JUST SCARY!!,T-bucket The SEQUEL! (someone else is going to get hurt!)

I agree you did the right thing. It's good you had the balls to point it out to him. There is not much to cars like that and if the ladder bar should fail it is almost a sure thing sombody would get hurt. Lets hope he gets it fixed.

 

After staring at that awful picture I figured out what he did.He welded the tierod to the ladder bar.It's not that unsafe .As long as it was welded good. I definately would not ever do that,How would you replace if it went bad. guess he hasn't heard of heims

 

You did the right thing, The son inlaw needs his fabrication imagination taken away from him, as well as his welder

 

You did the right thing. I'm also curious about how much articulation there is in that set up. Or maybe the front mounts are made to fold up when he takes a pot hole on a 65 mph.

 

Whew! did he at least have a "No fat Chicks" sticker on it somewhere ?

I think you did him a favor......don't feel bad for calling him out on it.

 

We just may see this guy featured on www.darwinawards.com

 

I seriously cant see how bringing a safety issue to someones notice could be out of place. If they are happy with it, its because they know no better.
The way you do it however IS the difference, like it has been said before using tact would help a LOT!
I just hope he doesn't take it back to the son-in-law to fix!
That is some SCARY shit.
Doc

 

I think the "son-in-law" is hoping for an early inheritance for his wife!

 

That mount looks like the top of a spindle chopped off.

 

That HAS to be staged!!!! Oh my god those dudes are dumber than the guy who built those ladder bars!

 

That is scary. I see this kind of stuff on cars that show NO thought, and the owners have no clue just how dangerous it is. You did the right thing....

 

Ummm...WTF...I'd have let a tire down & called the cops!!

You did right

 

That's the type of thing that may have caused that awful Conroe, Texas wreck. Witnesses said the car revved real high before going out of control & flipping. The whole rear end flew 20' from the car with wheels still attached. I hate to keep harping on this but I suggest that we start a HAMB tradition: Have a fellow HAMBstr check each other's final build for safety. The folks in the aviation hobby do it without offense. Besides, you might to get to meet a like minded local buddy.

 

Good catch. Nothing at all wrong with respectful constructive criticism, especially when safety is involved.

Sounds like he took it well, good chance you saved him and possibly others from a big - likely tragic - problem.

 

http://128.83.80.200/taco/scarysteering6.html


Check this out at your leisure.-MIKE

 

I dont get it, shouldnt there be a bolt holding this on? Looks like the 'shaft' has sheered off? Once again........ am I missing something?
Doc.

Shit, I feel I know less that I thought......
Well, I know I know less than I think I know 'cause Im a know it all kinda guy, ya Know?

 

You did a good thing.
You may have saved the life of a new friend.
It is all in how you approach it.
Interesting that someone here actually made an attempt to defend that rod end set up.

 

I hope it gets fixed, and not ignored.
or left to rot in the dudes garage.

 

Looking at this I doubt the builder could even spell penetration, let alone achieve it in welding terms!

I have a mate with the nickname Teflon because his nickname has stuck longer than his first attempts at welding.

Knowing the limit of your capabilities and knowing when to ask for help is far better than saying I built it all myself and killing yourself to prove your welding needs improvement.

YOU ARE A LONG TIME DEAD.

 

I think I see what you mean - the ball joint end of a tierod is welded to the back of the ladder bar (hence the zerk fitting poking through the hole) and, as someone else mentioned, part of a steering arm welded to the chassis to provide the tapered hole to mount to.

The ladder bars are ugly, and too short, but there probably isn't much body roll on a lightweight T (there obviously can't be with that set up).

It is bad, but there has been a lot worse shown on here. And is it that different in principal to any form of radius rod or ladder bar mounted to the outside of the chassis?

