Re: 63 Classic strut rod bushings/alignment

[Tom Jennings <tomj@xxxxxxx>]

On Wed, 22 Jun 2005 farna@xxxxxxx wrote:

> I remember you and I going over the poly/rubber bushing combo
> now! I forget which of us came up with the idea first (not that it
> matters).

I recall also we conversed about this... and no longer remember
who thought what :-)

I don't have a lathe, unfortunately (yet) just a small vertical
mill.

I'm pretty confident hacking up all sorts of things, including
suspension parts, but a few items are subtle, and that strut rod
is one.

The 63 strut rod isn't made from rod stock; it's tapered, and
forged or at least heat-treated. There's a swaged flare that
retains the cup washer on the fore end.  (Later ones are rod
stamped flat on end end.)

I'd rather have an upper A arm fail at-speed than that strut rod;
a failed A-arm will fold over the suspension (depending) but
likely will continue to tie the knuckle to the chassis to allow
maintaining control. The other half will tether it within 8" or
whatever.  If the strut rod goes, the lower ball joint could
travel rearward 24", totally diassembling the front end in
milliseconds.

The upper arms just aren't under any fore/aft force to worry
about, even in most accidents; the strut rod can see *severe*
stresses under grandma-easy conditions -- I'd guess 10,000-pound
pulses from wacking a curb in a parking lot at 5mph, etc. (Entire
mass of the car presses on that rod from all sorts of odd angles
depending on how you wack it.)

Note that the strut has a massive 3/8" thick steel three-point
mount aft, with 7/16" grade 8 bolts!; fore it bolts to the ball
joint (more 7/16" grade 8's, in shear), so the lower arm is just a
side-to-side locator (for impulse forces). The tire of course eats
most energy but once you compress the tire to the wheel the strut
sees it all (after the rim).

You're obviously a good enough welder, and I'd trust your strut
rod in my car. If it's straight the forces are all simple
compression, with good metal, there you go.


(Maybe you should fab some up and sell them! Pretty much every 63,
64 on the road will need a set!)