Custom Trailing Arm Failure

wow....im speechless. this shop needs to get shut down before they kill someone.

 

well ok its screwed up lets help the man, is there anybody that knows of a shop in his area that really 'can do' that kinda work? I think its clear now what needs to be done.

 

Yet another point - the OP complained that the car ran harshly and that the air shocks the shop recommended did not help. Even really motivated shocks will not to anything on a rear that is basically solidly mounted. And shocks mounted at that extreme of an angle do not do much. It is like a chopper with front forks over 45 degrees - the forks no longer compress, the forks themselves deflect up and down (bending moment).

 

ahhh..I dunno what prices are like where you are admittedly...but 16k for all the work you've stated seems really light to me...
I really hope you get your car repaired safely and get lots a smiles /mile...but its gona take a fair effort from what I can see Spat..
One of the most important things I do in my business is to keep clients well informed with photos of work done ,etc.you could ask for this service?
Also I work on progress payments..pretty much every week i tell my client whats been done and really appreciate if they come and have a look (but not every day!! ) ----shows me they have a genuine interest in the project.
perhaps you could approach a local car club and get some recommendations of good repairmen to do your work? word of mouth can be the best way to sift out the dross
all the best in your situation, PB

 

Wow

 

The list of work you have given is not $16k worth of work - especially if it's all been done to the same standard e.g. have the Egge pistons actually been fitted, what has he done with the brakes!! Is any of it any good at all - I think you have to ***ume that it's all ****. You need to sue this guy and get your money back then send it to someone known to be good.

 

should be able to buy all bolt on componets and do this in your driveway. from what ive seen it could still be done this way and wouldnt cost you maybe 1500. max. thats just to buy all the bolt on ****.

or bolt up a corvette rear end and really update that thing. yeah!

 

So the 16k included a brake conversion. It seems that it didn't stretch to brake line clips...



That is a scary car. Sorry man but this guy has bent you over big time. Did he really do that valve job and fit new pistons?

 

Free zip ties though!!! Dang that ****s!!!

 

Good Lord, the whole thing skeezes me out. It only takes a few minutes to bend and flare some brake line, and drill and tap for line clamps. What the hell is WRONG with the shop that did this?

 

I dont know if this has been said, but you need to get that up on a lift and completely inspected underneath.
I got a sneaking su****ion , theres more than meets the eye from top side

Take pictures and do***ent everything.

 

the scary part isn't the zip ties, its the fact the metal hardline is mounted to the control arm instead of the frame rail

 

Oh wow that is the control arm. Wish I was in your area. I am not a shop or anything but doing similar upgrades to my 40 Buick and could help u out. Rear end brakes ****** etc.

 

How much fab would it take to swap in the later model Buick trailing arms from a 60-64 X-frame Buick? Those has regular differentials, but the overal design is very similar. I have been considering swapping in a tubular 60-68 trailing arm system unde my 63 LeSabre, but the stock stuff is similar as it is.

 

WOW

 

Wait.
I'm going to see if I can view this from the installers perspective. Maybe then it can be explained.
Bear with me, I'm going to inject four bottles of Old Jack directly into my veins. Then about 2 pounds of crack, then a gallon of bleach some muriatic acid a few bottles of peroxide and I may have one PEZ, for flavor.

Here we go.

Oh my............I should not have put that PEZ in there.

Seriously. It's just a good thing that you and or your loved ones were not hurt by this situation, it looks like things could have gotten out of control very quickly. Good luck in your pursuit of justice and it is wise to keep it under wraps until you get a result as far as this guys iden***y. As long as you have kept it a secret you may just want to ask him to view the HAMB and see what the GP sees of his talents. Then again, sober he may fall over dead in shock from it. How do you get res***ution then?

I have to go now, my ***hole is smoking, it must be the PEZ.
Still haven't seen anything that looks legible.

 

Wow...this place did a really bad job...sorry..but who was it...i live awefully close and i don't want anyone to make the same mistake..

tok

 

WTF can I say about this.