 

No doubt this is scary, and no doubt that sort of stuff shouldnt run on the street puttin other people lifes at risk, his own life its not of my concern.
Then if i just can make a quick comment about the cert. procedure, well...thats just bull! I mean, i dont know exactly what they do on NZ, but i seem to have understood that its pretty tuff, still not as tuff as here in italy.W/out considering the fact that every 2 years we have to get the car inspected and if the guy (engineer) that checks it out is some kind of a jerk its capable of sending you home w/out a car for bullshit like a cracked tail light lense. NO joke!
To register a car that hasnt got a reg plate thats another fun story, i had a mate trying to register a 62 buick 3 years ago, it was bone stock w/ a title and all import documents were there and ok, he ended up selling it to a german guy cause there was no way he could do it. The Excuse of the engineer? It was a foreign car and it was never registered here in italy b4,nor there was any record of another one registered in the last 40 years and he couldnt take the responsability to do something that was never done b4!! I was speechless, every where we went wa got answered in the same line of tought,it wasnt a legal problem, those idiots didnt want to take initiative...as easy as it gets! Fuckin sheeps!
Anyway, now after years into this we have our ways but still to register a hot rod or a custom here is crazy stuff and very demoralizing, it takes real passion to do what we do in this shit hole of a country.
Anyway, sorry guys, and sorry Harms Way, i didnt mean to hijack your thread, what i want to say is that theres no need for rules to get strict, as they already are, and it would be good if countries like yours (NZ) or mine would get softer on the matter, as we would never see this kinda stuff in our streets. Matter of fact is that this is totally a problem of the US, where theyre so free of doing what they want on their cars that was only natural for stuff like this to happen.Still i'd love to have the same rules here in my country.a small price to pay to have freedom is how i see it.

What we should do here is some kind of campaign against this kind of stuff, we should make kids understand that its kool to build your own car only if you know what the hell you are doing, and that nobody will think youre an ass if you let someone else work on your car.
I suspect that this attitude towards backyard builds has turned into this unsafe shit because too many guys are saying stuff like "if you didnt build it dont drive it" and all the other catchy ones, i mean, i wouldnt leave a check to someone to build my car, but 1st: i dont have that kinda cash, 2nd: i have some skills and have friends w/ others and thats my help, 3rd:for me buildin is part of the fun.
Theres a guy in the Sickles of Italy that cant hold a wrench, still is a good friend and everyone that can help is giving him a hand in his build. I dont see anything wrong in that, 1st nice thing is him admitting he cant do shit, 2nd is friends helping out.

Bottom line is:
Im more keen on "letting him drive is other peoples built car" than lettin a jackass that cant weld drive his "homebuilt by his very self, rodent rod or whatever p.o.s".
I hope you guys got my point and youre not gonna hate me for what i just said, and actually i also hope that this will turn into usefull discussion and not into an opinion bashing.
Sorry if ive been long, peace, Nick.

 

There's nothing new about this phenomenon. There's simply more hot rods being built today so there's also more crap. Twenty years ago I considered getting into hot rods and all I saw for-sale was crap like this, and most of it was built in the 60s/70s. So hot rods had to wait til life allowed something done right.

If anything what's happening today is an improvement. There's a lot more information available, and despite what you might think.....the quality of home welds is WAY up. If you think you can fawkup a car with a MIG, wait til you see how bad a guy can fawkup when his only tool is the gas wrench and he's working in an information blackout.

 

The weld itself is in shear.
Now, had he made them out of tubing, then threaded the tie-rod into the tubing...maybe not so bad.

 

Hey Nick,

You didn't hijack the thread, If fact this is exactly what I am concerned about,.. A lot of us have been in to Hot Rods for a long time and have seen this all before, The vast majority of us know how to build a safe car,.. (most times overkill is the name of the game), but all it takes is some stuff like this to get us ALL put under the microscope,......

Done in the right spirit and intent, I think we should all be more observant of the things we see,... not things we just don't like, like stance, style, wheels,... ect. But safety issues on a handful of cars have the potential to negatively affect us all with more and more scrutiny from the Government and Insurance companies,..... Maybe we should police ourself's and all those others around us in the Hot Rod community.

Just a thought.

 

Hack job. That thing should not be allowed on the road.

 

You did the right thing by pointing out what's wrong.

 

I was in the welding business for 42 years. I was lucky enough to have good teachers and equipment when I started. My father and his friends were great fabricators. Welding with weak machines and the wrong rod does make a differance. Prepping the material also goes a long way in making the proper weld. Most people will try not knowing if its is good or bad. Some of these builder should take some criticism and not get upset, because it's constructive criticism. My son has been in my shop since he was 8 years old. This is what can be built with a little guidance.

 

Here's another vote for "you did the right thing".

 

Yeah...this is especially BAD.
Theres no way any respect can be offered to work like that.
The only way this could be worse is if the guy were a woodworker...