Show me your bent steerng arms!

Ok, I searched and found a lot of discussion, but very few pics. Do any of you have pics of the bending process that show where to heat them and how to bend them to get the clearance you need on dropped axles?

FWIW, mine are the early 37-41 round style. Is there a different technique for the later 42-48 versions?

TIA

 

technique is the same for both as they are essentially the same. the ch***is has to be complete and have weight on the axles. ride height and angle have to be pretty close as well. you have to heat the arms in two spots. right where the arm comes out of the spindle and bend the arm out to give clearance to the axle. the next bend needs to be about 2/3-3/4 of the way out to the end of the arm to bend the end of the arm back in to make the ackerman angle correct and make sure both sides are the same distance from the floor and level.

to set the ackerman, do the following:

with the spindle straight you should hold a string from the kingpin to the center of the rear crossmember and bend the arm til the center of the tierod hole runs in the same line as the string.

 

To the center of the rear AXLE.

 

Pretty simple really, if you're unsure as to how much to bend them, after everything is mocked up, bend a welding rod or coathanger for a template. Once you have the spindle off, clamp it securely in a vice and heat at the inner point to a dull red and bend down to the angle of you're template. (I used a large crescent wrench on the tie rod boss for leverage) Let it cool a little and heat at the outer, narrow, point and bend up as shown in the diagram. Do not quench and let air cool, repeat on the other spindle and you're good to go.