new guy with a 07 R1 motor

[jumpin jellybean]

sweet it will be awsome when finished I like the front suspension

[stetler]

Thanks guys, I just picked up the new JeffCo Reverse Box.

[stetler]

Originally Posted by jumpin jellybean

sweet it will be awsome when finished I like the front suspension

Thanks, The rear is just as impressive with 21 inches strapped of travel

[K-fab]

WOW - those arms are beautiful!

[jumpin jellybean]

wow you said it K-FAB nice work

[stetler]

Thanks. But I can't take the credit for them I just paid somebody to build them.

[whiplash]

MORE PICS!!! That thing is BAAAAAAAD!

[masterfabr]

I'm just asking a question so there's no need for anyone to try and turn this into a "masters bashing someone again" effin poo fest. The question has to do with the shock mounts being recessed into a pocket in the arm.I'm asking this question of the engineers here that should be able to give something more than an opinion. In my mind that is a weak spot in the arms.Am I not seeing it right? Very nice workmanship BTW.

[Gene]

The boxed arms are badazz. Has me thinking of redesigning mine with the goal of less CV angle by mounting the shock lower.

With the unit boxed like it is and the bolt carried through the center section box it appears strong. An engineer's opinion would be interesting.

I'm pretty sure we are the ones learning from you . . .

[151fab]

I'll try to answer your question as best as I can (I'm not an engineer, but I did built these arms and therefor while I might not be worthy I should be allowed to speak).

I'm quite sure that placing the point of stress (shock mount location) within the body of the arm (as high up the body as possible in order to us tension and not compression because the shock is placing load mainly only in one direction, down)is much more structurally sound than placing it above the arm because the only thing your giving up to do this is the steel that would otherwise have covered the two openings in the top of the arm. The plate at the top of the arm is only used to maintain the alignment of the vertical plates that carry the loads across the length of the arm. The lower plate is under tension and carries a lot of the stresses as well but that upper plate is in compression and therefor structurally weak and should have no problem doing it's limited job with a few gaping holes in it.

With regard to the arms on Stetler's Rhino:

First off there was no other choice for placement of the lower mounts. They needed to be as low as possible in order to achieve the optimum angle of the shock at full compression (90 degrees from a line drawn from the outer and inner lower mounting points) and still be able to fit the shocks upper mount under a rear seat. Stetler specified max travel and a four seater. I also didn't want to exceed a 2:1 motion ratio and therefor could not place the shocks further inboard than the half-way point of the arm, which is where they are at. To get them low enough I had to kink the arm design and also place the shock mount within the arm.

Second, I would not have placed them any other way than within the body of the arm anyways. Using a tab mounted above the arm seems to put the weld under a shearing-stress position. As the suspension compresses, the tab would like to slide across the top of the arm. With the shock mount contained within the main body of the arm the stresses of the suspension are carried more equally among all the welds of the arm. In my design the single bolt passes through four 1/8" X 3" tall plates of 4130. The center two plates are oriented so that the bolt passes through a triangle shaped box comprised of two of the aforementioned plates, a 1/8" bulkhead that spans the whole arm, and the .090" top plate of the arm.
If you look at the last few pictures Stetler posted you'll notice that there are three vertical plates extending to the outer pivots, one is internal. These plates all terminate at the bulkhead that is connected to the four vertical plates that then pass through the shock mounts and then terminate at the inner pivots.