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I decided to make these up after reading a thread
about live axle handling and they were mentioned. At the
time, I needed a project so decided to give them a try and
see if they made a difference.
I ordered a pair of smaller 3/8" spherical bearings
for the car end, a pair of larger 1/2" bearings for
the axle end. I also got a couple of lengths of tubing and
threaded inserts to suit the 1/2" bearings. I ordered
the 1/2" bearings with left hand threads so I could
adjust the length of the radius arms easily, along with
matching locknuts. I then got a friendly engineering company
to shorten the tubes and to make up a couple of threaded
inserts to suit the 3/8" bearings and the tube diameter.
The final result was then powder coated in black to protect
it all.
Fitting the new arms was a simple case of unbolting the
standard items and the offering up the new ones with he
old ones still fitted. It was at this point that I adjusted
the length of the arms to match the old ones and then swapped
them over on the car.
My initial drive showed that the car really felt a lot better
over a bumpy road and I was able to drive comfortably 7-8mph
faster (on a national speed limit road).
I was very pleased with the improvement that the new radius
arms gave, and I ran them for the remainder of the year.
They were on the car when we went over to Spain and during
the trip I started to notice a slight knocking/rattling
noise when traveling over bumps when traveling at around
30mph. When I returned home I had a good poke around at
the back of the car and found that both of the 1/2"
bearings had developed some play and it was this that I
could hear over the bumps. I swapped back to the old radius
arms and went for a test drive and the noise was all gone.
I found some higher specification bearings and had to wait
a while for them to arrive. I swapped them back over again
and ran them again but this time they lasted even less time
before I heard the knocking noise return. The old originals
were swapped back on and they will remain on the car as
the high specification bearings are too expensive to keep
trying.
Worth a try.
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Collection Of
Parts
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Bearing fitted
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Fitted to Car
(with rubber boots)
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