Quote: The billet one could be modified into a drop arm by welding if it is 6061. Might be 7075 though.
The tie rod spacers on this kit (as well as other kits) was one of the main reasons Tim and I never made the switch on his Valiant. It just seems like poor engineering practice to have your steering input made thru a long and unsupported lever arm. It would be interesting to see how much that are deflects during use. Maybe it isn't as much as I'm thinking.
It probably is Andy, but not the load and resulting deflection during normal steering isn't a big concern. The concern is the large load transferred from the knuckle into the tie rods when you drop a wheel or both in a pot hole or washout. Huge spike in loads, especially if you are on the brakes. That's where I see the potential for a sudden failure and loss of control.
Food for thought on a different debate with coil-over conversions: The need to brace the shock towers and rails. The high loading in the front suspension comes when you compress into the jounce bumpers, which are mounted to the front rails. If you leave the jounce loads on the rail, I don't believe there is any reason to go crazy with the bracing for the towers. Do you need some? Absolutely. But again the real loads are still absorbed by the rails like Ma Mopar intended. Coil overs are introducing a slightly higher fatigue load into the towers but in the grand scheme, not much. Of course the only way to prove this is mega dollar data acquisition, it's much easier to throw a little more bracing at it.
Just a few thoughts from my experience in data acquisition and suspension testing.
The same frame rails that are spot welded/ welded to the unibody that has flex! one of the reasons i mention the frame stiffening kits.
Quote: Yeah, but Ma never intended the normal suspension loads to be handled by the shock tower. That intended load bearing part is the rear torsion bar mounts. So rather than a catastrophic failure due to shock loading I suspect a slow inward creep of the towers, much like early mudstains.
I'd suggest bracing be mandatory.
Indeed!
Again the frame rails don't go all the way through on a unibody, this is why i like the UScartool frame rail connectors/stiffening kit so darn much. I have heard only good things about them.
Also ones of the reason i like the "strut bars" the Magnum force transgender kit too major down side being having to cut in the fender walls/wells if you wants turbos or so it seems form the photos i have seen since the strut bars do take up what can be valuable engine bay space.
