making your own a arms?

[boogiechile]

Originally posted by ab****
What do you use to bend your tubing? Thanks

conduit bender and a little heat. Always let chromoly tubing cool on its own though, never cool with water or anything. Its a crude way but it is all I have and it works.

[boogiechile]

Originally posted by LilDacktyle
WOW! Thats pretty sick. have you ever made some arms for a banshee or any other quads? well, now that i saw yours, i think im goin to give it a try. but first i need to get metal and stuff. i was wondering, what size tubing to get and what kind to use. but if i make +3's, im goin to need to get shocks right. i cant run stock with them right? and if i do make +3's would it be better to run 19 inch shcoks? well, i wount ask any more questions until i start to get closer to makeing them. but if you could help me out i would really apreciate it. thanks

Please don't take this wrong, but with the questions you are asking I think you may be in over your head making your own arms.

I will answer some of your questions though. I have never made banshee stuff, I only make mojave parts at this time. However there is really no difference, the process is the same no matter what quad. I use 4130 chromoly tubing. you can use various sizing and I do not always use the same size but my choice is 1 inch for bottom arms and 7/8 for top. I also use thinner wall tubing than most builders to save weight. I have not had a problem with strength. Most aftermarket companies overbuild here to make sure it is hard to bend. I use .083 wall on bottom and .083 0r .065 on top. A lot of arms are built with .125 on the bottom. When I want more strength I move up to a 1 1/8 inch bottom and stay at .083 wall.

It would be best to use the longer shocks with +3 arms. I would forget about the stock shocks. Here is the area that concerns me. It is obvious that you have little knowledge of suspension geometry and when you go changing length arms and shocks you have to consider many things when you build. like motion ratios, proper frame height at shock compressed length, caster, camber, camber gain through travel, + forward or not and how much, the ever critical angle of the ball joints in relation to the arm (this will change dramatically as the arm gets longer and will cause joint bind if not right), and etc etc.

It is not easy to build good arms and you just cant extend the stockers and leave everything else on them like it is. If you do, your frame will dig in the dirt on landings even with the right springs and valving in the shocks.

[LilDacktyle]

thanks a lot for all the help. i was wondering, where do you get the ball joints or whatever, and how much are they?

[boogiechile]

Originally posted by LilDacktyle
thanks a lot for all the help. i was wondering, where do you get the ball joints or whatever, and how much are they?

I buy them here. prices are listed.
http://www.aedmotorsport.com/FK/index.html

[LilDacktyle]

thanks, but what ones do you usually buy?

[boogiechile]

I use the JM series

JM12 (3/4") for ball joints

JM8 (1/2') for tie rod ends

JM7 (7/16') for upper a arm to frame mounts (you will not want to use this size here, I make my frame with a 7/16 mount hole. A JM8 with a sleeve to 10 mm would be what you would want)

[LilDacktyle]

for the tie rods, i was just thinking about buying some. cause i know that you can buy some that are ment for +3 arm. do you think this would be better or jus to make my own?

[boogiechile]

the ones you buy should be ok for you. They will not work for me on my new project because it has so much travel that they do not have enough range of motion. so i have to use the heims and they just barely make it even with a modified high misalignment pin.

[bens250ex]

boggiechile would u be interested in making some +2 a arms for a 250ex some $$$$$$ defanantly would be involved for the labor????and parts

[boogiechile]

bens250, i would really like to make stuff for people but I can't even find the time to finish my own project. maybe I should quit my job and build quads. It would be fun. but it aint gonna happen any time soon.