Trailing arm design

Badbar88

Badbar88

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 What are the pros and cons of having a VW style outer pivot point vs a dual bushing style? I get there is a bit of adjustment using a heim joint. Is there a strength or longevity benefit?

I have a car that's had negative camber from the start. It's using VW style outer pivots.  I can't acheive 0° camber until I'm at full droop. I'm toying with the idea of mocking up some new trailing arms to correct this issue along with the fact that I developed some cracks from a hard bottom out. 

I'm leaning toward changing things up to the dual pivot style because it seems like it would be much easier to get right. 

20220101_130731.jpg

 
I prefer negative camber. Helps plant the rear when turning in the sand. Also helps the car drift better. Running 0 camber then applying the g force on the rear in turns will cause the tires to lean toward positive camber. When I set up arms or am replacing pivot tubes I always adjust towards negative camber. 

I will add, your car looks to have a lot of negative camber.

 
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I agree on the drifting aspect. When I ran a 14" wide wheel the car was almost hard to keep from spinning out on fast turns. 

As it sits at ride height I have 5° of camber. I was also thinking of re-positioning the inner pivot to help correct the issue but I don't have the expertise to know what that would do to the suspension as it cycles.

 
Loosen the pivot bolts to the arm itself, Jack up under it until camber is correct, then tighten. 

 
Another easy way to correct is to open up the hole in the center bracket and then add weld washers once desired location is found.

 
My Toyz for Big Boyz car had the same issue.  I was told it was the Chinezium arms.  I bought some US built boxed arms and it fixed it.  May or may not be your issue but thought I'd share.

 
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Grease Monkey said:
My Toyz for Big Boyz car had the same issue.  I was told it was the Chinezium arms.  I bought some US built boxed arms and it fixed it.  May or may not be your issue but thought I'd share.
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This is exactly what happened to my sons trailing arms. You could see the metal separating and arms twisting. 

 
Grease Monkey said:
My Toyz for Big Boyz car had the same issue.  I was told it was the Chinezium arms.  I bought some US built boxed arms and it fixed it.  May or may not be your issue but thought I'd share.
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I went through that with my last car. Mine was only off on one side though.

 
So I decided to tear one side off today. It seems to me that cutting these inner mounts off and replacing them with new, thicker mounts with better gussets would be the way to go. I'll position them to hopefully get the desired result. 

I'll also be replacing the bolts with the correct shoulder length. As you can see I've managed to add threads to the inside of the bushing spacer.  :classic_blink:  I'd bet this is a source of at least one of the noises I hear while duning.20230411_172708.jpg20230411_172802.jpg

 
One thing I found is don't use an impact on these bolts. Seem they will destroy the bushing with heat built from the speed the impact turns the bolt. Can't tell for sure but looks like the hole in the bracket has wallowed out some. It doesn't take much to make a big change at the wheel. 

 
richard h said:
One thing I found is don't use an impact on these bolts. Seem they will destroy the bushing with heat built from the speed the impact turns the bolt. Can't tell for sure but looks like the hole in the bracket has wallowed out some. It doesn't take much to make a big change at the wheel. 
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The holes appear to be pretty round still in person. Per our conversation through DM, I threw a level against the tire before removing everything. It was about 2" away at the top of the tire. Do you feel there's enough meat on these brackets to oval the holes out a bit and add some weld washers?

 
Badbar88 said:
The holes appear to be pretty round still in person. Per our conversation through DM, I threw a level against the tire before removing everything. It was about 2" away at the top of the tire. Do you feel there's enough meat on these brackets to oval the holes out a bit and add some weld washers?
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2" is a lot. I would try it. Maybe take about 3/16" to a 1/4"out of the top and see where that places the tire. Brackets look to have good support. The weld washers would also add strength to your bracket. I did check my car today and mine are right at the 3/8" I mentioned.

 
There was a lot of conversation about this some years ago on the samba.  some of the 3x3 bolt on kits had this issue.  I guess folks were swapping them right to left & putting new shock mounts on them & that fixed it.  seemed kinda nuts to me, but I never saw it in person. 

Bob

 
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