Making own swinger/a-arms

[Xero]

hi all, My dad is very good friends with a metal fabricator who has his own forge, he is also the guy that does my sand blaster..

I was thinking of asking him to design and make me some +2/3 a arms and a extended swingarm (probably from the stock one) but whats the best metal thats strong but light for a arms?

 

[sicivicdude]

With enough engineering you could probably design and reinfroce 1018 (standard mild steel) satisfactorily to make a set of a-arms that are only 1/2 as heavy (over again) as conventional a-arms. If you want to create strong and light a-arms, you need to use sufficiently thick 4130 chromoly tubing. Bending, forming and welding this material is more difficult than mild steel.

 

[Blaner]

chromoly FTW. !!!

 

[88blasterman]

find a set of new or used american star a arms. fabbing up your own is way to red neck for me!

 

[Blaner]

nothing red neck about fabbing! its actually demands a lot from a person and i doubt most "red necks" have the brains to do it.

Sicivicdude makes chromoly A Arms, maybe chat to him about finer details

 

[sicivicdude]

find a set of new or used american star a arms. fabbing up your own is way to red neck for me!

These are definitely terribly redneck:

In all fairness, I am quite redneck just not a half-assed redneck!

 

[88blasterman]

thas look pretty decent!

 

[sicivicdude]

A clearer picture but with no powdercoating:

 

[DirtBlaster03]

These are definitely terribly redneck:

In all fairness, I am quite redneck just not a half-assed redneck!

Owned.

I love those a arms. I hope you're still makin em when I can put some extra cash together. Lol

 

[Xero]

find a set of new or used american star a arms. fabbing up your own is way to red neck for me!

Why pay like £300-500 for a decent pair of +2 a arms when I can have them made professionaly by a metal fabricator for about £50 designed and made...I just need to decide how I want them, how wide etc and tell the guy and he will help me come up with something then make them

 

[sicivicdude]

Why pay like £300-500 for a decent pair of +2 a arms when I can have them made professionaly by a metal fabricator for about £50 designed and made...I just need to decide how I want them, how wide etc and tell the guy and he will help me come up with something then make them

I hope you're talking £50 labor and if you are, they guy's giving you time....

£50 won't buy the 4 ball joints necessary to build the a-arms around much less the tubing, tooling, and materials (welding wire, gas). Plus, the time to make them all the same (from side to side) is a LOT more than it looks like.... It took me approximately 8 hours of fab work just to make my two jigs and I had some really good starting points!

 

[Xero]

I hope you're talking £50 labor and if you are, they guy's giving you time....

£50 won't buy the 4 ball joints necessary to build the a-arms around much less the tubing, tooling, and materials (welding wire, gas). Plus, the time to make them all the same (from side to side) is a LOT more than it looks like.... It took me approximately 8 hours of fab work just to make my two jigs and I had some really good starting points!

£50 is just a rough price may end up being 100 or could be 20 lol, thats all in but i would supply the ball joints, just no sure which to use and where to get them from...

 

[Larry's Shee]

nothing red neck about fabbing! its actually demands a lot from a person and i doubt most "red necks" have the brains to do it.

Sicivicdude makes chromoly A Arms, maybe chat to him about finer details

What the smurf would an Afrikan know about Rednecks? Thought that was an American product

Considering by the time Xero added import duties he might be further ahead fabbing his own I:I. IIRC, Si lists which ball joints he uses, etc. Even if he uses mild steel it'll be as good if not better/stronger than stock. B)

 

[sicivicdude]

£50 is just a rough price may end up being 100 or could be 20 lol, thats all in but i would supply the ball joints, just no sure which to use and where to get them from...

If you're sticking with Blaster hubs, you're stuck with a M14 pinch bolt style male ball joint and there aren't too many choices (much less many good ones!)

The best choice I've found thus far is the FRAP 2419M which I am currently trying to source here in the states for the upper ball joint and the Ricky Stator RS3003 in yamaha taper for the lower ball joint. No matter which way you go with the uppers, you need to go with the Ricky Stator lower ball joints as they're really the trick.

The other choices for upper ball joints are as follows:

lower ball joint off of a 85-92 LT250R with the corresponding notched tube (ID .875") or 2003-2006 yamaha grizzly lower ball joints with the corresponding mounting ring. Neither of those is a perfect choice but both can be made to work relatively well.

 

[Blaner]

What the smurf would an Afrikan know about Rednecks? Thought that was an American product

No no, we have them here too, except they are more commonly known as "dutchman" they live in either Brakpan, despatch, uitenhage. they are commonly identified by their 1l brandy in one hand, 2l Coke in the other while fixing their 3l Ford.

 

[dakine97]

it takes a whole lot more than you think to make em my swinger was custom fabbed by my dad extended 3 inches and it took us about three weeks

 

[Xero]

If you're sticking with Blaster hubs, you're stuck with a M14 pinch bolt style male ball joint and there aren't too many choices (much less many good ones!)

The best choice I've found thus far is the FRAP 2419M which I am currently trying to source here in the states for the upper ball joint and the Ricky Stator RS3003 in yamaha taper for the lower ball joint. No matter which way you go with the uppers, you need to go with the Ricky Stator lower ball joints as they're really the trick.

The other choices for upper ball joints are as follows:

lower ball joint off of a 85-92 LT250R with the corresponding notched tube (ID .875") or 2003-2006 yamaha grizzly lower ball joints with the corresponding mounting ring. Neither of those is a perfect choice but both can be made to work relatively well.

Im going to try find the most common cheapish ball joints that will work, im sure their will be something, but quad parts are harder to come by in the UK

 

[dksix]

I'd like to note that there is a big difference in designing suspension components and copying them. There is a lot going on down there and at aggressive riding speeds it's happening quick. I'd consider building a set of well functioning A arms to be like porting; It's looks simple enough.....to someone who doesn't understand it. If you want to make a set because you want to make them and are ready to do the proper research, trial and error and R&D, then get started but if you're just looking to save some money you might be better off finding a used set.

 

[BlastieSa]

No no, we have them here too, except they are more commonly known as "dutchman" they live in either Brakpan, despatch, uitenhage. they are commonly identified by their 1l brandy in one hand, 2l Coke in the other while fixing their 3l Ford.

Brakepan for the win!!!