Technical Aluminum split wish bones

Hello I went to the roadster show today and notice some people had aluminum split wishbones on their hotrods. Are they safe, has anyone used them before on a car they drive often? Would you recommend using aluminum or be safe and go with traditional steel ones.

 

We ran aluminum tie rods on the race car. The only time I had any fail was when the car came back to the ground from about 10 or 12 foot in the air multiple times. Even with that I don't believe one ever broke, but they did bend. I don't know what the spec was on the tubing. It was tapped for 5/8 heim joints.

 

Can’t say I have ever seen aluminum split bones.

they would have to be aftermarket as ford never had anything of the sort. Got a photo?

 

I think Alan Johnson was making them, from Billet.
Not cheap.

 

Way too much $$$ for me.
http://www.johnsonshotrodshop.com/parts-suspension.php

 

Interesting discussion. Back up

 

Johnson's Hot Rod Shop introduced front and rear CNC machined aluminum bones several years ago. Multiple styles in plain and polished. I've not heard of any problems. They are pricey. Very popular with the high rollers.

 

Not all aluminum is the same .

 

Doesn’t this fall into the “billet category” of things?

 

I have stainless steel ones on my Boling Bros. ch***is.

 

I’m kind of tempted to try casting a few designs out of 356a aluminum and trying them out for myself. Anyone willing to try a set on there hotrod if I do

 

I've went to stainless steel components where possible. Not much more than chrome and is forever.

 

Also, not all stainless is the same.

 

Billet is not illegal here if it is disguised correctly!

 

Hollow steel, is lighter than solid aluminum.

 

As a rule of thumb, you need to triple the gauge if you want to replace steel (iron) with aluminium.
Again this depends on the quality of the metals.
Like 7075 alu is at least as strong as normal mild steel.
And the wishbone material is quite good i think, so I think it takes some calculations to be safe replacing them with alu.
Just some thoughts….

 

Fatigue.

Unlike steel, you can never get to infinite fatigue life with aluminum, no matter the alloy used or how well designed. On suspension components that are cyclically loaded, this means they will eventually fail, no matters what. On a high end show piece that will likely never see enough miles to justify an oil change, not a problem. However, for those of us that profess to put lots of miles on our cars, drive in salt (read: pothole) country (anything North of I-70), and flog our junk routinely, no thanks, I will stick with steel.