DIY Adjustable Strut Rods

[bomccorkle 12]

I was looking around at the offereings for strut rods and noticed how insanely expensive they were.... (pulled mine out and the passenger side had a touch of bow in it) anyways I believe I have devised an effective way to build your own for far less than $100. I started by making a plate with 2 13mm holes just to shore up the factory holes on the lower arm. I then simply bolted the back hole thru the arm with a 1/2-20 grade 8 bolt/nut/lock washer. on the front hole I mounted a heim (5/8-18 lh 1/2 thru hole) horizontaly with a 3/8 spacer between it and the affore mentioned plate and also mounted it with a shouldered 1/2-20 grade 8 bolt nut lock washer.

 

At the front where the factory s/r mount is on the side closest to the wheel I saw there were 3 spot welds that held the mount in place. I centered up between these locations (i figured 2 pieces of steel were better than one) and drilled a 41/64 hole thru the mount. Thru this hole I placed a 5/8-18 grade 8 shouldered bolt and heim(5/8-18 rh 5/8 thru hole) and made spacers to keep the heim centered in place.

 

Iam still working on making some roller spring perches and doing a uca drop but from the way it looks i am going to need about a 15-16 inch sawge tube to tie them together when the car gets set back down.

 

I came up with about $10 a piece for heims about $15 a piece for swage tubes and about $10 for nuts and bolts at my local manufacturing supply. the 1/4 plate i made to weld to the top of the arm I had laying in the garage.

 

Sorry its kinda mid process and I dont have any pics yet but if anyone wants any or sees any problems with my thinking here Id be glad to help/hear it.

 

Bo

[Grabber70Mach 107]

Lots of good info here:

 

http://dazed.home.bresnan.net/adjustable

[RPM 1,190]

A lot of mods can be done on the cheap in your garage depending on your skills and available equipment. Hot rodding started this way. Shops for profit have to pay mucho for commercial rates on phones, power, insurance yada yada yada. Those expenses get passed on to you and me.. I try to home build what I can, but I'm thankful we have many aftermarket shops available to us.

 

Bob

[Jimjific 23]

Bo,

 

Here is a link to adjustable struts that I made.

 

http://www.1969stang.com/mustang/forum/showthread.php?t=11532

 

I did it for about $100 fir the set.

 

Jim

[buening 63]

Excellent drawings and fab work Jim!

 

Any concerns with the reduced section at the threads possibly breaking under extreme forces like a pothole?

 

Also watch the wall thickness on some swedge tubes, they can get pretty thin. I plan on using DOM tubing for my DIY strut rods.

 

For those wanting to make their own end brackets at the LCA, I spent a good amount of time measuring my stock strut rod in order to get the correct angle. Those early cars with straight ended strut rods have it so easy :p See attached drawing. It simply details the centerline of the strut rod and centerline of holes, as well as locating the steering stop.

 

Also attached is a drawing I made up of a version I was going to fabricate for my car, but decided to go with the coilover mounted to the LCA....which requires a spacer block atop this strut rod. Due to this, I had to make changes and thus never made this bracket (so it has not been verified). I hate for all the work to go to waste though :yes:

[Jimjific 23]

Bluening,

 

No I wasn't concerned about the reduced area since once you put the joint in the strut rod, it isn't required to flex anymore during it's movement. Most of the struts stress is in tension during braking and to a lesser extent, acceleration.

 

During a pot hole event, there will be vector that the strut will see but it will still be in the tension direction.

 

I also chamfered the transition from stock diameter to the threaded diameter to relive stress concentration

 

Jim

[juit 34]

need some pics on this thread :tongue_smilie:

[MustangChuck 16]

Bo,

 

Do you have any updates (and as juit requested) pictures??

 

Thanks,

Chuck

[MikeStang 247]

A friend bought a nice aftermarket set, and I took one apart, and measured and drew everything out down to the design of the knuckle so it could be reproduced by a normal Joe, but the knuckle would take a bit of time and would require at minimum a drill press and some know how.

I built a set with some of the tubes, a few Clevises I ordered and washers and bolts, then cut the factory sturt rods down and threaded them to bolt to LCA...

You may have a time when you start to cut the threads on the origional strut rod, as most of the time they are bent a ways down and you dont see it till you chuck it up in a lathe lol.

I have mine on the car, which isnt built yet, but Im almost scared of using them for fear of one giving out and loosing my baby.

Big risk even tho I used good parts..

