Make your own a-arms? Why not..

[kc 300EX]

A-arms are expensive.

My godfather, who's also my neighbor, owns a machine shop. He has access to just about everything to do with metal.
Is it a horrible idea to ask him to make me a set of A-arms?
Who has done it?
I was thinking about giving him my stock ones (off my KFX) and just saying, here, make a set of these, but 2 or 3 inches longer.....
Things to think about
-balljoints
-tie-rods
-shock mount location
-what to make them out of
First of all, I was thinking about making them from titanium. He has acces to it in his shop.
I was also thinking of buying the ball-joints and tie rods from an aftermarket company that makes a-arms... whichever one.
As for shock mount location.... well, I think I would get measurements off someone with aftermarket +2 a-arm and basically do the same thing

Sooo what do you think? Horrible idea.. or has some potential?

[Ralph]

There is alot more to it, ask boogiechile hes a genius

[Juggalo]

i wouldnt make them out of titanium. its too brittle.. the uppers might be ok out of ti but i wouldnt trust lowers. even lonestar who makes a ti frame doesnt reccomend it for anything other than tt or drag racing

[stonerider250x]

if u kno how to make the geometry and every thing right it will be good but if not u would be better off buyin a set from an aftermarket company.;) :)

[LilDacktyle]

im making my own arms too. the only reason there not done is because i haven got my ball joints yet. when i finish mine ill tell if it was easy or not. so far it is going pretty easy for me. make them out of chromoly or D.O.M. Boogiechile that guy was a big help. go back a couple pages and youll see "making your own a arms." that was my post when i asked.

[dirtmomma]

Mine are homeade & I LOVE them!! I've taken a few HARD hits racing & they are stronger than any stocker!! My welder/fabricator used my stockers & cut them then added in for the lowers & made new uppers out of some bigger around steel he had laying around LOL sounds hokey but they work!! YES there is ALOT of measuring & re- measuring, calibrating all kinds of stuff involved!! But I didnt' have to pay a dime since mine was the 1st 300 he did :D :D he's done 400 ones & blaster ones, hopefully we can get him to do our blaster next!! Here's a pic!! ;)

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid107/pdbb54b71ef275ab0bb231b054ea1e308/f95d133d.jpg

[M300ex03]

very nice^

[QuadJunkies]

We modified our Daughters mini Kasea with a +2 swingArm and +2 Aarms and it should be tough as nails...........BUT.......... If your serious jumper and do a ton of MX I would reccomend buying afterMarket.;) http://www.exriders.com/vbb/attachment.php?s=&postid=1101024



http://www.exriders.com/vbb/attachment.php?s=&postid=1101027

[ill_lil_romey]

Anything that has to do with the frame geometry is precision. I wouldn't recommend. Unless you have a hook with a good fabricator, the money you would have spend on material, labor, and trial and error testing you would have enough for a set of arms.

[LilDacktyle]

just try it. im almost done with my arms. the only thing im waiting for are my damn heims.

[Rip_Tear]

With anyone who has acess to a machine shop it would be pretty easy. I have gone though one year of tool and die at college, and with a milling machine, and a set of originals, making a-arms would be fairly easy... I'd ask, he should have no problems :D

[Aallron]

Before you start to make your new A-Arms I would measure the distances from the ball joint to pivot points on upper and lower arms and toe in / toe out at full droop and full compression just to see what the manufactuer has built into them. You certainly dont want the quad to dart to one side or the other on landings.

[DGR]

mmm maybe if you know some one who has some aftermarket on his KFX/Z/DVX and "copy" the aftermarket a-arms

[boogiechile]

Originally posted by kc 300EX
A-arms are expensive.

Who has done it?
I was thinking about giving him my stock ones (off my KFX) and just saying, here, make a set of these, but 2 or 3 inches longer.....



