shortening control arms 52 chevy/subbed

I posted a week ago about my 52 Chevy with 76 Camaro sub being a little too wide. Spent today shortening my track width an inch per side. Thought I would share how it was done for those who may have same problem. I had already done the lowers before I thought about taking some pics. I just sectioned them an inch and stuck them back together with reinforcement. Of course they were bolted to the table, angles measured on two axises and positive center marked to get the ball joints located correctly after sectioning. Uppers were done a little different but can see them in pics. And they were just shortend 3/4" because I needed more room for camber adjustment - I guess sub had settled a bit in 30 years. Still have to shorten the sway bar and center link. I was going to replace ball joints and bushings and cut a coil of the springs anyway so it was not a lot of extra work. Oh, suspension parts are not the place to learn how to weld.
Bob

 

nice job. never though to do it like that.

 

do not shorten the center link it will cause all kinds of problems. you have to take it out of the ends of the steering. either the tie rod ends or tire rod sleeve

 

Neat idea,and a whole lot cheaper than buying those shorter aftermarket A-arms.Good job...

 

Thanks for letting me know. I was going to take an inch out of the outer tie rods but read somewhere on here to shorten the center link. It seemed easier to do than cut then add threads to the tie rod ends. I looked at it today and thought that it would change the center position of the pitman arm - I guess this is where the problem come in? But figured if somebody posted it on this board, they must know what they are talking about.

 

Thanks and from what i've read, those $799 arms require other parts to make them work.
Bob

 

Looks cool, but I'll second what slag said. DOn't shorten the center link. Take it out of the tie rod ends. Think of it as sectioning everything outboard of the frame rails. This'll keep all your pivot points in the original locations. The situations where I have seen center links shortened is where the entire clip, crossmember and all was sectioned thru the middle. (Not a task I'd recommend to just anyone.)

 

I've got a 74 Nova rear steer in my cpe and we shortened the a-arms 1 1/2" and shortened the tie rods not the center link. I've got 35,000 on it now with no problems at all. Beat the devil out of paying the price for aftermarket tubular a-arms.

 

Thanks guys for setting me straight on the center link. Took about an hour to shorten the tie rods - a lot less work and a lot safer than cutting the center link in half and sticking it back together. One new question, is it ok to put heat to the anti-sway bar? I need to pull the ends in to make up for the inch I cut out of the control arms.
Bob

 

You still have the original mounting holes for the sway bar? I lost mine in the shortening, maybe because I went an 1 1/2" I don't remember. Yes you can cut and weld the sway bar. We had to reconfigure mine then we drilled and tapped the end and used heim joints to connect sway bar to the side of the a-arm, it's a solid mount with no rubber cushion and the car handles like a go cart. For every situation there's a lot of ways of doing it.

 

Look at the anti-sway bar as a torsion bar spring.
It is tempered like a spring, heating it would do the same thing as torching coil springs.

What you changed I wouldn't think would cause the bar not to fit, unless it didn't in the first place.

If you need to bend the ends in the 1" put the bar in a big vise and "persuade" the end with a BFHammer.
That's how some poeple "de-arch" leaf springs.
But once you bend it one way, don't try to bend it back or it'll probably crack.



(And I'm not going to debate this swaybar is a spring thing with anyone.)

 

To answer the last two post, I did cut out the holes when I sectioned the arms. The ends are a bit closer to the spindles than I want them to be and also I don't want to drill new mounting hole in control arm too close to welds. I just looked at it again and I just need to bring them in about 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch. This is also make the angle of the link a little softer. I'll try to bfh to coax the ends in place. Thanks again.

Bob

 

As I said we cut and welded mine and it's been fine for 35,000 mi, don't see how I could ask for more.

 

Can someone tell me how to shorten the tie-rods? Pretty please?

 

The only sway bars I have broken were bent cold. I heat them at the bend to move the ends, and have never had one break. Many were used on race cars and took a beating.

 

Great idea! I narrowed the Chev van crossmember I have under my Diamond T pickup project, but it's still too wide. I'm now going to measure and see if by narrowing the control arms the way you did, I can get some more. I'll still have to widen the front fenders, but every little bit helps!

Good point too on the center link thing. I DID narrow mine by 3", which is the same amount I took out of the crossmember. The thing to remember is to keep the pivot points of the center link/tie rods the same relation to the control arm pivots. If I narrow the control arms, I'll take that distance out of the tie rods.


Brian

Afterthought: I'd planned on leaving the sway bar the original length, and just moving the mounts out on the lower control arms. As long as the tires don't hit, the extra shouldn't make much difference. The bar on this is 1 1/8".

 

I would like the info on this as well!

 

OK, so we're updating a 4 year old thread, but maybe this will help someone out... Just because the swaybar didn't break when it was heated or welded doesn't mean it is working correctly.

When you heat any sort of spring (yes, the swaybar IS a spring) it changes the metallurgy of the spring, and therefore the load capacity. Think of heating a leaf spring to de-arch it...obviously that spring will no longer support the same weight at the same height. When any heat treated metal reaches a plastic deformation state (re-heating), the metal loses it's ability to return to it's original position at the same load (unless it is properly heat treated again).

So what? Well, the thread was originally about narrowing control arms. This operation reduces the track width of the vehicle, which increases the leverage the car's center of gravity has on the suspension (it wants to roll more). Narrowing the outer end of the control arm reduces the leverage ratio against the spring, which makes the same spring slightly stiffer (fights roll more).

For example, if the lower A-arm was originally 12" long and the spring center was in the middle (6" from each end), the wheel would only see 1/2 of the spring rate. A 1000lb/in spring would give a 500lb/in wheel rate. Now we cut 2" off the outer end of the control arm (not realistic I know, but it makes the math easy) leaving 10" and the spring center still out 6". Now the spring is 60% out on the arm, so the same 1000lb spring would give 600lb of wheel rate. This makes the ride stiffer at the same time it resists suspension roll a little more.

Back to the sway bar... If the sway bar has been heated and lost spring rate, it is no longer controlling body roll as effectively; and there is more tendency to roll due to the narrowed track width. The spring leverage may offset this, but it is impossible to predict without knowing all the facts about a given suspension geometry under a given vehicle. It is most likely that the car will need increased roll resistance with narrowed a-arms, and heating the sway bar does exactly the opposite...

 

But I need info on the tie-rods please.

 

I have the same deal with my 51 chevy that I am selling I was thinking of an inset wheel .

 

shorten the connecting sleeve.

 

A sway bar is a torsion bar, not a spring, it works by twisting. The ends are just levers to facilitate the twisting. Heating it at the bend does not affect the ability to twist the bar.

 

Heated and bent the ends on mine about 50k miles ago.... still working good.

Brian