Billet Aluminum front spring crossmember and steering arm

[Hogback Fabrication]

wow, i cant belive you can't see this
the steering arm is a lever, with the stock steering, lets say there is maybe 500PSI aplied force to that lever
with hydro assist, there is at least 2500 psi pushing that arm, that lever that controls your steering

If the arm is just "along for the ride" why not make it out of cardboard, or sticks, or tinfoil?
the force of the ram just dosen't stop at the tie rod and magically dissapear. all that force is still applied to the arm

If the ram were putting its force onto the steering arm, then yes, there would be 2500 psi pushing that arm. Since we are talking about an assist ram mounted to the axle tube and tie rod, that force is "downstream" of the steering arm. The steering arm can only be under as much stress as the mechanical setup is capable of producing i.e. as much force as you can spin through the steering wheel.

Think of it this way. Disconnect your draglink and use just the hydro ram to steer the truck. Where is the force being applied then? Not the steering arm, just the axle tube and tie rod. Now reattach the mechanical steering. The mechanical steering adds a little bit more force to the steering, and this is the force that the steering arm sees. If the two systems were somehow fighting each other the steering arm could be under a ton of force, but when you turn the wheel left, both systems are trying to turn left and each system contributes its own force.

 

[Hogback Fabrication]

why do you need to distribute the load, if there isen't that much force being aplied to them?

Distributing a load is always a good idea and the aftermarket companies are bringing you something stronger than the factory did. All I said was most of the people having trouble shearing studs are running high steer (maybe with hydro assist/full hydro) where all of the steering force is on the steering arm.

This thread is getting to be kinda all over the place and I really don't mean to be confrontational with anyone, just trying to explain.

 

[surpip]

Think of it this way. Disconnect your draglink and use just the hydro ram to steer the truck. Where is the force being applied then? Not the steering arm, just the axle tube and tie rod. Now reattach the mechanical steering. The mechanical steering adds a little bit more force to the steering, and this is the force that the steering arm sees. If the two systems were somehow fighting each other the steering arm could be under a ton of force, but when you turn the wheel left, both systems are trying to turn left and each system contributes its own force.

the steering arm is attached to the tie rod, if you are pusing against the tie rod, you are pushing against the steering arm.
in an off road situation, like the one i discribed above, where your tire would be wedged against a rock or other such obstacle, all the force of the ram is pushing against the steering arm. this causes the shear force that shears the studs/bolts.

on a pure street aplication it might be fine, although with a large wide tire, the is still a large amount of rotational resistance(like if the tire was wedged against something) when you try to steer.

 

[54inches]

http://www.ussautomotive.com/auto/steelvsal/mechproperties.htm

A small graph to show the yield strengths of Steel VS Al.

Certain Al's are as good or better than Steel.

 

[1979jimmy350]

I would be worried just being thats its al, a good rule of thumb is that you need about 3 times as much aluminum to match steel in thickness, so its about 1/3 as strong as steel, I would defently like to see some FEA on thoes parts. I work for a compony that makes axles and they don't use aluminum becasue of the fatigue limit (very important in steering that sees a lot of cycles and is a big saftey item) and basic strength of the material

 

[54inches]

These statements are very blanket and depend on what I have said before......cyclic stress is something to think about when building these arms, but please find some DEFINITE #'s if you are going to argu the STEEL is better than ALUMINUM argument.....

 

[twoslo4five0]

im not saying anything but there are other companies making arms out of alum.....i dont know the grade and what not but here it is http://northwestfab.com/dana60steeringarm.html

ummmm here ya go once again....i dont think they would put there name on it if it wasnt safe...now it might be stoger than 6061 but its still alluminum..

 

[tRustyK5]

ummmm here ya go once again....i dont think they would put there name on it if it wasnt safe...now it might be stoger than 6061 but its still alluminum..

Those steering arms from NWF are not aluminum. They're billet steel, and it's damn good steel to boot, not some A36 crap. Have a second look at the NWF page...

Billet does not mean aluminum. It means the part was machined from one solid large chunk.


Rene

 

[Blazr77400]

They're billet steel, and it's damn good steel to boot, not some A36 crap.

I would say they are most likely made of 1018. Very similar to A36, which is not crap, it may look like it on the outside because of how it was made. A36 being hot rolled(causing that slag on top of it) 1018 being cold rolled, which is slightly stronger, but not enough to notice on something like a steering arm.

 

[tRustyK5]

i know it's better grade than cold rolled because I've talked to Kyle about his steering arms...I just can't recall exactly what it was he used. If I knew for sure I would have posted that up.

Rene

 

[gmc4cw]

the steering arm is attached to the tie rod, if you are pushing against the tie rod, you are pushing against the steering arm.
in an off road situation, like the one i described above, where your tire would be wedged against a rock or other such obstacle, all the force of the ram is pushing against the steering arm. this causes the shear force that shears the studs/bolts.

the tie-rod is only attached to the steering arm in high steer applications.

your drag link is attached to the steering arm no matter if it is crossover or a standard set up.

so if you only have crossover and not high steer and run hydro assist then the force of the ram is not exerted on the steering arm. In fact the steering arm most likely will see less force applied then with just crossover.

high steer changes everything. all the force is applied to the top of the knuckles. I have seen hydro assist and high steer shear a knuckle in half.

 

[surpip]

i stand corrected

 

[SUPERSUB87]

hey guys. i read all 5 pages of this... and i still dont understand.

so do not let me fab something up for you.
you're liable to die a lot faster i guess.

carry on.

 

[NorthWestFab]

I would say they are most likely made of 1018. Very similar to A36, which is not crap, it may look like it on the outside because of how it was made. A36 being hot rolled(causing that slag on top of it) 1018 being cold rolled, which is slightly stronger, but not enough to notice on something like a steering arm.

Our Arms are cut from 4140 Steel. Its not just tough, its the best.

 

[Blazr77400]

Our Arms are cut from 4140 Steel. Its not just tough, its the best.

Pre-heat treated?

 

[NorthWestFab]

The mill missed shipped a batch of heat treat material, I should have bough shares in Sandvik the mill went through so much carbide.

Yes it is usually pre-heat treat.

 

[thatK30guy]

hey guys. i read all 5 pages of this... and i still dont understand.

so do not let me fab something up for you.
you're liable to die a lot faster i guess.

carry on.

Can you fab me some hi-steer arms out of playdough and then bake it in a kiln machine?

 

[SUPERSUB87]

that'll cost you. but first. what color playdough???

tensile strength. HA! playdough knows no boundaries!

 

[Blazr77400]

The mill missed shipped a batch of heat treat material, I should have bough shares in Sandvik the mill went through so much carbide.

Yes it is usually pre-heat treat.

What Kind of Sandvik insert cutters do you use?
My 3/4" and 1.25" Sandvik cutters use a R390.
If I run the 1.25" with no coolant, 1500rpm, about 40-45ipm, between .15-.18 deep,1" wide cut, the cutter seems to last a long time. Could probably rough 10 or more of those on a set of inserts.

 

[Blazr77400]

Got the steering box caps all done.
I just smoothed out the top cap.
I am just using a 9/16-18 o-ring fitting with a -6 and fitting.

My brother also just got his blower for his Nova. I thought about throwing it on the crew cab while he wasnt looking.