I have done it a couple times now. (see link below) It is not that difficult if you have some expertice in the right areas. It is not nearly as simple as make "them like these but a couple inches longer". When you extend the arms you add travel. All that travel will be split between droop and jounce if you just copy the stock ones. That will make your frame dig in the dirt before the shocks bottom. So the extra travel has to go almost totally to droop. That requires a different angle between the ball joint and a arm than stock to get all the droop without binding the joint. The shock mount is critical but at least you have mentioned that. It must be located so that when the shock bottoms metal to metal the frame will be at the proper height from the ground. It is more critical if you want to use long shocks. Motion ratios have to be considered also. It can be done but to be done right takes a little thought into a good design. I did not even get into caster and camber issues either. You can see what I have built at the link below, the #6 has +3+1 with 16 inch shocks and the super mo has +7+2 with 19 inch shocks.

Greene Streak Racing projects (http://www.picturetrail.com/mojaveaddict)

[dirtmomma]

Here's another pic of mine :) I re painted them yesterday, I think they look WAY better now,
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid124/p18e21266c81714ac3ae3600281cbf242/f80ecf99.jpg

[QuadJunkies]

Originally posted by dirtmomma
Here's another pic of mine :) I re painted them yesterday, I think they look WAY better now,
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid124/p18e21266c81714ac3ae3600281cbf242/f80ecf99.jpg looks good!! whats your front and rear width anyhow?????:D are you pushing 50 in the front??:D

[dirtmomma]

Originally posted by QuadJunkies
looks good!! whats your front and rear width anyhow?????:D are you pushing 50 in the front??:D

Yeah it's 50 w/ the radials on the offsets, the rear is the same i do believe. I'll have to post a pic of it tomarrow :blah: Barbie that ****** ain't got NOTHIN' on me LMAO!! I know your not into pink but I love it so it now is sporting pink grips,pink/purple tassles :), & pink shock covers :eek2: I just did that to make it look purdy for the folks of Wallace hehe they need a little spice in thier lives!! ;)

[TCSMotorsports]

Boogiechile has hit the nail on the head. It is a lot more difficult than it looks. I am a journeyman machinist and built a set of a-arms for my wifes banshee. It took me six months and a lot of measuring and remeasuring. You can't just copy stock ones by making them longer because all of the geometry won't be right. I won't make another set again. I copied a set of aftermarket a-arms and they work pretty well. I figured out that with all my time and materials they cost about $3500.00 just for the one set. In my opinion you would be better off just spending the $500 to $700 for a good set of aftermarket arms like houser or burgard or alba.

[boogiechile]

Originally posted by TCSMotorsports
Boogiechile has hit the nail on the head. It is a lot more difficult than it looks. I am a journeyman machinist and built a set of a-arms for my wifes banshee. It took me six months and a lot of measuring and remeasuring. You can't just copy stock ones by making them longer because all of the geometry won't be right. I won't make another set again. I copied a set of aftermarket a-arms and they work pretty well. I figured out that with all my time and materials they cost about $3500.00 just for the one set. In my opinion you would be better off just spending the $500 to $700 for a good set of aftermarket arms like houser or burgard or alba.

Thats what i am saying happens to most people that do not have experience in the frt end geometry. They may make the arms 3 or 4 times before they get them to work and then maybe not work right and they still do not know why. They can be the worlds greatest fabricator but that does not help with the design.

The arms you see in my pics only cost me about $150 and a million hours of labor. But i had access to a lathe and other needed equipment for free. I also understand what is needed to design the arms so I have not had to remake any. I design first so I know they will work and then just tack everything together to test it out before fully welding it.

Greene Streak Racing projects (http://www.picturetrail.com/mojaveaddict)

[kc 300EX]

Well, the purpose of this thread was to find out important things like this, and hear from knowledgable people like you guys.
Thank you very much for all of the great info.
I doubt very much I'll be making my own A-arms, but I'm glad I got all the advice.
If I do decide to make A-arms, they will be flat track only. I think less precision will be involved.
Once again, thank you all very much, especially you boogiechile