 

I'm still trying to figure out what kind of 'suspension' this was supposed to end up being. I'd like to see a bigger full-bottom shot of the car.

I mean, what we've seen so far is bad enough, it's clearly an unusable design and fabricated with considerable disregard to life and limb, but what else is going on under that poor car?

 

I have done many of these nicest ride in the world,can you say early chev pick up arms oh all the rest will work but you need to figure out your travel angles it looks to be binding from the poor pics now those arms are way to low in the frame from what I can see in the pics now long arms and if you are using heims 1 in or better my thought has always been make sure it works "BEFORE YOU DRIVE IT!" just my take good luck get er right and you will love the drive

 

Is it me, or does that axle housing look severely bent?

 

Sorry, but you bare some responsibility for this as well. I mean, it's a given that this shop did incredibly sketchy work. BUT. A very basic understanding of mechanical theory would have cut the suffering your car endured at the hands of this "fabricator".

Articulation. Do everyone a favor, and look into that.

....as for that THING in, above, around the 3rd member(?)....uhhhh, what?!

And legal action may be called for, but it most certainly will empower our local GUB'ment to enact stricter rules and regulations (read; higher taxes), to continue building and modifying old cars.

Does this guy have a business license? What are his credentials? I'm still not entirely believing what I'm seeing.

 

...

 

Throw it all out and start over. Update everything. Find someone that knows what they are doing, and do yourself some research to find that person. Have them explain what the plan is. Research the plan for yourself. Check out the theory. Cuz the theory stated in this post, well. seriously? This guy needs his *** handed to him. In a bad way. I am glad that none suffered injury besides your wallet. Sorry for yours troubles.

 

If the goal was a truckarm suspension, well, it needs to look like an old C-10 pickup, or go have a look at some of the retrofits over at http://www.hotrodstohell.net.

This implies the relative sizes and angles of the arms and the spacing of the front arm bushings, the driveshaft angles and the location of the front U-joint relative to the control arm pivots, etc.

If it doesn't look right, it probably isn't.

The bushings in the front eyes of the stock (or SCP NASCAR,, or whoever else's that work) truckarms are what they are - that is, moderately big rubber things - for a reason. The arms do not travel in a completely flat arc, and the rubber accommodates this.

It looks like something someone put in there for shipping the car with the springs out, or something, and forgot to take out. If this is really part of the 'suspension'...well God may help you, but the laws of physics and materials science won't.

My first thought in looking at this was 'Well, seeing something like this would bring a smile to the faces of the Australian bureaucrats who require a certified engineer to sign off on all ch***is modifications...'

 

I'm guessing here but I think the idea with that mess above the pumkin was to serve as a snubber so that when, not if, the differential tried to rotate the plate on the pumpkin would contact the piece bolted through the floor and prevent it. Of course all it's going to do is beat a hole in the floor and rip the bolts out. That's if the two pieces are not connected to each other.
On the other hand if the two pieces are connected permanently and then bolted through the floor it has to be one of the dumbest things I've ever seen done to a car. It basically makes the rear suspension immoveable other than whatever flex the floor pan provides. If that's what he's done he should be arrested for attempted murder. Either way, park the car, remove the rearend and start over. Try to find someone competent to look at the car and make some corrective suggestions.

 

I was thinking the same thing, the quality of construction or lack of mebbe might play a role in the failure

 

Tell me the name of this shop, so if ever I am in the USA, if ever I have a car, that breaks down, or needs work, and by perchance I'm in the neighbourhood, I'll know not to ever ever ever ever think about going to his place, but will rather PUSH my car to New York, Or Panama City or somewhere else, anwyhere else, before I let that ****in' thieving retarded ****** near my car!!!!

 

HOLY **** !!!!

 

The guy can do a 3-link like a 3rd gen camaro, just need to see if he has room to run everything under the car. Could just pick up a stock OEM torque arm for a 3rd gen and see if it will fit, and then have a custom crossmember made.