[DeTomaso] Adjustable upper rear A-arms

[Larry Stock]

I have run mine hard for 20 years pulling 2.5 G¹s on tracks and running
200 MPH in the Silver State and I am truly amazed that there has been no
degradation in my heims. I use a larger Hiem joint in my units that I
build than Dennis uses in his A-Arms, and we make our own non binding free
pivot bushings out of Stainless Steel. It is a hardy trouble free unit
that most Pantera¹s need to get back to designed ride height and still
have a toe in setting adjustment.

On 12/3/15, 5:00 PM, "DeTomaso on behalf of Charles Engles"
<detomaso-bounces at poca.com on behalf of cengles at cox.net> wrote:

>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 I¹m 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.
>> 
>> 
>> 
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