Speedway Batwing warning

I suspect that the general operating philosophy over there ( Speedway ) , whom I have bought plenty of parts from over the years, some good, some utter crap, is that nobody is actually driving any of their "street rods" much farther than the local cruise night 5 blocks away on Sunday, 4 months out of the year, and no harder than a mini-van.

I have to say, too, that the welded ones DO look scary right off the bat, but, again, you tend to sometimes assume that certain engineers/manufacturers have, because of the liability, taken the proper time on design, and testing of their product. Perhaps its easier and cheaper to just save all that R&D money and just put it in an account for your legal team...

Got to be REAL careful these days.

Its funny, lots of people on here expect the tide-turning moment when all of our cars are deemed "unsafe" by the watchdogs to occur from some back-yard builders rat crap, when in reality, our own aftermarket might just beat hot rodders to the punch, and, of course, we'll be the ones holding the bag.

 

Damn Larry, I know how you drive that thing, and that pic of your busted 'wings', made MY butt pucker.

 

Have you contacted Speedway to see what they will do?

 

The one's from Speedway look cheap as hell, they would'nt go on my car.......

 

Lesson to be learned..... Inspect our equiptment regularly! You were inspecting when you found it. good job.

 

Thats a bloody good point! Especially for a young guy or first time rodder! Can we start a HAMB Data base of parts that are good and parts to avoid? We all know there are crap parts out there and If you don't know any better it would help??

Doc.

 

Soooooo....what about the Speedway Pertronix header kit and their response?

 

While this is true,,until and in most cases only until someone has a problem or issue with a part from a company,,does everyone then jump on the wagon..

I myself have made several posts asking about how to work with older stuff ( and I have seen teh same reply to MANY others as well ) only to get a reply

"Speedway sells em " or this company or that company..

I think more common sense is the key,,having been around cars and bikes all my life ( no I far from know it all ) you get an idea of whats gonna work,,those things just look wrong size wise from the get go..

A Junk data base,,sure,,but also a "what to look for when buying " might better serve people

You can post a warning sticker on anything,,but knowlegde and teaching people "why" its no good is the better route

jm2c

 

Did you buy them as a polished four bar kit or as individual parts? I am just wondering how you got those instead of the stronger cast ones? John

 

I wouldn't be using stainless suspension parts . . period.

 

It was a weak knee moment for me. I have the highway gears in the car getting ready for the mile so when I get on the highway I push the car hard. I really don't want to talk about a left or right hand turn at high speed.

 

Waiting for a response on what they are going to do. The person I am dealing with is very nice. I am trying the more flies with honey approach. I will let you guys and gals know what happens

 

I bought one of their front end kits..complete..mine are not polished, but they look exacly like the ones pictured (not the cast ones)..
I will be pissed if they are junk..and speedway doesnt back it up..it is after all "their front end kit"..I dont see a point in selling shit for looks..if its doesnt do the job its intended for or built with the intended use in mind , it souldnt be out there to kill the unsuspecting consumer..and if it does ..they should be held accountable for it completely..
Than and only than will they take selling sub-standard shit to us seriously..

and they get away with it because of a one line disclaimer? I think thats where the problem lies

 

Good thing you found the crack before total wreckage because after a disaster it would be harder to prove what really happened "first"............

 

lets please keep this thread free from threats..and alive.
Some of us might need it to show Speedway..and prove to them they have a problem.
I would be bummed if in 2 weeks i had the simular issue and no one to back me up or no proof that I wasnt alone, because this got closed

 

Safe bet.


Their "new" Corvair Pitman arm hasn't appeared.
How many of the cast Pitman arms broke ?

 

They also offer these same batwings in non polished..I dont believe that failure would be just those ones that got polished.

so i wouldnt regulate the wording "polished" as the only ones with this problem

 

You can catch more flies with honey than you can with vinegar,,,but you'll catch the most with a dead squirrel

 

seems speedway is catching alot of shit, with their..ah, shit

 

As said before I have a set of the polished cast items on the yorkster, and you can see the strength in them cuz of a lot more beef to them. I also have a set of the steel 916-35000 for my 28 sedan and they are built hell for strong. but when I ordered everything I talked to a tech and ordered everything seperate not as a kit form. I always think there is a reason kits are cheaper...John

 

i'da sent those back the second i saw them. as for keeping an eye on those that are in use, what's that going to do for you when they break?

 

x 2!!!!!!!!!!!

 

and ordered everything seperate not as a kit form. I always think there is a reason kits are cheaper...John If you cherry pick the parts you will always get what you want, not what some bean counter wants to sell.<!-- / message --><!-- attachments -->

 

Great idea!!
I'd be all for a junk parts warning section based on repeated instances.

 

I'd sign up for that too

 

This would be a great idea could save a life.

 

Ok before you guys get all wound up think, This bracket failed due to what?

This is not a weight bearing item, this is a locating part. The load is passed thru the tires, to the spindles, to the axle, to the perch pins, to the spring. This bracket is only used to locate the axle front to back. If this is a stress crack it means that something was flexing to create the problem. The first place I would look is to see if the bat wings were the correct size for the axle, the next step is to determine if the perch pins fit tightly in the axle perch boss and then that the perch nuts were drawn up tightening the perch to the bat wing to the axle. If any of this stuff is loose the axle rotates upon braking and would flex that portion of the bracket. Again this is a part that has a rotation point in a bushing or heim end so there is little to no stress placed upon this if those joints function freely.

I think there is something else that led to this part failure that only would have been masked or taken longer to develop had the part been thicker. My observation is that the perch pin nuts were loose or the axle boss hole was oversize allowing the axle to rotate in the bracket. Over time the axles continual rotation due to heavy braking caused the part to fatigue and break.

 

Hope you are right, Dick, just finished assembly of my axle using the same wings, (although not Speedway,they were identical), and I was starting to worry a little.