| damaged lower tortion bar socket [message #153305] |
Sat, 17 December 2011 15:18  |
sgltrac
Messages: 2797
Registered: April 2011
Karma: 1
|
Senior Member |
|
|
Ken, I was just looking at your photos of the tortion bar socket and went to reply but somehow lost the thread when I closed out of the photos  . In looking at your photos, it appears to me that the damage lies in the middle of the socket. I think that might be sort of a blessing in disguise. It looks from the photos that the main failure happened in the air space between the socket and the top wall of the arm. Could you not cut that portion of the arm away, drive the protrusion flush,weld it up and finish it by replacing the removed arm portion with thicker wall material which will rest against the repair area with the top flush with the original top surface of the arm wall? The smaller damage looks as if it could be cleaned and welded by reaching into the socket with a wire feed. The small weld beads could be knocked back down with a file fed though the socket. This is where I think the damage being in the middle is sort of an advantage as you have a shape guide on both sides of the damage for shaping reference. My thought is that the play from the main collapse of the socket wall led to the smaller damage by allowing the bar to rotate into the less severe areas. It looks that if the smaller damged areas are filled to remove slop and the main collapse is corrected you might be good to go.
Just some thoughts from your pics
Sully
77 Royale basket case.
Future motorhome land speed record holder(bucket list)
Seattle, Wa.
|
|
|
|
| Re: [GMCnet] damaged lower tortion bar socket [message #153320 is a reply to message #153305] |
Sat, 17 December 2011 16:12  |
Ken Henderson
Messages: 8726
Registered: March 2004
Location: Americus, GA
Karma: 9
|
Senior Member |
|
|
Sully,
The damage IS just aft of where the front of the socket goes through the
A-arm. It even looks as if the area may have been weakened by the weld to
the A-arm. It's unfortunate that the hex is not more than 1-1/8" long, to
distribute the load over more socket area; and, that it doesn't seat inside
the A-arm, where the reinforcement is greatest. But unfortunate is all we
got. :-(
With the incentive to repair the damage, one could probably do something
similar to what you suggest, though two of the flats have tears all the way
through the wall, so those would both need to be re-seated. More important
than welding up the damage would probably be to add reinforcement to the
outside.
No doubt they can be repaired under any good shade tree, but I have no
incentive to do so myself. When the replacement arrives from Manny, on
Monday or so, I'll put this one in the box and return it. It's a failure
he's never seen before, so he's anxious to get it to develop a preventive
fix.
Too bad you apparently let the arms go with your parts coach. :-(
Ken H.
On Sat, Dec 17, 2011 at 4:18 PM, sgltrac <sgltrac@gmail.com> wrote:
> ...
> ...In looking at your photos, it appears to me that the damage lies in the
> middle of the socket. I think that might be sort of a blessing in disguise.
> It looks from the photos that the main failure happened in the air space
> between the socket and the top wall of the arm. Could you not cut that
> portion of the arm away, drive the protrusion flush,weld it up and finish
> it by replacing the removed arm portion with thicker wall material which
> will rest against the repair area with the top flush with the original top
> surface of the arm wall? The smaller damage looks as if it could be cleaned
> and welded by reaching into the socket with a wire feed. The small weld
> beads could be knocked back down with a file fed though the socket.
..
_______________________________________________
GMCnet mailing list
Unsubscribe or Change List Options:
http://temp.gmcnet.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/gmclist
Ken Henderson
Americus, GA
www.gmcwipersetc.com
Large Wiring Diagrams
76 X-Birchaven
76 X-Palm Beach
|
|
|
|
GMCforum
Search
Help
Register
Login
Home
