Billet Aluminum front spring crossmember and steering arm

[Blazr77400]

Planned on having about 10" of lift on my crewcab and didnt want to much of an arched spring and I didnt like the looks of most square tube ones. So I come up with this crossmember. It started life as a 4"x4"X 36" aluminum. After about 10hrs on the mill it was done.
The crossmember will give about an 1" of lift because of the 2" added material above the spring mount. It will also allow me to move it forward for the 52"(or 56") spring swap. There are 6 (3 per side) 1/2-13 keenserted holes to mount it to the frame.
The spring mounts are a 1/2" thick plus the extra material on the inside.
The allen head bolts on the front are just for looks, but they do match my shackles pretty closely.
The Crewcab drawing is somewhat copied from the smilie thats an option when you post. I just winged the rest of it.

The steering arm started as a 2.5"x4"x 10" piece of aluminum. I wanted to eleviate some of the angle on the tierod end so I build 10 degrees of angle into it and the arm being thicker also helped. Will eventually add hydraulic assist so strength isn't to much of and issue, although it should be plenty strong. The arm is about 1.25" thick where is angle up.

 

[Blazr77400]

more

 

[Blazr77400]

more...

 

[k20]

bling bling! Daddy like....

 

[01maroonz71]

jesus man...that looks awesome!!!!! now make me some!

 

[tRustyK5]

Aluminum for the steering arm? Looks pretty, but I wouldn't run it...

Rene

 

[roadnotca]

Aluminum for the steering arm? Looks pretty, but I wouldn't run it...

Rene

X2. The syling is really awesome, but those holes are gonna walk.
Now, if you could do that in something that clanks a magnet.......

 

[cybrfire]

Somehow billet and "poor boy" don't go together! Nice looking work!

 

[Blazr77400]

Thanks for the replies...

As far as the steering arm goes, as long as I keep everything torqued it should be ok. When I add the Hydraulic assist it will take all the stress off the arm anyways.
My first steering arm was 3/4" A36. Nevery had any trouble with it. This arm is 1.5" thick where it bolts to the knuckle so there shouldnt be much of a problem.

That was what some other people said, Billet doesnt mix with Poor Boy, but thats kinda what I was going for.

 

[gmc4cw]

wow! that crossmember is saaaweeeet.

make sure you take pics of the install.

 

[Blazr77400]

I am hoping to do everything around the 4th of july, took a few days off to do everything.

Its kinda funny, I was expecting people to say the crossmember ears were gonna break, not the steering arm. Hopefully none of it breaks.

I decided the hell with it, and bought some 20x12 rotary forged centerline wheels with some 41x14.50 irok radials (since its gonna be mainly on the street).

 

[Hogback Fabrication]

Another vote for aluminum being a bad idea in the steering. I know I addressed this before when you made your shackles and brackets but I will go over it again so people know why I think this is a bad idea.

Aluminum doesn't have an endurance limit. That means that every time its loaded, it gets weaker. The part will eventually fail, maybe in 100 miles and maybe in 100,000 but breaking a steering arm (or shackle) is going to suck doing 80 on the highway. Aluminum does not fatigue the same way steel does. Your first tell tale sign will be when the tie rod/draglink end wallows out the hole in the arm. Not to mention the problems you will have with steel and aluminum directly contacting each other in the steering arm (you've heard of electrolysis right?).

Steel does have an endurance limit and as long as it loaded below that stress it will last practically forever.

Also, my ORD steering arm (and probably every D60 steering arm on the market) is at least 1" steel and your aluminum one doesn't appear to be any thicker than that.

Why are you making all this stuff out of aluminum anyway, just because its easy to machine?

 

[Chaddy]

As far as the steering arm goes, as long as I keep everything torqued it should be ok. When I add the Hydraulic assist it will take all the stress off the arm anyways.
.

If you say so....

 

[thatK30guy]

bling bling! Daddy like....

Same here...

 

[Blazr77400]

Also, my ORD steering arm (and probably every D60 steering arm on the market) is at least 1" steel and your aluminum one doesn't appear to be any thicker than that.

So people know why I think it will be ok...............................Endurance.....Shmurance.........

Actually at the thinnest point its 1.25" thick, then it tapers to 1.5" thick. I am going to say its not going to break.

How come all those new fancy drop hitches made of aluminum dont break?

Why are you making all this stuff out of aluminum anyway, just because its easy to machine?

Its easier to machine. And I want to piss you Engineer types off.......

 

[Blazr77400]

My wheels aren't going to break too are they?

 

[tRustyK5]

Is your steering arm rotary forged? Maybe it's 7075 instead of the 6061-T6 I think it is?

Rene

 

[Avery4jc]

pretty cool stuff...

so do you run a cnc machine for work?

 

[Hogback Fabrication]

So people know why I think it will be ok...............................Endurance.....Shmurance.........

Actually at the thinnest point its 1.25" thick, then it tapers to 1.5" thick. I am going to say its not going to break.

How come all those new fancy drop hitches made of aluminum dont break?
Its easier to machine. And I want to piss you Engineer types off.......

I'm not pissed off because you're making something that might break, I'm worried you're making something that could injure/kill yourself, injure/kill other people, or encourage other people to make things out of the wrong material.

I've never measured my steering arms so I don't know how thick they actually are. Again, I think you made the arms plenty thick and are of the right design. They are just made of the wrong material.

Completely ignoring the fact the aluminum is the wrong material for anything in the steering or suspension is ignorant. The fact that it is easier to machine sure as hell doesn't make it safe

I've never seen a hitch made of aluminum but I guarantee that engineering was behind it and not just the attitude of "I'm pretty sure this will work".

If this were a trail only rig, I would sure as hell tell you to run it and hope that the taper for the tie rod end and/or drag link end doesn't wallow out.

You are obviously a pretty good machinist but are misguided in what is safe and what is not.

 

[Hogback Fabrication]

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention the thing about wheels. Aluminum isn't a bad material to make things out of. Its just a bad material to make certain things out of. Nothing wrong with aluminum wheels.