I'm sure this has been coverd before, but if not I thought it needed to be. Since I have been doing more and more 914's, I am realizing just how common this crack in the A arm is. Clean yours and check them. I'd say at least half of the front ends I have stripped have had at least one, sometimes both arms split in this same spot. Prior to cleaning, these cracks are unoticable.

How do you fix that? Welding? Can it be fixed or does it need to be replaced?

I was going to ask the same question...

I just run a thin cutoff wheel down the center of the crack to open it u a bit, and get it good and clean inside then weld it back up. I also weld the inside and leave a little extra meat there when I grind it down

Was that my car?

No, those are A-arms. They go ON the car. The car is much bigger











No

Great!! Now I gotta go check mine.

Thanks for this, I will check mine when I have it on the hoist weekend.

Ian Stott
Moncton
Canada

And while we're on the subject, i've also seen quite a few of them where the round cutout area itself is bend.

You can easily check if you look straight down on the hole with the arm upside down as in the first pic.

The hole needs to be centered. If it's not centered on the arm, the arm is junk.

Guys,

3 dark ales later, probably not a good time to ask, but...

What crack? Can you provide a nice little red arrow on the image or zoom it and place a "look here stupid" note?

Thx,

Dave

I need some of that dark ale.

Would it be worth it to re-enforce it somehow as a preventive kinda thing? Even if it's not cracked?

Sorry. I meant re-enforcerer it.

...Crack kills...

It certainly wouldn't hurt to wrap a skinny strap of 14-16 gauge around that bend and weld it in

Just flew in from Denver....boy are my arms tired...

As Whitney would say "Crack is Whack"

Best way to fix that crack is to stop drill a hole completely through the section just slightly ahead of where the cracks stops. The diameter should be at least 1 .5 to 2x the metal thickness.

Bevel the crack slightly to form a groove centerline of the crack at least 1x the metal thickness down to at least 85% of the metal thickness in depth.

Begin welding the hole up first as a rosette...then finish the weld moving up towards the ball joint or edge of the part. If you weld the other way you'll just induce more stress into the part.

Bad part design when it was formed with the hard tool in the corner...however I'm sure them German Engineers never figured the part would be cycled for 40 years.

Now my arms and head are tired. My two cents.

Thank you for the Tip

Like this 911 arm on left. I suspect it happens from smacking a curb hard......
Click to view attachment

Planning on rebuilding the front suspension on the 'BB' soon ... we'll be blasting and painting (or powder-coating) the arms while they're off.
I'll be sure to check for cracks, repair and beef-up as needed.

Thanks for the heads up, Scotty