[DML] Re: PDC's Redesigned Trailing Arm Attachment

["content22207" <brobertson@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Have you studied Bryan Pearce's redesigned trailing arm attachment
(ball joint)? Infinitely superior to the Lotus design. And it's so
simple and inexpensive that one has to wonder what Lotus was thinking
of with stationary lateral bolts. They could have saved us all a lot
of trouble by engineering the trailing arms properly to begin with.

Bill Robertson
#5939

>--- In dmcnews@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, tobyp@xxxx wrote:
> 
> 
> Hello List - I wanted to make two comments on this thread, so please 
> bear with me.  When I decided to commission the first batch of TOBY-
> TAB's, somebody put together a poll on this very list to find out 
> what the "fleet experience" was with the trailing arm bolts.  In 
> round figures, one third of those responding had found bent, 
> corroded, or broken TAB's at some point; one third had looked and 
> found nothing amiss, but said that they were continuing to inspect 
> these joints (this is a good thing, regardless of what type of bolt 
> you have); and one third had no idea what we were talking about, and 
> didn'y really care.  As I said back then, it's the one third that 
> didn't (and still doesn't) have a clue that *really* bothers me.
> 
> The second comment is in response to Joe's note - I just thought that 
> I would point out that there should be no rotation of the bolt in the 
> trailing arm when everything is torqued up.  This is a very common 
> misconception of the function of this joint.  All rotation in this 
> joint should be in the rubber part of the rubber bushing, with all of 
> the individual components in the stack-up stationary relative to one 
> another.  There is a tendency in the fleet to find the sleeve in the 
> rubber bushing disbonded from the rubber, which then allows the 
> rotation to occur between the sleeve and the rubber.  However, the 
> design was originally supposed to have all rotation in the rubber 
> only.  I just wanted to clarify this point, because this illustrates, 
> in part, why there should be weight on the suspension before final 
> torqueing of the bolts ... to set the rubber bushing in the rest 
> position prior to locking it down through the joint clamp-up.  The 
> anti-seize compound is crucial for protecting the steel trailing arm 
> and sleeve from further corrosion inside.  However, since the TOBY-
> TAB's are made from Inconel, they are impervious to corrosion.  
> Okay ... I am done with my lecture for today, although I can very 
> easily get wound up about that last one third of the fleet.
> 
> Toby Peterson  VIN 2248 "Winged1"
> DeLorean Parts Northwest, LLC
> www.delorean-parts.com
> 









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