I may just look for a set of aftermarket units

[bomccorkle 12]

I can't ever get pics posted up here. I do have some if someone who knows more about working the interwebz wants them to post send me an email and I'll get them to you. I will make it a point to climb under there tomorrow and get some good close ups if that's the case.

[buening 63]

You have to have a website that you upload pictures to. This website has a gallery but I'm not familiar with it. Basically, upload your pics to somewhere like Photobucket, open the picture in your browser and right click on it and choose "copy image address". Then in your reply, click the little yellow square box that looks like it has a mountain on it, and paste the website in the window that opens. I think there is instructions in the How-To section of 1969stang.com

 

I recently came across the clevis below, which is both relatively cheap and appears to be sized perfectly for our cars. Just another option for those looking for a good clevis to use at the ends of these strut rods

 

http://www.pacificcustoms.com/AC425152CV.html

 

 

I found it on this thread: http://forums.vintage-mustang.com/mod-custom-forum/645096-adjustable-strut-rods.html

[RPM 1,190]

You can also open a folder on your computer and upload them from there.

 

Bob

[buening 63]

I forgot about that Bob! Yeah, just don't use the Quick Reply window. It has to be done in the Go Advanced reply. In that window, down below there is an Additional Options section, in which there is a Manage Attachments button. Click on this and a small window opens. Click the Browse button and find the picture file on your computer and double click it. Then click the upload button and it'll attach to the reply. You add multiple pictures using the browse button and then click Upload to upload them all at once.

[bomccorkle 12]

I had tried the upload in the advanced area but it says my pics are too big.

[RPM 1,190]

You should be able to resize your already taken pics. Every digital camera I've bought let's you select the size of the pic taken. Most sites tell you the max side pic allowed.

 

Bob

[buening 63]

Open the picture in Microsoft Image Viewer or whatever its called. Click Edit Pictures button at the top, then a side bar opens to the right of the picture. Click Resize, and there it gives you options. I use the one with the drop down menu and choose Large (1000ish x 700ish pixels). Then save the picture and try to upload

[bomccorkle 12]

Okay. Will try and get it done tomorrow. At work currently

[bomccorkle 12]

If it works....

[bomccorkle 12]

Pictures are bad quality. If you guys want some better or have any questions let me know.

[alphapygmy 10]

Looks good but I have a question. How do you keep the bolt through the rod end snug in the strut rod hole in the control arm? My LCA has .540" holes for the strut rod bolts and I don't know how I would remove the slop if I didn't use the factory bolts with the splines on them. I guess I could enlarge the holes to use a 9/16" bolt. I'm still leaning towards using the factory rods and having them cut down and threaded to use 3/4 swaged tube then rod ends like you have up front.

[bomccorkle 12]

I cheated a bit. That's a tie plate on top of the LCA with I think 13mm holes in it. Its welded to the LCA. I do like your idea of drilling to 9/16 tho. That'd be easier.

[RPM 1,190]

I've never seen a rod end used on the control arm end of the strut rod. And rod ends don't work very well in single shear. I'm no engineer, but I would seriously consider checking with one before driving your car. Buening on this site is an engineer.

 

Bob

[buening 63]

I personally wouldn't trust that rod end at the LCA. That end sees bending due to braking forces. An uproar was made when someone used a clevis there on another forum. I wouldn't use either, but merely my opinion

[bomccorkle 12]

So then possibly a bracket that holds the rod end in double shear? Or possibly a plate with a threaded end on it into the threaded rod? I'm all for suggestions myself, although I'd think the stamped LCA would give first.

[Jimjific 23]

Remember, that every time you brake you can think of the wheel coming to a complete stop and the car wanting to still go forward. This means that when you brake, the wheels want to go towards the aft end (rear) of the car. The only thing stopping the front wheels from doing this is the upper control arm mounting and the strut rod. So the strut rods end up in tension. acceleration is also a tension situation too (although a lot less) since the front wheels aren't powered so they want to lag behind. The original design attached to the lower arm in two spots that spread the load across the arm and add stiffness. I can pretty much guarantee that only attaching to one side of the arm you will twist the lower arm during hard braking. The upper arm will be stiff and the lower arm will want to rotate around the ball joint. We haven't even gotten into the fact that the heim joint not being captive. If that swivel end ever pops off of the ball, game over. Remember too, that heim joints are only good for a certain angle and your suspension travel might exceed that angle. I would NOT use this. Cut your old one and thread the end. Put a chamfer on the transition to the smaller diameter to reduce stress concentrators.

 

 

Jim

Edited September 19, 2013 by Jimjific