Re: cupped lower a-arm?
 

thanks, i would rather sombody suggest me to do it overkill than for it to not be enough. also those a arms dont look to bad, but mine are a different style, and that opening probably wouldnt work for me.

Re: cupped lower a-arm?
 

I was worried about when the area that was cut for the cup between the ears ( or what ever you want to call where the shaft goes though) I didn't want it to get out of alighnment so the it vcauses undo stress on the end caps ot worse you can't get them to go in at all...that was why I suggested doing them with the shaft in

Re: cupped lower a-arm?
 

i had already had them apart and blasted. also i have new polyurathane bushings and didnt want to chance melting them with all of the heat from cutting and welding them up while put together. then i would also have to take them apart again to re sand blast them and what not. also if they did move it wasnt much, and if i have to i will notch them and move it where need be

Re: cupped lower a-arm?
 

making some templates to box in the arms
Attachment 678062

Attachment 678063

Re: cupped lower a-arm?
 

that should do it lol

when you plan on getting the spindles installed? i would like to see how low you will be sitting on the 20's

Re: cupped lower a-arm?
 

It will lay X.....

looking good

Re: cupped lower a-arm?
 

here is how i did mine, i did not run the "bucket" as deep as you did. Let me warn you about this design. I was running these arms and hung the truck up on a man hole cover. It did hardly any damage to the arm, but totalled the truck. Do not run your truck low, keep it at a safe ride height. I am lucky to be alive. These arms now reside in my trash pile and now have a porterbuilt dropmember.

Re: cupped lower a-arm?
 

haha yup. plan on getting them installed a.s.a.p. just have some other things i need to do first' like finish the arms, and i still need to get the bags and some other junk. i would like to see how low it sits to lol.:devil::ito:

Re: cupped lower a-arm?
 

thanks for the info, i will also not be riding to low at least for a while as i do not have compressors, tanks and valves yet, it will be ran on shraders untill i can afford it, also i would like to get a pb dropmember but that is not in the budget at this time:whine::waah:

Re: cupped lower a-arm?
 

Ya know, if you were to slightly modify the filler pieces to also be utilized as skid plates then if you did hit something the lower arms would slide up over it rather than get hung up on it....

Again, just a suggestion.

Re: cupped lower a-arm?
 

^^^ good point. maybe make them angle on the edges instead of flat maybe?

i have mine plated at the bottom like texas trends. i sure hope mine dont get caught on anything...thats some scary sh*t to think about!

Re: cupped lower a-arm?
 

texastrendz what part of the a arm got caught up? the side lip? In theory wouldnt any a arm tubular or modified original be at the same height on the truck? Please enlighten me as now that I have Porterbuilt the rear of my burb I have to redo the front, it sits 2 1/2 inches higher then the rear at full dump.

Re: cupped lower a-arm?
 

would like to know as well

Re: cupped lower a-arm?
 

well i was trying to make a couple of points. when cupping the arms it allows the truck to lay crossmember. when plating the arms like i did it made them stronger then any other part of the suspension. so when i had the truck about 3 inchs off the ground i was approaching an incline where the man hole cover was at. the a arm hung up on the rolled lip and stopped the truck. i went into the windshield. the control arm is tied to the cross shaft, the cross shaft is tied to the crossmember and the crossmember to the frame. the frame was the weakest point on the truck. bent it down about 6 inches and out about 4. it was not pretty. the dropmember is the solution because it allows you to drive it where you want it without the suspension hanging low. the a arms are going to be the lowest part of the truck without the dropmember. just be careful. still paying the hospital bill for that one.


you are going to want to drive it low, that is why you bagged it. this is why i really discourage your design. i would leave them flat like i did. but we know now that it is still not the solution to geeting these trucks low.

Re: cupped lower a-arm?
 

Sorry to hear you got hurt. I hear you on the hospital bills. My wife had a baby in July, we have insurance blue cross, and I am still paying bills!! Lol. Gotta love it.

So wouldn't a z be better then the whole cupping and crossmember chop. I know of the issues with z'ng but it raises the while susp up. Right or wrong?
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Re: cupped lower a-arm?
 

i would say a z in the front is your solution. it raises everything up while keeping everything in line. there is a suspension company here in houston and they do a ton of "z'ed" frames. i would of done a z to mine but i wanted to try a rack and pinion style steering.

there is a thread on this site that discusses cutting the z on an angle to push the wheel forward to center it in the fenderwell. i think if i was going to take the time to do it, i would do it to all the benefit i could. the dropmember does this also while narrowing the track with. we could be here all day discussing pros and cons along with price. if you are on a budget, cut away. lol. i did a ton of research like you are doing when i did my cupped arms. just did not think of what would happen if i ran it low and hung it up.
i am not saying it will happen to you, just do not run it low.

