[DeTomaso] Adjustable upper rear A-arms

[Charles Engles]

Dear Kirby,


            I am a lesser offender than you.  I only have two bad cars with close to a total of 90k miles of "risk".

            I know both Dennis and Ted.  I think that there is one correct sterile academic engineering answer.  I think that there is more than one correct real world practical engineering answer.  

                             Warmest regards, Chuck Engles

 

-----Original Message-----
From: DeTomaso [mailto:detomaso-bounces at poca.com] On Behalf Of Kirby Schrader
Sent: Thursday, December 03, 2015 5:56 PM
To: David Nunn
Cc: Mike Drew; detomaso at poca.com; Ken Green
Subject: Re: [DeTomaso] Adjustable upper rear A-arms

So three cars I’m associated with are bad?

????


> On Dec 3, 2015, at 17:44, David Nunn <dnunn at telus.net> wrote:
> 
> Ken wrote: "I have a vague recollection that some of the modified 
> upper rear control arms included adjustment to reduce possible binding 
> in the rear suspension because the upper ball joint may not exactly 
> line up with he top of the carrier?  It seems like a control arm with 
> adjustable frame ends could be adjusted to align the ball joint with the carrier?"
> 
> About 20 years ago, Ted Mitchell and Dennis Quella had a lively 
> discussion, via the POCA newsletter, about adjustable rear upper 
> control arms. If I remember correctly, it all began when Ted wrote 
> that adjustable rear upper control arms, that replace the ball joint 
> with a rod end (AKA: Heim joint), were a poor design because it placed 
> the rod end in single shear. Dennis took obvious offense to Ted's 
> remark which Ted defended aggressively! He
> (Ted) went on to write, the proper way to make an adjustable upper 
> rear control arm was to replace the chassis mount bushings with 
> adjustable, Teflon lined rod ends and leave the ball joint alone. Such 
> a design places the rod ends in double shear, which is correct from an 
> engineering standpoint. Such a design also removes any bind from the 
> rear suspension by allowing the ball joint to be perfectly aligned 
> with the tapered hole in the upright. This is accomplished by lengthening and/or shortening the rod ends.
> The entire control arm can also be moved forward or backward by 
> adding/removing the shims that position the rod ends in the chassis mounts.
> 
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> 
> Detomaso Forum Managed by POCA
> Posted emails must not exceed 1.5 Megabytes DeTomaso mailing list 
> DeTomaso at poca.com http://poca.com/mailman/listinfo/detomaso_poca.com
> 
> To manage your subscription (change email address, unsubscribe, etc.) use the links above.


_______________________________________________

Detomaso Forum Managed by POCA
Posted emails must not exceed 1.5 Megabytes DeTomaso mailing list DeTomaso at poca.com http://poca.com/mailman/listinfo/detomaso_poca.com

To manage your subscription (change email address, unsubscribe, etc.) use the links above.