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Trackbar Frame Mount......... Tell me how nuts I am!

Ghost

Ghost

Member Number 257
NAXJA Member
Location
Hartsville, South Carolina
Ok here are some shots. Beezil don't hold back! Welded with a Linclon 135 Fux Core D (Highest Heat) at 3.5 wire speed. .25" thick material. Cost in material so far is $7.00!

921512TBFrameMount.JPG


490206TBBracketWelds.JPG


The edges were done in 1"-2" stiches. There are 5 rosettes in the face. (That is what was grinded smoth.) All welds show clear sighns of heat discoloration on the back b4 I gound the front smoth.

Oh yea remember I am not a welder I play with one! These are my latest attempts at welds.
921511TBBracketWelds2.JPG


Back side done in 1"-2" stiches also. The blue lines are where I plan cuts to get rid of excess metal.

389401TBBracketFront.JPG


Final bracket should look something like this. Heim/Ball Joint will be between the two sides and a spacer to center it.

This is for me not probuction! :) By the way, the welds were done by me (not sure if I should be proud or not! BAsically two questions. Any thought on weather or not the welds will hold? Also, is this a good desighn? I will probalby use it for a while to see what it can take. Oh yea I've only got 5.5" lift and 33's!
 
Yes, it is "adjustable." There are two different locations right now. One at the stock length below the frame 4" and one at 6". If you look at the last picture you can see two bright "high lights" that is where the light is reflecting through the mount holes.
 
Tell you how nuts you are??????????????

Ill tell you that your plain stupid. Just because you have the ability to booger weld two pieces of iron togeather doesnt meen that you should be doing it. Your at $7.00 for that! I made my own and it always broke over and over again, trust me it was hell bent for stout. I made it too stiff and it always cracked the welds. Buy one that is $ well spent
 
Well this will definately qualify for being stiff!
 
So when are you ordering the BB to help you support all that xtra weight on the front?

Not to be overly critical, but "practice" welding on bumpers, etc....not suspension and steering components. For your own safety.
 
I actually have been practicing. THis will probably be rewelded by a friend that is a pro. But I want to see how it works first. I may need to go to a thinner material. Weight? What is that? I'm already 200 pounds lighter than mosst on the front anyway! LOL The 2.5L is a light weight! LOL!
 
make sure you have a seat belt ( 4 way) helmet ,neck colar and an emt . thats just to get out of the drive way . grind the weld out make sure you have the metal clean ( no rust grease slag or scale) and your ground clamp is on a clean spot as well . iv been hobby welding for a few years and im still not comfy with welding up stuff for steering and iv been told im not a bad weldor
 
That could qualify for the Scary Steering Setups web page. Steering and suspension components are just way too critical for the saftey of you, your passengers, and other motorists around you and is not a part of any vehicle where $ savings should be involved. Spend the money and get something that has been engineered, tested, and retested. I've had the unfortunate expeiriance of loosing an after market track bar mount while cruising down the highway at 70mph. It is only by luck and the grace of God myself or another motorist was not seriously injured or killed....A very scary expierience. I can't say it enough...Spend the extra $ and buy something you can trust.
 
Scary steering? Nahhhh.... Well those ones out there now had to be tested. This is like lets say a prototype. It will be inspected by a friend that is a welder for Rockwell and another friend that is a Machinest for A.O Smith. It will be on a trail rig that see very little road use. Also, I might get my cusin, works for Savanah River Plant, and is an engineere look it over too. But first some more research. who all makes a Trackbar bracket that is desighned to accomadate a heim at the frame end. I have seen RE's but that is about it.
 
You can use any after market track bar mount to use heim joints just use the proper sleeves to fill up the space between heim and bracket.
 
Ghost said:
It will be inspected by a friend that is a welder for Rockwell and another friend that is a Machinest for A.O Smith. I might get my cusin, works for Savanah River Plant, and is an engineere look it over too.
Click to expand...

WTF? Are you builidng a rocket?

You don't need an engineer/machinest/welder to tell you that thing looks like $7 horribly spent.
 
Why don't you guys offer some constructive criticism rather than just blasting him?

Ghost, your design isn't horrible. It will bend/break though. A couple of gussets on the backside(tire side) will do you a world of good. Make sure they go the length of your bracket. There's a reason that the stock bracket is shaped the way it is. The way you have yours now will allow it to bend at bottom of the frame and will also bend/crack the frame. 2 simple pieces of stell will cure it all though I believe.

Your welds are horrible though. You may be practicing, but do you have anybody around that knows something? Have them stand over your shoulder for half an hour. It looks like you're moving too fast and/or your wire speed is too high. I like to do triangles for mig and c's for flux.
 
I would say it looks a bit klunky at this point, but I bet the welds will hold just fine. I built a custom mount for mine using a sp125+ and it's been holding fine for a number of years now on skinny 33's. Take a look at my D44 article on www.madxj.com in the tech section if you would like a pic. It is a 90 degree piece of 3/16 bolted to the body, a piece of trimmed box steel welded to the bottom, and an additional piece welded to the outside of the bracket that goes from the top of the L shaped piece to the bottom of the box steel. There are a couple other braces on the thing too. Jeff
 
Thanks One Ton and Jeff that is the kind of constructive critism I am looking for. Is the .25 too thick? Should I build one out of 3/16 too and try them both? And yes I do have some one to look over my sholder but we have not been able to get our schedules together yet. I was actually going to get him to weld it! I think you are right on another thing Sean, I may be moving too fast. I might get some scrap and play some more. Were the holes for rusettes a good idea? And useless, that is called sarcasism! And yes those are all people I know here that I wheel with and have been helping me. The machinest is the one that modified my trackbar on the Heim thread in Non-Tech. Beezil i'm waiting on your constructive critisim. And thanks One Ton for being reasonable!
 
the heat tracks on the back indicate good heat. make sure everything is CLEAN! inspect your welds for porosity, cuz thats what'll cause them to crack and fail (assuming that the heat was sufficient, there are other variables as well ie slag entrapment but to a lesser degree). keep practicing, and if you want some good words to read about welding and design of welds read the proceedure handbook of arc welding by lincoln and pocket welding guide by hobart institute...i think its scary to think of homemade stuff making it onto the highway, but at slower off road speeds failure wont be so critical. like anything practice, practice, practice. of course this is just my opinions, not real science. good luck!
 
Thanks Bisquit boy! That use to be common around here! Good constructive critisism. But a question, porosity? I'm not linguistly educated. Would that have to do with holes in the weld? My memory from the reading about welding is fading and terminology was not my best subject. I'll have to look into those guides. Thanks.....
 
Rockkrawler makes a heim joint track bar bracket. You might want to look at that for ideas. Not sure that I would buy one though :nono:


And you know what they say "practice makes perfect." Watch how the puddle is forming as you weld and that will tell you if you need to speed up if the weld is building up too much or slow down if the puddle is really low or there are gaps.

Good luck,

AARON
 
Why are you using flux core wire? All you are doing is increasing your exposure to the extra heavy metals in weld fume.

Go trade that spool of flux core for some solid wire & breathe easier. Everyone here will call you a wuss, but wear a respirator too. Disposable 3M 8233's are my choice.

Keep up the good work. We all have to start somewhere!
 
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