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914World.com _ 914World Garage _ boxing rear trailing arms

Posted by: pete-stevers Jan 15 2005, 01:01 PM

i would like to know if box welding the trailing arms is very important for stiffness??? IPB Image Do I need to weld it up for a reg road car? or should i just leave them? What is the difference?
would replacing the rubber bushings be a more cost evective performance mod??

Posted by: d914 Jan 15 2005, 01:45 PM

for a road car no problem, don't need to, in fact if done wrong can warp the the arm. Some debate on wheather or not race cars need it. Better to reinforce the suspension ear than the arm.........possible chop stick info here, add all legal quaifiers on opinions.... IPB Image

Posted by: Dave_Darling Jan 15 2005, 02:27 PM

IMHO, boxing the trailing arms is not worth it on a street car. (Unless your "street car" is something really exceptional, then maybe...) Not worth it on most race cars either.

Replacing the rubber bushings with new ones == replacing the trailing arm with a new one. They're not available separately. There are aftermarket plastic ones available, but they're a pain to install properly, and they tend to squeak in a maddening fashion.

--DD

Posted by: pete-stevers Jan 15 2005, 02:28 PM

don't mind chopsticks, IPB Image just don't want to make stir-fry out of perfectly good trailing arms, plus the liability factor of welding them up for the street...
thanks
steve

Posted by: SirAndy Jan 15 2005, 03:15 PM

QUOTE (Dave_Darling @ Jan 15 2005, 12:27 PM)
Not worth it on most race cars either.

IPB Image ...

biggest problem with boxing the arms, if you hit something hard enough to bend the (unboxed) arm, just imagine what that impact will do to your chassis if the arm is boxed.
the impact force has to go somewhere, and i rather replace a bent trailing arm then start cutting into my tub trying to get it back straight ...

IPB Image Andy

Posted by: pete-stevers Jan 15 2005, 04:29 PM

Good call! i never thought about bending the chassis!! I am running boxed on my car. IPB Image think the guy who did the work shafted me took me three months of chasing around to get them done, he was to busy building horse-carriages