OK, it's me agian. This time I have some questions before I just "dive In" and have to redo my shiatt.:rolleyes:

I'm looking at some 1.25" DOM tubing with .280" wall. Will this be stout enough for my draglink, panhard, and a tie rod? Oh, they'll all be straight, no bends this time.:)

Also, if I can get it, would stainless steel be OK? Would like to not have to paint and worry about rust later. OK, my suits zipped up nice and tight, so flame away.

Greg,

you amaze me. Did you get too close to that stainless series II LR factory brush bar in a showroom? J/K......

If you can weld it clean, sure. And with the stuff I have seen on your rig I do not doubt that you can. But, if it were mine, I would stick with traditional steel. Maybe 1020 cromo or something. If you could get a hold of some Relynolds 853 tubing, (cold set, thin wall tubing that gets stronger when welded) that would be cool. I seem to remember somewhere that stainless would flex more than "mild" steel. Can someone educate me on that?

anyway, I would stay traditional, and make it bombasticly thick.

j

You will be more than fine with that wall thickness. I would use chromo though...The mild steel stuff bends too easily IMO unless it's sleeved.

My rear links are made from 1.5" x .25 sleeved with 1.75 x .120 sleeved with 2.0 x .120. Yea overkill but I had the materials sitting there!

--D

I did some investigating on these parts myself recently. Whenever I consider changing something on my truck, I ALWAYS compare to what the factory provided. With an eye toward avoiding future liability, I want to always be able to provide this comparison to my counsel (and liability/garage-keepers insurance agent) should I ever find myself in that situation.

Given this, let's take a look at the factory steering hradware.

For God's sake, they take a fairly light piece of tubing, cut shallow threads in it, slit the end, and then put a cheesy clamp on it!

Rant off.

Anything would be better than what we provided with in the beginning, hence, all of your suggestions have to be an improvement over stock.

Given the dimensions you provided, I suspect that you will be several times stronger than the original stuff. I am embarrassed to admit that the cromo stock I have to do exactly the same process is not as robust as what you have described, yet I still feel it will be adequate and safe.

That said, I must make an editorial comment (flame suit zipped up). Having to redo shiatt-isn't that part of the R&D process? Yeah, I know, I reinvent the wheel quite often-sometimes, I even remember to make them round!

Peace,
Paul

Don't run with scissors

OK, it seems like I might be getting somewhere. I'm waiting on a quote for the seamless SS material. Anyway, all three of these components will be straight tubing, with the ends tapped. No welding required. Which is a good thing to me 'cause that's one less process that can be blamed on me!:D

Anyone else have any input?

Greg, dont use SS tubing.....I tried that and it was too soft, bent very easily. If you want SS, the solid alloys are much better.

Hmmm, I thought that somewhere someone (I know, kinda sounds like "a friend of a friend's cousin"!) told me that solid bar was weaker than tubing. Something about a solid bar will break whereas tubing will just bend. Any truth to that? Need to know before I order this stuff.

Oh, and John, got the brake lines yesterday. I really appreciate that!

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Greg Davis
[B]Hmmm, I thought that somewhere someone (I know, kinda sounds like "a friend of a friend's cousin"!) told me that solid bar was weaker than tubing.

Not in stainless, thats true with CM tubing over solid steel, but SS tubing is just plain jane SS tubing, and bends readily. The SS solid alloys have much more tensile strenghts thn the SS tubing.
I did a few sets originally out of SS tubing and they bent like butter.

Whew, thanks John. Guess I need to make another phone call! So I should be asking for 1.25" solid SS bar? Or is a very small hole OK? FOrget it. I'll give you a call.

I know whose truck I will be under fixing at MAR :flipoff2:

The panhard needs to be stronger than the steering links. If you cannot see this but the stock ones back on and do some more research before you hurt someone!!!!!

The panhard is part of the SUSPENSION and thus locates the axle, the steering only has to turn the truck or keep both wheels pointed strait. The panhard has to be rigid as a mofo, the steering can have some give. So I would say 1.25 solid SS on the steering (which is fine if it bends as this saves the rod ends in hits and then it flexes back) and something beastwars for the panhard in chromo or mild steel. Or better yet sleeve the stocker and put it back on. Think about what stuff does and how it needs to react then decide what you need.

Ron

"If you cannot see this but the stock ones back on and do some more research before you hurt someone!!!!!"

Umm, that's how this whole post started. Per my previous thread, I'm back stock until I get this figured out.

Present plans are for my drag link and tie rod to be 1.25" solid SS. Are you saying that I should go even larger for my panhard? 1.5" perhaps? Just wanting opinions.

And don't rule out still having to go under my rig at MAR!:flipoff2:

Looking forward to seeing you there.

Ron:
How are you gonna sleeve the original panhard rod with the eyes at each end? Seems they'd get in the way of trying to run the sleeve over the rod.

I suppose you could either slit some stuff and open it up and then weld it back together, or take a piece of tubing and cut it into two halves and clamp the two pieces around the original panhard rod and weld it back together.

Both of those seem to defeat the purpose and I'm not sure they'd be THAT much stronger.

How about welding a piece of channel to the panard rod to make it more rigid? You could even box it up.

Don't get me wrong, I think you're right on the money with the potential risks of messing with such a critical component of our suspensions.

Paul

No offense Greg I would just be remiss if I did not point it out.

Yes I would go STIFFER on the panhard. I don't have an image in my head if its bent on a DII or not but basically I would slice it in two and sleeve it with 1/4" mild steel tubing with whatever inner diameter the outer of the stocker is, weld it up, and call it a day. You might also want to increase the length by a TAD to compensate for the lift.

The steering links you want something that has a good memory to it. You want them to bend to A) absorb impact effect on the TREs and B) to be able to bounce back from impacts, unlike the panhard there is not a huge need for them to be rigid as the steering effects while driving are not that strong. So 1.25 SS would be ideal

Make sense?

:flipoff2:

Ron

BTW Bring a BFH if you need to swap rear axles on a DII.

Ron, that made perfectly good sense. And if I loose and axle, we'll just slap your portals on! See you in a few days.