds down into the crossmember . So what I did was to cut 2 flaps in that rounded area and bend them up, into new flat areas that I put holes in to line up with the EA81 body rails. It took some heat and a hammer.

I used a piece of plate to reinforce the tabs, and welded them to the lift blocks.

 

Without a lift, you could simply gusset the flaps to the crossmember.

 

*note. I actually drove the car for months, and several wheelin trips with just the tabs folded up, and no reinforcement. It never budged.....the reinforcement was just for good measure. So if you aren't gonna wheel it, you could get away with no welding.

Edited January 26, 2010 by Gloyale

[mountaingoatgruff]

My car I incorporated the lift and the Crossmember modification. I think it could be done without the lift though.

 

The radius rods from the EA82 simply bolt into the EA81 mounts. So the only modification is the front subframe/crossmember.

 

The flat areaon the EA82 for bolt holes is too far apart [for the EA81 bolt holes to line up] and rounds down into the crossmember . So what I did was to cut 2 flaps in that rounded area and bend them up, into new flat areas that I put holes in to line up with the EA81 body rails. It took some heat and a hammer.

I used a piece of plate to reinforce the tabs, and welded them to the lift blocks.

 

Without a lift, you could simply gusset the flaps to the crossmember.

 

*note. I actually drove the car for months, and several wheelin trips with just the tabs folded up, and no reinforcement. It never budged.....the reinforcement was just for good measure. So if you aren't gonna wheel it, you could get away with no welding.

 

that's cool man, thanks for the picture.

 

i have been conversating in this thread on 5 lug swaps about using an EA82 crossmember to pull off the swap without shortened axles.

 

i don't want to fork over the $ for custom axles or XT6 parts but i would like a small lift, so i want to try to make 2" crossmember blocks as "adapters" then use EA82 crossmember, control arms, radius rods, and maybe P/S with the EJ stuff i already have (knuckles, struts, brakes and wheels).

[Gloyale]

that's cool man, thanks for the picture.

 

i would like a small lift, so i want to try to make 2" crossmember blocks as "adapters" then use EA82 crossmember, control arms, radius rods, and maybe P/S with the EJ stuff i already have (knuckles, struts, brakes and wheels).

 

Sounds just like what S'ko did. His brat was my original inspiration for my GL.

 

As he pointed out when building that brat (poor thing, RIP),

having the EA82 rack with the EJ conversion makes power steering options easy.

 

With 2 inch blocks, I'm sure you could do it really easily. IIRC you will need about 3/4 inch offset between the holes.

 

But seriously, S'ko has measurements and a diagrahm that are very excact. Perhaps he would be kind engouh to share?

[mountaingoatgruff]

Sounds just like what S'ko did. His brat was my original inspiration for my GL.

 

As he pointed out when building that brat (poor thing, RIP),

having the EA82 rack with the EJ conversion makes power steering options easy.

 

With 2 inch blocks, I'm sure you could do it really easily. IIRC you will need about 3/4 inch offset between the holes.

 

But seriously, S'ko has measurements and a diagrahm that are very excact. Perhaps he would be kind engouh to share?

 

S'ko made me an offer on the Brat when I had offered it for sale as a project, he wanted to use just the shell to rebuild his totalled Brat. Hopefully he'll forgive me for refusing his offer... I'll have to contact him.

 

I'll be looking for an EA82T crossmember to allow future ambitions.