HDK lower control arm. Except where the shock attaches the geometry is the same as stock ( I stole these pics from HDK at FABO and just noticed the lower shock mount brackets are not on those yet):

"I think made of 4130 CM but not positive."

If found to be so, as a repeatedly stressed non redundant critical part, it really should also be post weld heat treated.

I can't see these things breaking either way. Biggest load is gonna be on the pivot pin IMO, in bending from the cantilevered LCA. Those pivots are made from some kind of special steel for the application, but I can't remember what he called it.

Edit: "stressless metal" for the pivot pins, whatever that is. And the tubes are 4130, not heat treated.

inconel?

Ray, if you plate the top and bottom of the arm, you can swiss cheese the center of it pretty good, as well as trim the flanges with no loss of strength. Done several sets. Weight loss is not great though..........BUT, ounces make pounds. As you know, the biggest loss off the front of a Mopar is losing the T-bars and factory steering. That crap is heavy

AkterKation Time?

I have a rack on my car. My k frame went from 36 to 19 lbs. Im about to replace lower control arm bushings and looking for ideas while front end is apart. My car weighed 3240 at drag week and that is just to heavy to compete with fox mustangs that are out spending by at least double

this may come across as a duma$z question, but on a fabbed arm or spindle, when the assembly has to come apart, what is the correct method to disassemble the taper[ie., ball joint or tie rod stud] from the mating taper hole ? the factory parts usually have a [what i call] "beating block" you smack with a BFH to "pop" the joint apart. with fabbeb parts, that would scar them up bad, plus, more than likely, egg shape the taper, making the part[s] [in my opinion] useless. what separator, using a threaded shaft, would get the job done ?




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I havent used that type arm before but I use
a pickle fork to separate the ball joints...
I leave the nut at the end of the thread on the
ball joint.. then tap the pickle fork in between
the joint and the arm(hit it in pretty tight) then
smack the end where the nut is... that way you dont
bang on the arm itself

These tools are invaluable:

http://www.americanmuscle.biz/AMERICAN_MUSCLE_23000_Pro_Tool_Kit_p/22000.htm

That set shows both BBJ and SBJ sockets. Good price if it has both.

What kind of car are we talking about?
Maybe we can all learn something new here.
Some of the time, Some cars are worthy of taking weight off else where I guess. I could be wrong.

67 barracuda

Notch or fast back?

What color?

Anyone make the pieces to mount a coilover shock in the stock location? Thinking maybe deleting the torsion bars

Can i drill and tap the back of LCA stud and bolt it together

That is what I am doing. My K frame has oil pan and locater mods so it stays, but the LCAs were stock for the KOS class back in the day. I am putting on coil-overs to lose the torsion bars, hopefully gaining header space for a RB/440-1.

It also takes a upper shock mount that uses a real bolt. HDK makes one and I am using it, but like the LCA I am changing it to fit my car and the existing setup I have. And I already told him it should have been heat treated 4130 and half the weight.

I converted a 65 Dart to coilovers using a U shaped piece of steel with a hole drilled in the center to bolt it to the upper shock mount. Then drill a hole through cross ways for the shock. Two problems come up with this though. Number one is there may not be enough strength in the upper shock mount area to support the weight and abuse it will take. The other is you are forced to run very short shocks which limited my total travel some.
To help with the strength issue I used a 5/8 bolt for the upper end of the shock. The bolt is very long so I could put some spacers on either side to get out to where I could make some weld on brackets to put that long bolt through, and weld to the frame rail. If you decide to try this make sure you know how much room you will have for those brackets. I put some seriously wide (8.5 x 18) front rims on and it cost me just a little turning radius with only flat plates (1/4 inch) welded to the chassis.

Here's what I did to mine.

STEFF did you weigh before and after?

mr. p body, i'm not a big fan of pickle forks, although i have used them before. it seems every time i've used them, the boot got tore up no matter how careful i was using it. any other suggestions ?