Re: cupped lower a-arm?
 

Ok let me try to say this without sounding like an AZZ

TIre size,TIre size,TIre size,TIre size sometimes looking low is better than being low like what happen to Tex..I know that with the cupped LCA and 29" tall tires ( I don't care what size rim you could use 18's, 20, 22 or even 24's as long as you maintain that height of tire) it will keep your X about 1 1/2" off the ground and your LCA shafts about 1"...and that is at full dump and the LCA against the X member (which sucks to ride at unless your trolling a lot somewhere) thats why if you look at the front of my truck I added the air dam...it looks lower than it is and stops people from looking under the truck...being plastic it will fold up and drag with no issues ( trust me) I have been thinking side pipes to hide a bit of the 4" the pinch weld is off the ground....it may tear it off ( which I doubt) but will not cause catrsofic results but they have to be your thing?? my other thought was to add a rubber skirt to the pinch weld...again it looks lower and if it hit so what it will pop right back out ( like going over speed bumps)

But I guess the biggest thing is you need to watch where you drive..yea poop happens but I have been driving low stuff for years on New Englang roads ( which suck) and knock on wood have not dragged on anything at speed.... construction sites where they are paving are the worse so I use stupid care when driving though those areas..I have even been pulled over for my zig zagging to avoid them.....but in the end the const. company is responceable for marking and keeping them safe

Re: cupped lower a-arm?
 

Hottrucks post gets us considering the worst case scenario of having a deflated or blown air bag.

Basically we are discussing "Scrub Line". The following is from a recent Hot Rod magazine article discussing if the government can "outlaw Hotrodding"

Pennsylvania has developed a standard applicable to street rods, specially constructed, or reconstructed vehicles that uses what's called a scrub line. (The state enforces a bumper height law for all other passenger vehicles.) A scrub line is an imaginary surface created if lines were drawn from the bottom of the wheel rim on one side of the car to the bottom of the tire on the other side. Lines drawn from both sides using a taut string create an X under the vehicle's suspension. A suspension or chassis component, except exhaust systems and sheetmetal, may not hang below the top portion of this X.

Think of it like this. What happens if you have a front tire blow out? If your lower a-arm hangs lower than the wheel rim, and you have a tire blow out, then the a-arm is shoveling up pavement, it turns into an anchor, if you will.

I saw a real world application of this about 15 years ago. I drove up on a guy in a "patina'd" 47 Ford whose car was literally facing the wrong direction up on a sidewalk. His front right tire went flat, and the car had stepped lower a-arms. When the tire went flat the lower a-arm dug into the asphalt and it spun him up onto the sidewalk, in his own words "in an instant". You could see where the a-arm had dug out the asphalt.

There is a lot of thought that goes into the design of stock suspensions by Engineers that go through these scenarios. Scrub lines are one of those designed in features.

I have never understood why anyone would intentionally build a suspension that when totally aired out -and/or- when a tire goes flat, that the suspension would rub the road. This leaves you with little, if any, control over the steering of the vehicle. I guess I am more of a function drives form kind of guy, with safety taking job one priority when making modifications. Life is to short to trust an air bag or a tire with you or your loved ones life.

Something to think about?

Re: cupped lower a-arm?
 

I was trying to avoid using that word...lol

my worse case was I blew ( burned it after the new exhaust was put on) afront pass. air line...keep in mind I have a 500 Caddy in mine and I will sa I was surprised to find that the truck was very sluggish in the curbes before I look at the guage to see it flat lined??

Again thats an air line NOT a tire ...BUT.... with the 29" tire with any air in it at all my S....line is NOT an issue......

I see alot of these low rider cars with what look like tiny 14" rims and I know thats an issue!!!!!

Re: cupped lower a-arm?
 

well i am running 20" rims and 35 series tires(27" tall), and nothing at the monent is below the bottom of the rim. the only way i think i would have a problem with scrub line issues with my truck is if im aired out, but i could be wrong.

edit: i might end up z-ing the front of the frame as it will probably cost a whole lot less than a pb dropmember, but i will see as time goes by on what i am really gonna do.

Re: cupped lower a-arm?
 

here is an update on these for anyone interested:

edit: also inner fenders are already cut out and hood hinges removed

Attachment 699655

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Re: cupped lower a-arm?
 

Looks nice and strong! Have you checked to see if the shafts go back in yet? The 2nd to last picture has me a little nervous for you, but it could just be my eyes playing tricks on me...

Re: cupped lower a-arm?
 

shock mounts??

Re: cupped lower a-arm?
 

i haven't checked them again yet, but they should be fine as it sure looked like they were before.

Re: cupped lower a-arm?
 

haha you bet, need to mod them a little to see if i can get away with using them because when aired out, the shock will run right into the upper a arm cross shaft nut on the outside.