Aluminum drag link and tie rods

[fordsbyjay]

As most of you probably know my car likes to dart around sometimes which makes for some exciting rides. I am going to change to hydraulic shocks but I wanted to see if changing the drag link and tie rod to a large diameter would make any difference. My car is a Total Perf. car and it uses wimpy little 1/2" rod ends and 3/4" tubing for these two components. When I go over bumps I swear I can see the right wheel flexing all over the place. I had a look at Speedway motors and they use 5/8" rod ends for their tubular steering components and 11/16" for their tie rod ends. I have some 5/8" by 3/4" shank teflon lined Aurora rod ends so this is going to be the basis for my upgrade. I spent all day driving around looking for tubing only to realize some people don't know the difference between tubing and pipe.

When I was a couple blocks from the house I figured I would try this little machine shop as a last effort. Met a nice guy name Chad and after discussing my goals and looking through his steel rack he suggested some solid aluminum bar. He had a bunch he purchased for a different project that never happened. He kept talking about how cheap it would be and in my experience cheap is a relative term and I am apparently cheaper than most retailers think. LOL. So after asking several times about the price he just gave me 10' of 1" solid aluminum bar. I am not sure of the grade but how could I pass that up. My crappy day just turned to a ray of sunshine. The whole 10' piece is considerably stronger than the 4' piece of tubing currently on the car so I think it should make a big difference. Thanks for letting me babble on and I will keep you all posted.

 

[Rick]

Jay solid bar will flex not a good thing on a front end.I have a Total car and i have the Speedway drag link and tie rod.I also use ball joints as opposed to rod ends.I also have Hyd.shocks with a kit that Ron at RPM sells(I have the original he made patterns off mine)Its the best investment you ban make the hyd. shocks.As for the bar beat the thieves away from your door with it.DO NOT USE IT FOR YOUR FRONT END!!!!!!!

 

[fordsbyjay]

Thanks for the reply Rick I was hoping for some feedback. So does solid bar flex more than tubing or pipe? Do you have a picture of your shock mounts?

 

[chopfather]

were you gonna tap into the end of the alum. ? a friend of mine used a piece of alum. on a brake rod on a harley....looked really nice till he panic stopped it and the hiem joint pulled out of the piece and the alum. rod wrapped around his wheel at 60 +.....id make shift knobs out of the alum. rod an sell em on ebay .just my opinion

 

[Rick]

I'll take some close ups tomorrow.

 

[donsrods]

Yep, don't do it. If you think the current one bends, wait till you try aluminum. Why don't you have someone like RPM make you up a proper one? Ron sells his stuff at prices I can't believe, so I imagine he does it that way to help out fellow rodders and still make a small profit.

Don

 

[fordsbyjay]

Well I was trying to use some of the parts I already have. I have seen aluminum ones before but have never tried it. The thread on the rod end is about 2" long so I don't think it would pull out too easily. Not that it matters, I won't do it if it won't be safe. Like I say I have seen it before so that is why I thought about using it.

 

[RPM]

We charge for the tubing by the inch. It is 80 cents per inch. I drill and tap the ends for you at no charge. Both left and right and mark the left end so you know which end is which. We can use either 1" tube with a .219 wall or 7/8" tube with a .156 wall. The price is the same. Plus a few $$$$$ for shipping. Most axles will use about a 45" tube which works out to about $36..

We have 5/8..........11/16.........3/4 taps in left and right. Then we also have all kinds of rod ends, heims or Ford tie rod ends.

 

[oldtman]

A few years ago a guy at work had a mini circle track sprint car.powered by a motorcycle engine and it had aluminum suspension parts After work we spun them on the lathe to polish everything. There are a lot of aluminum parts in aircraft but with an off the rack bar you have no idea what the alloy and strength is. Steel is Real.

 

[LKE]

I am pretty trusting (brave? stupid? ) of running small, or thin gauge parts. But there is no way I would run an aluminum drag link or tie rod. I can just see the threads pulling right out. Typically when fabricating with soft metals (aluminum), one will use course threads because they are deeper than fine threads. And the reason is just for the strength. I have never seen course thread heims. I would stick with steel parts. And if you are worried about flex, go up in size.

 

[fordsbyjay]

Quite honestly they have been using aluminum in steering and rear suspension parts for many years on race cars and street cars. The griggs racing torque arm setup for my 64 Falcon has aluminum bars for the lower control arms and I am sure a car with slicks and big power effected by gear ratio exerts a lot more force than a steering rod. Aluminum tie rods are also available for stock cars etc.

 

[Baby Huey]

Well the price was right on the bar stock any way ya look at ! And FREE is a very good price ! You'll find a use for it someday and be dang glad ya brought it home. I would certainly give some future business to the shop someday....
That Aluminum bar stock should have a rolled on printed Alloy type ID somewhere along it's length... If ya look close, should be some type of ID or code numbers....."BH"