Fatmans MII

Yesterday I had a slight problem with my 40 sedan w/sbf,fatmans MII ifs.Its been on the road for about two years/20k mi.with no suspension problems til now.This MII set up is their phase III w/tubular a-arms and coil-over shocks. All of a sudden the right lower a-arm became three pieces instead of one,luckily at low speed.Since I'm the only driver of the car, I know its never had any abuse to justify this failure. I'll let you know what Fatmans has to say.

 

Man that's scary looking. Can someone tell us what kind of a blow, rather than fatigue would cause this kind of failure?

 

Is there a chance your front springs were too soft and you were bottoming out the coil overs a bunch of times on hard bumps or chuckholes?

 

not suprising. Weld joints at right angles to the support tubing.

Looks as if someone has added bit of extra material to the arm. Welds were probably too hot attaching what appears to be .375" stock to the .188 wall tube. Crystalized weld and stress = failure.

 

Yikes! What's the arm on other side of the car look like? I'd be willing to bet it's showing some signs of fatigue in that area...

 

No more jumping rail road tracks! Man, that's scary looking, I hope you don't have trouble with the company standing behind it! 20k miles should not do that to quality part. If they hedge at all I'd casually remind them that about 60'000 of your closest friends are waiting eagerly to see how they handle this mess. Rusty Bolts makes a good point though.

 

chuckhole?
what is that

 

So this is the first thread I've decided to tag. Keep us updated on the outcome and I'm glad you weren't hurt.

 

chuckhole - a pit or hole produced by wear or weathering (especially in a road surface)

 

They call them "pot holes " in Lower Arkansas.

 

I would say ELpolacko has it figured out.....I was going to say almost the exact same thing...

 

Sounds like Steves autopsy is right on. I am watching to see what the big man has to say!

 

Wow - that's scary Looking forward to hearing about the resolution - luckily nobody was hurt.

 

SEMA & NSRA work very hard to keep the motoring public safe.





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brent is a real good guy. if you talk to him he should make it right because he takes great pride in his products.

 

Great, I just finished installing mine. Any helpfull hints on how I can brace while the car is still apart?

 

I thought it was what happens when Chuck Norris shoots you.

 

Do keep us posted with response from the MFG. Im into classic trucks and every magazine pretty much swears by the MII being the end all for IFS on trucks. I am sorry to see your experience but glad you werent running down an interstate at 65-70mph with loved ones in the car.

 

My guess is that the response will be that the arms have been altered and weakened and the mfg. is not responsible.

 

Would seem to be the logical response.

 

I bought a fatmans frame, here is the picture of the set up got from fatmans. 37 ford asked them to set it up to ride a little higher than stock and some more travel in the suspension alot of pot holes here in the midwest.

Below is a photo of mine it is a full roller frame from fatmans got ine about 2 years ago i see that mine is not welded in the middle

 

The arm in question is for a coilover spring. Yours uses a stock style spring and shock. Different in construction where the spring mounts.

That failure scares me.


jerry

 

To clarify a bit, both arms didn't fail at once as I may have led yall to believe. I think the forward arm broke first as the car suddenly pulled hard to the right, then BANG the other broke I think. At any rate the arms are stock from Fatmans, not modified in any way, I've never experienced any severe chuck (pot) holes, jumped any curbs or railroad tracks (sounds like fun tho). Interesting that the arms broke at the welds where the cross pieces are welded in, also they broke and did not bend!!
As I said before, the car has been on the road about two years and about 18-20 k mi. but the kit was purchased 5-6 years ago. I've noticed that Fatman has changed the design since then so that all look like the photo EMS posted. The springs are 500 lb. and I've never noticed any bottoming of the suspension. Oh well caca happens,we'll see.

 

Yeah, you can use chuck but you might get busted for using pot in CA.

 

Google 'Mustang II suspension failure' - two names come up time and time again among the horror stories.

 

that looks scary curios to here what thay have to say!

 

I belive you. I have fought Heidts over a similar but not as catastrophic failure years ago. Springs too soft, to hard, bottoming out, et-al every cop out is routine to me at this point. Could you imagine Ford, GM or Chryco using the same excuses?

"Oh, you did something stupid like ride your brakes while driving over railroad tracks, that's why if failed"

Belive me, heard it all before. 20K is pretty far along in the life cycle but seems to be in the range were this stuff gives up. Not sure what kind of product testing is done for items like this but if there is any it probably needs to be reviewed.

 

I am interested in the outcome here as well. Of course with the Holiday weekend we may not hear anything until next week.

 

like sandblaser said ---- call Brent and I'm willing to bet that he takes care of the problem. ask him to exchange BOTH a-frames and start the new year off with both sides new.

 

not trying to hi-jack your thread, but for those of us who never been to fatmam's shop here's some pictures of it