Boxing controll arms tips needed.

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Snake

Snake

Mopar Nut
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who has box there LCA and what type of metal did you use and how did you do it.Any pics would guide me on how to do it.Would like to make thease plates myself and have my buddy weld them.What does and donts should i know about this.many thanks.:cheers:pS is there a site also on how to do this .
 
I just looked. Mancini has them for 22.95. Almost easier than trying to fab them?
 
I purchased the Mancini plates and had mine sandblasted, welded, primed & painted. Just make sure you leave room for the torsion bar adjusting bolt.
 
I got mine from mancini's.

I put the LCA unit in a vice to keep the two halves of the LCA from wanting to separate and create slop while driving, but not too tight as you still want it to work as designed.

I placed the brackets on as instructed and clamped one end with small screw clamps, and worked them all the way across the LCA surface by hammering the metal to fit and applying clamps as I went along.

Then after everything was mocked up and clamped, I tack welded the bracket in place, then removed the clamps and ran a solid bead all the way around the bracket.

Nuttin to it.

Do the other one just the same.
 
I make those plates for several vendors. They should be easy to weld on. Just clamp them on one end and start a bead and then work your way across the arm with the clamp. I use a couple of screw clamps and just work my way across the part. MIG works okay but TIG gives a nicer look.
 
Andy, did you ever give any thought to incorporating the sway bar tab into the plates? It seemed to work out real well on my son's Barracuda.

Also, BEFORE welding the plates in place make sure to take up most of the slack in the t-bar socket by squeezing the LCA halves together, but not too tight.
 
No, I never tried that combination. I'm sure it would work for certain models though.
 
Jim Lusk said:
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Also, BEFORE welding the plates in place make sure to take up most of the slack in the t-bar socket by squeezing the LCA halves together, but not too tight.
Click to expand...

That is a very good tip not to forget. You grab 6-8 LCA's and you'll see they very in slack back there.

I made some simple tabs/straps when I reinforced my LCA's. The one on the back is specifically to tighten the slack.

LwrCntls.JPG


More LCA stuff here:

http://www.forabodiesonly.com/mopar/showthread.php?t=50276
 
Has anyone tried welding the plates on w/LCA on the car. Looks like a simple/inexpensive upgrade,but I don't feel like tearing the suspension out. Can it be done this way?
 
I don't mean to steal this thread, but why do it besides making it look cleaner? I don't plan on spending that much time laying on the ground low enough to look at them and my car is definately not worthy of show car mirrors on the floor to show off the undercarriage. Is there some benefit that I'm not aware of?

Snake, I appologize if I am hijacking your thread. I'll delete this post if you want me to.
 
Looks good Fishman.

To answer the other question on why, the plate holds the LCA together when using a big anti-sway bar. If you look at an LCA you'll see that it is just some stamped sheet metal rivited together in a U shape. It is strong in the vertical direction but the anti-sway bar tries to twist the LCA open. An open U shape isn't very strong at resisting torque but a closed rectangle is. So the addition of a few oz of steel on the bottom of the U shape makes the LCA significantly stronger in torsion.
 
Andy, thank you for the answer.

Snake, thank you for letting me borrow your thread. I'd delete my original post but I can't figure out how to.
 
Andy F is the man- he is the guy behind AREngineering and has some really cool, high-quality parts/kits/stuff. Have a set on the LCA's for the Valiant
 
Thanks for the kind words. Yep, we make a full line of chassis parts even though most of them don't show on our website. I make a lot of parts that other vendors such as Firm Feel and Mancini Racing sell under their own brand. Besides chassis stuff I also do some engine work. Just finished up a book on big block Mopar engines if anyone is interested.
5021113-HTBMax-PerformanceMoparBig-Blocks.jpg
 
Brad4406 said:
I don't mean to steal this thread, but why do it besides making it look cleaner? I don't plan on spending that much time laying on the ground low enough to look at them and my car is definately not worthy of show car mirrors on the floor to show off the undercarriage. Is there some benefit that I'm not aware of?

Snake, I appologize if I am hijacking your thread. I'll delete this post if you want me to.
Click to expand...

it's not a bling thing! it is to beef up the lca's so they don't flex under stress whille hanging curves. i am going to do it next winter on my duster since i am going to be autocrossing it. i could make mine easy and weld them,but i am going to have dick at FIRM FEEL do mine. they have a fixture to put them in so the halves are aligned perfecto!
 
Steve, I found that the most effective way to tighten up the LCA was to cut the LCA bumper flange loose from one half of the LCA. Then squeeze the halves together and weld back up. I suspect that the variation is looseness may, in fact, be an engineering tolerance. After fixing Alan's LCAs that way there seemed to be no need for the inner strap.
 
Jim Lusk said:
Steve, I found that the most effective way to tighten up the LCA was to cut the LCA bumper flange loose from one half of the LCA. Then squeeze the halves together and weld back up. I suspect that the variation is looseness may, in fact, be an engineering tolerance. After fixing Alan's LCAs that way there seemed to be no need for the inner strap.
Click to expand...


Could very well be tolerance. I just squeezed mine a little in a vise then had someone weld a lightweight but effective strap.
 
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