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Air Ride Suspensions \  bending cast?

bending cast?

Air Ride Suspensions Q & A
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replies 14
following 13
 
Psycopath   +1y
im gonna attempt to bend my spindle just above the lower ball joint to get a better angle. right now the lower mount is at a weird angle, and i need it to be at 90degrees to the spindle.

i was told to heat slowly/cool slowly.
use leverege to bend it, not hammering.
and maybe gusset when its where i want it.

any other advice before i do this?
please "knowledgeable" advice only, not opinions. thanx
bodydropped85   +1y
hmm i see it breaking.... u try slottin the holes/makin new holes in the strut?
bodydropped85   +1y
ok i misread what u put, ur wanting to bed the LOWER ball joint mount. it mite work, is that cast steel or cast iron?
minitrukinranger   +1y
I don't know about that one. Cast is very tricky to deal with because you have to preheat it to a certain temp, not too low or not too high, before you can work with it. I suggest getting someone experienced with working with cast because you definitely don't want to risk it not being right.
TC29720   +1y
^^^What he said bro, cast is a pain to deal with and if you try to gusset it without knowing how to weld it you're in deeper trouble, I'd hunt down a pro in your area if you haven't delt with it much
xinsertnamex   +1y
i dunno bro id say a big negative with that, thats a good 30+ degrees u need to go but ive been wrong before
gravity5   +1y
thats a lot of bending, and a good chance of metal fatigue and future breakage....Why not get someone like Max at BIOKUSTUMZ to build you a fabbed spindle, or have a local machine shop in the prairies do it out of a solid billet.
overkillFFF   +1y
It all depends on what type of cast it is. Is it malleable, white or another kind. Heating cast is very very tricky. You can do it, but on a piece that is part of your whole front suspension and steering...not a safe practice. Remember, if it breaks while driving, you hafta think of the other drivers around you. Even to weld it, you need to preheat to a specific temp, then stick weld it with a nirod, with shallow pennetration, then once you make a pass, you need to peen it with a ball peen hammer to bring the molecular structure back to origional. This scarin you yet?
xinsertnamex   +1y
id holler at max he builds some super nice spindles but i bet there big bucks cuz there all one off.....but fuckit gotta pay to play
S10TooDamnLow   +1y
I wouldn't mess with it if you do not know enough about working with cast, especially if this is the first piece for you to work with. You don't want to learn a mistake while you are out draggin down the highway. But yes, you do need to preheat the part before you work with it, peen it while you are working with it to stress relieve, and slowly slowly cool it (ovens work great for this). I would suggest having someone do it, or have custom spindles built.