Scott in Bellingham Posted October 11, 2006 Share Posted October 11, 2006 well Ive bent the radius rod twice on one car and once on another had this idea of modifying the stock rod , basically free up the plate that pushes against the rubber donut , add a heavy spring onto the rod and welding up another plate at the other end of the spring, what this would do is absorb the shock of hitting into a obsticle , the tire would come back into contact with the inner fender well which threw the tire would adsorb more shock, I want to fab 2 up and put them on my present rig Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeneralDisorder Posted October 11, 2006 Share Posted October 11, 2006 Personally, I think eliminateing the rod, and making the lower arm an A arm with another pivot point on the cross member would be the way to avoid both bending them, and to get rid of the whole radius rod plate assembley.... Actually it wouldn't be too hard to just make custom control arms from some tube with flat bar for the ball joint mount. I saw some pictures not too long ago of some custom control arms someone made. GD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NorthWet Posted October 11, 2006 Share Posted October 11, 2006 Personally, I would not use a spring for any road-going vehicle. It would be allowing the possibility of fore-aft oscillation of the tire. (The leading-links job is to manage braking and acceleration fore-aft movments.) Allowing too much movement, or movement with its own low harmonic, would not be wise. I agree with GD, that eliminating the leading-rod altogether and replacing the control arm with and A-arm structure would produce better wheel control. (For offroad, though, you would merely be shifting the part that gets damaged from the leading rod to its mounts.) The Legacy lower control arm might be a good model. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoahDL88 Posted October 11, 2006 Share Posted October 11, 2006 It would probably be easier to get the legacy control arms to work than to fab up a complete new set. I'm trying to figure this out on the wagon, as with the 5 lug swap there gonna be the weak link. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dixracing Posted October 12, 2006 Share Posted October 12, 2006 i personally don't like the rubber mounted radius rod.....seems to wanna occalate when you start digging in....... what if a guy was to make radius rods with good quality heims and moly tubing doing away with the rubber bisquets? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoahDL88 Posted October 12, 2006 Share Posted October 12, 2006 If you made it rigid, i'd worry about having something that could give when you hit something, at least with the rubber bushing you have some give, with a heim joint if you bump something a little bit too hard its gonna break, and not flex. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NorthWet Posted October 12, 2006 Share Posted October 12, 2006 i personally don't like the rubber mounted radius rod.....seems to wanna occalate when you start digging in....... what if a guy was to make radius rods with good quality heims and moly tubing doing away with the rubber bisquets? If the rubber bushings are new/good, there shouldn't be much trouble. But the rubber ages rather quickly; I have to replace my 510's every 4-5 years. Regarding heims, check out: http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=22332 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NorthWet Posted October 12, 2006 Share Posted October 12, 2006 If you made it rigid, i'd worry about having something that could give when you hit something, at least with the rubber bushing you have some give, with a heim joint if you bump something a little bit too hard its gonna break, and not flex. With the trailing rods on my 510, when I hit something the rod could not stretch, so the rod mount tore off of the unibody. Bent rods don't sound too bad... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott in Bellingham Posted October 12, 2006 Author Share Posted October 12, 2006 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NorthWet Posted October 12, 2006 Share Posted October 12, 2006 Again, might be OK at rock crawling, but you would not like the result at any speed (say, 35 and above) unless that spring is REAL stiff. Freeways would be pretty dangerous. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott in Bellingham Posted October 12, 2006 Author Share Posted October 12, 2006 that spring is REAL stiff.. stiff Yes ,it would only want to give just befor the point of were the radius rod would bend Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WoodsWagon Posted October 12, 2006 Share Posted October 12, 2006 You might want to get the radius rod closer to the stock angle so it's harder to bend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott in Bellingham Posted October 12, 2006 Author Share Posted October 12, 2006 You might want to get the radius rod closer to the stock angle so it's harder to bend. even stock angle bends Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Numbchux Posted October 13, 2006 Share Posted October 13, 2006 even stock angle bends I've mangled more than a few.....in fact, I used a pre-bent one when I relocated my radius rod bracket, much like you've done. I hope you find a solution, but mine has been to replace it with something already built beefy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
torxxx Posted October 13, 2006 Share Posted October 13, 2006 I have never actually bent a radius rod. I do carry 2 spares in the back of my wagon just in case. Personally, I wouldnt make them any stronger or stiffer than the stock setup is. The reason subaru made them that way, they are a crumple zone if you hit anything. The radius rod is the first thing to bend, and the control arm twisting is the second thing to bend. I would much rather change a radius rod than change a control arm. It takes all of 5 minutes to change out the radius rods. Keep a 17mm gear wrench, 17 mm deep well socket and a pair of vice grips in your tool box and carry 2 radius rods and you'll be set Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott in Bellingham Posted October 13, 2006 Author Share Posted October 13, 2006 had this other thought maybe run a cable from say the bumper mount back to the front radius rod bolt , then the force might transfer threw the cable and prevent the bar from bending Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Numbchux Posted October 13, 2006 Share Posted October 13, 2006 had this other thought maybe run a cable from say the bumper mount back to the front radius rod bolt , then the force might transfer threw the cable and prevent the bar from bending I've thought about doing that too.... and torxx..frequently the control arm twists with it. and I don't think it was engineered to be the first thing to give, it just wasn't engineered to do what we're doing... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
torxxx Posted October 14, 2006 Share Posted October 14, 2006 the reason why I said what I did, I work at a auto body shop. we fixed wrecked soobys. I've seen two or three taht actually twisted the control arm with the radius rod. most of them were just a bent strut and a bent radius rod. Either way, both components are the weak link in the IFS on a subaru. I say they need double wishbone IFS, that way there is no need for radius rods. Hell for double wishbone, ball joints would be more spendy, but the ride would be AWESOME Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the_postie Posted October 18, 2006 Share Posted October 18, 2006 had this other thought maybe run a cable from say the bumper mount back to the front radius rod bolt , then the force might transfer threw the cable and prevent the bar from bending a mate of mine was running chains from the front to the control arm.over here we can mod ford[local model] radius rods which r stronger to fit ,but them the next weakest link is where the mounting plate bolts to the floor which can be rienforced. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bushbasher Posted October 19, 2006 Share Posted October 19, 2006 I made a-arms for my subaru, with ea82 control arms reversed (swapped sides) to make the radius rods stick forward. I then heated and bent the radius rod to form an A, and plated the center to make it rigid. Mounts were welded onto the front xmember for the new bushing location. It worked well, but I didnt make my xmember mounts strong enough, and the whole design reduced approach angle. I scrapped the design, but the concept was solid and could be improved. Heres an in progress pic, the a-arm is not finished, and the xmember mount is not fully welded but in the final shape. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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