Strut bending.

[30psi 4agte]

Anyone had any experience in dong this ???

The reason i ask is..... I had my tyres fitted to my rims today and when i fitted them to the strut i found out that one strut is different to the other ( camber wise )

It is quite easy to see due to the fact the 8 inch rims leave only a 4-5mm gap to the strut when bolted on , on the right side and almost no gap.

So this tells me the strut is bent slightly...Its not the camber difference that really bothers me as i have adjustable strut tops..... its the fact that one of my wheels basicly doesnt fit ...

I rang around today to find some one who could bent it out a bit to give me some more room and found someone..

They basicly use a porta-power and some form of jig attached to the hub ------ from what i understand. Im going down there to check out how they do it tomorrow but was wondering if any of you guys have had it done or better yet done it yourself..

[IN 05 NT]

im interested to find out too, i rang a few places but they all told me to speak to an engineer,

i know NORBIE has had his strut bent to fit his supra,

blake

[LeeRoy]

Cant be too bent if it fits a shock can it?

On a side note if its ok to bend a diff tube or even cut and reweld them then i cant see a problem with bending a strut ever so slightly.

[TooF]

are you sure its the strut bent not just some camber difference in the mounting face between the lower mount of the strut and the knuckle ? just looking for other differences.

[MWP]

difference in the mounting face between the lower mount of the strut and the knuckle

This is what im thinking too.

Sounds unlikley that a strut tube would bend.
Shouldnt be the stub axle either as you would notice that by the caliper being out of place.

[30psi 4agte]

Cant be too bent if it fits a shock can it?

I see your logic but yeah it can be....... i think its bent at the bottom of the strut leg.... the bit that the stub is atached too..

[The Real Roadrunner]

2 options
cold worked ie use a workshop press and mount the strut in then bend or
heat the strut with an oxy to get it to bend (for more neg heat the tube near the stub section on the stub axle side of the tube only) when it cools it will contract more than it expanded from heating.

i prefer doing it cold but sometimes its not possible to hold the strut in without maki ng special tooling for the job.

cheers
linden

[The Real Roadrunner]

yes they do bend near the joins thats the easiest place for it to happen as a strut insert is normally reduced in that area.

cheers
linden

[30psi 4agte]

Its not the actual strut tube thats bent but the stub section like linden was saying..

I might try cold bending and make up some form of jig and get a jack in there and pry it apart.... It shouldnt need to move too much at all as its only a 4 mm difference at the top of the strut.. So the stub will only need to be moved a minimal amount about 1mm at a guess..

I need to give it more positive camber linden as the wheel hits the srut up near the coil over thread..

[mrshin]

I've had a few sets of them done, and always been happy with the result.

[30psi 4agte]

Do you know how they did it ??

[The Real Roadrunner]

I need to give it more positive camber linden as the wheel hits the srut up near the coil over thread..

read that in your post but figured your smart enough to build the rest of the car so heating the opposite side wouldnt be too hard to figure out

id try to use a press also bcoz of the way your struts are they will need alot of force, the reinforced section above the axle wont move to easily.

cheers
linden

ps its lookin the goods btw

[30psi 4agte]

read that in your post but figured your smart enough to build the rest of the car so heating the opposite side wouldnt be too hard to figure out

id try to use a press also bcoz of the way your struts are they will need alot of force, the reinforced section above the axle wont move to easily.

LOL

Yeah that reinforced bit is gonna need some serious force ....im worried i could crush the stut tube and my insert wont fit back in.....

I have been thinking about putting a solid steel round bar ( same size as the internal dia of the stut .. sort of like a solid steel shock insert) in the strut to keep it from colapsing when i try to pry/ press/ jack it apart..

Reckon il still beable to bend it far enough with all the reinforcing ??

[IN 05 NT]

once the whole stub/tube is red hot, its pretty soft to bend,

goodluck, blake

[The Real Roadrunner]

since you have to go positive what about cutting the welds (the top ones) then bending it?
reweld afterwards making sure you had a thin piece of metal in there to stop it from shrinking back.

if you do cut then weld you might want to bend extra coz when you weld it the strut may bend whilst cooling (kinda hit n miss but hey you get that)

cheers
linden