disecting toyota struts

[Dimitri]

this is an idea i have been having lately.

currently my front strut setup consists of a shortened and coilover factory strut body with a 35mm RCA below it.

this isnt a bad setup, but at the ride height i run the car at, roll centre is probably still a little low.

what i have been thinking is, would it be possible to bore the stub axle casting, from the bottom, to the exact size of the strut tube untill the weld is cut and then possibly remove the strut tube altogether? i am guessing it is press fit too though, so maybe you would need to just bore it out all the way?

then what you would be left with is the standard stub axle which you could fit (weld) to the strut tube and whatever height you desire.

then there is just the issue of attaching the steering knuckle. maybe a 2nd set of donor struts would be needed, to donate the lower mounting point ( the 2 bolt holes) of the stub axle casting. this could in turn be welded to the base of the strut tube, or posibbly a new intermediate section made from tube and turned down on a lathe to have a step sit inside the base tof the stub axle casting and bottom steering knuckle mount.

although the RCA is a tried and tested method of ajusting the roll centre, i thought that this would just end up being a little cleaner and slightly more user friendly to assemble. you also have the bonus off being able to run as much "RCA" as you want, only governed by the ball joint fouling on the wheel. even with a 14" rim i think you should still be able to run around 50mm. which would return the LCA/roll centre much closer to factory.

thoughts? critisisms?

i know it sounds a little labouring intensive, but i think i have that covered.

[oldcorollas]

welding cast iron on steering components is very frowned upon for a good reason.

if your roll centre is too low, and you have 35mm RCA's already, they maybe car is too low or perhaps you need to think about raising the inner pivot point upwards (as well as steering components to suit)

or lower the rear RC to compensate?

[Dimitri]

its welded already though? if you maintain a press fit whats the differance? youre the metalurgist (i think?) so tell me

i might have to crank up paint to give you a better explanation of what im actually planning. but the whole stub axle casting is still intact, its not like it is just welded to the side of the strut tube (like i have actually seen!).

i dont think i will be able to raise the rack any meaningfull amount. the X member is already DEFINATELY getting re bracketed to move the engine down a little (and back ALOT).

[Celica RA45]

put more rca under the strut i use 50mm between lower arm and the strut as im using mx62 lower arms as i have 5%of neg ,sounds like you need more to go under the strut .
on the strut thing i think quadrant used to put bigger strut tubes on the sprinter s when they were using bilsteins so you can run 40mm tubes i just use ra40 struts and they become the distance tube for the billys to guide through ,hope this helps

[thomasbl]

Welding cast Iron on steering components is frowned upon as it has the tendancy to distort and melt at lower temps. If you are welding cast using an arc welder, use stainless steel rods as they generally have a lower temp. This is quite effective, unless you are welding things such as manifolds which cop a lot of temperature. In this scenario, the metals expand at different rates and can tend to crack, in steering components, it will be an issue of distortion and strength though. In short, if you must weld it, use stainless rods...

[Dimitri]

its not steering. i wont be using stick. itll be tig or mig.