Sirus
Your all Banned except me
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Drag link Modification
- Thread starter The Mad Hat Man
- Start date
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gemsdad
NOT BOTHERED.
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ratty
I'm not special I'm limited edition
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shurrup you,tis difficult to concertrate when i is buzzin.
Ooooooh. Ave you borrowed pikeys vibrating butt plug?
Andy200TDi
New Member
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- Nottinghamshire
dont think it will work there tho - because the damper stops the tube revolving except in complete revolutions. Maybe the damper needs to be clamped to the tube, rather than welded to it............. hmmmmm maybe another design review required - but not tonite, Josephine
The steering arm behind the front axle has a long tube (from nearside wheel balljoint, past the steering damper) and a short tube connecting to the offside wheel via a balljoint. The short tube has oposite threads at each end (where by turning it either loosens or tightens at both ends) and allows adjustment of it's length and therefore the tracking.
it's the short tube that has seized to the long tube on mine... the nut welding mod would be useful here as long as they didn't foul the damper mounting bracket.
gemsdad
NOT BOTHERED.
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Ooooooh. Ave you borrowed pikeys vibrating butt plug?
dunno abaht fings like that ratty,unlike you of course.
battenberg
Well-Known Member
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- Birmingham UK
I did me drag link ends tonight, I was to tight/late to get some big ol' nuts so just dropped a bead of weld instead, so the stilson could get a better grip... Thanks MHM for the inspiration.. made adjusting and getting the old ones off a whole lot easier!
gemsdad
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your way of adjusting works,thats all that counts in the end.well done mate.
All you needed was one nut on the centre, but welding and heating steering components like this is dangerous. If you take it off and lube it with copper grease then it will be ok, if you dont then it will be siezed.
Unfortunatly these bits dont get adjusted until a ball end fails so most times they are siezed.
I would throw that rod away and fit a new one mucker.
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you do it your way - I will do it mine.
One nut will not do - because yu are twisting the tube - you need the twisting moment close to the threaded section.
This tube is not a high tech component - and welding it is not a problem if done correctly and with care.
Of course the tube is lubed - but with special assmbly grease - not copper grease.
Why should it be siezed? The tube is modified off the vehicle, without any joints fitted.
yu fit a new one - same design as the old one - same problems.
if you dont like it - just dont do it.
gemsdad
NOT BOTHERED.
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op2:op2:You sound angry mad, only telling you what I have been taught if I did that to a steering component on a truck it would get put off the road if inspected by the V.I and I would probably be getting huckled.
Even signs of extreme heat is another cause because it changes the structure of the component, welding is bad because it penetrates and can steal metal from the areas directly opposite the welds if done incorectly but primeraly changes the whole load handling charactistics, ie, if it flexed slightly to absorbe shock loads then that ability now stops at the welded nuts and probably shere it would fail.
I think its the same for a rolling chassis is it not.
But its only my view so dunt get angry
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I aint angry - or even peeved. Heating shouldnt alter the structure significantly. I have seen more than one peep flame torching the rod and balljoint to get them apart, so no more than that. If allowed to cool slowly and normally it wont affect the component. The tube is not hardened, as far as I am aware - it is just a section of tapped tubing - most likely cold rolled.
I do not consider that the flexing will be altered either, as the whole tube is still able to flex - any flexing will not stop at the nuts.
As I said - I aint angry - I still believe that the damage caused by a large pair of stillsons on the tube itself, far outways the insignificant structural changes caused by the addition of two nuts. Some of the heavy duty tubes have nuts fitted anyway. In retrospect, I would most likely fit smaller nuts in future.
I do not consider that the flexing will be altered either, as the whole tube is still able to flex - any flexing will not stop at the nuts.
As I said - I aint angry - I still believe that the damage caused by a large pair of stillsons on the tube itself, far outways the insignificant structural changes caused by the addition of two nuts. Some of the heavy duty tubes have nuts fitted anyway. In retrospect, I would most likely fit smaller nuts in future.
ratty
I'm not special I'm limited edition
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If you've ever tried to change the anti-rollbars on a Iveco you'll find that without heating the tube up the broken anti-rollbar aint coming out. You gotta get them feckers white hot and even then you can only budge em by an inch or so before you gotta re-heat and go again.
Been there with trucks many a time and had to paint the rods afterwards because signs of heating are a no go area, the mot manual also indicates that its a failure to weld a steering component to repair it or heat it up excessively, how they know its excessive fook knows because once the paints gone its gone then it rusts real quick. Anyway its a modification not a repair so I guess that section wont apply.
Welding bits on like that can bite you in the arse, might clear ok in a static position but go around a corner hit a bump and it catches something, or the arm breaks because of the penetration or undercut and always at the side of the weld.
If there is a modified one with these on it then best to buy it, since its tested, but how often do you change rod ends.
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I am confused.
I understand your concern about the posible building in of weaknesses to a vital safety component and agree with your concerns entirely - but you then, not only shoot yourself in the foot, but take your leg off by the phrase "had to paint the rods afterwards because signs of heating are a no go area" - are you seriously suggesting that although you consider that heating a component is likely (nay inevitable) to fail, with catestrophic results, you are happy to paint it to hide the fact and then allow it go back on the road?
No "excessive heat applied is dangerous", but as I mentioned, once the paint is off its difficult to tell if its been cooked white hot or just heated to ease removal, particularilly so if you leave it and it rusts.
Had many on a bench with a set of stilsons and a length of pipe on the fokers getting it heated, wont come off any other way.
Its only what I was taught, and I never ever consider modifying or repairing a steering component with weld.
But its only my tuppence worth, have a bump and then watch the demons come out the woodwork, especially if you hurt someone.
