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Refurbishing TR4 lower control arms


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IMG_6301.HEICHi all,

Just hoping to get some advice from some of the more experienced members here as to whether it is possible - or advisable - to have TR4 lower control arms welded up by a competent welder.

The arms on both sides have out-of-round holes where the bearings have worn through, and these are very hard to find in Australia, and the ones which pop up on various sites often seem to be in worse condition than mine anyway..so refurbishment by welding, drilling and reaming is probably going to be easier than replacement.

Has anyone done it, or had it done, or seen or heard of any catastrophic failures resulting from this?

Best regards

Pete

IMG_6296.HEIC

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Revingtons are now doing rebushed arms, I realise it would be very expensive to send yours back though. Lower arms

Stuart.

Edited by stuart
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58 minutes ago, stuart said:

Revingtons are now doing rebushed arms, I realise it would be very expensive to send yours back though. Lower arms

Stuart.

Thanks Stuart - I had a look on their website recently and must have missed this. I'll check it out and see if it works (financially) or maybe look at what Bfg suggests - might need to talk to a local specialist..

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54 minutes ago, Bfg said:

Hi Pete,

Welding any casting is usually structurally unsuccessful, but as Revington do - have the hole bored and fit a sleeve into it.  

Hi Bfg, Do you know if the casting is actually drop-forged or cast steel or cast Iron? - it's hard to tell and I don't want to grind the part to find out, but from what I've been told by my welder mate, cast steel is a lot easier and has better prospects of success than cast iron..

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The arm is essentially the same as TR4A to 6.  The inner end is the same hole.  The outer on yours is smaller than the later cars.  Not beyond the wit of man to create a phosphor bronze or oilite bush to fit in the outer end and ream to 5/8 for the trunion pin.  This is assuming you can find spare later arms to work with.  You would need to drill and fit a grease nipple.

Refurbing to repair the egg shaped inner bush eye is done by boring the inner eye to a size that creates a round hole then fitting a thin walled sleeve with suitable inner diameter for the nylon bush.

I do not know what the arms are made from.  I do have a selection of arms suitable for refurbishing.

Years ago I filled the egg shaped hole with 2 part epoxy glue then reamed the hole to get back to round.  Fitted the nylons and here we are years later and the glue has held up fine and the nylons have not yet worn through.  

Cheers

Peter W

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15 minutes ago, Waldi said:

I just note there are 2 parallel post on this topic

It could be because I thought it had rejected my effort to upload photos.. I'll try and take the second one down..

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1 hour ago, BigBogan said:

Hi Bfg, Do you know if the casting is actually drop-forged or cast steel or cast Iron? - it's hard to tell and I don't want to grind the part to find out, but from what I've been told by my welder mate, cast steel is a lot easier and has better prospects of success than cast iron..

I haven't cut one to feel the metal or to see the filings,  but judging by the fineness and depth intricacy of its flanges,  the rough pitting of its sides (adjacent to where the flash has been ground off), and the part numbers being raised and precise - I'm pretty certain they are castings. And because cast iron is terribly brittle when impacted ..I'd go on to say that for this application they would need to be in steel.

Still,  I'd have them bored and bronze sleeves made and fitted   ..just an opinion of course.

Pete.

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1 minute ago, Bfg said:

I haven't cut one to feel the metal or to see the filings,  but judging by the fineness and depth intricacy of its flanges,  the rough pitting of its sides (adjacent to where the flash has been ground off), and the part numbers being raised and precise - I'm pretty certain they are castings. And because cast iron is terribly brittle when impacted ..I'd go on to say that for this application they would need to be in steel.

Still,  I'd have them bored and bronze sleeves made and fitted   ..just an opinion of course.

Pete.

Theyre not that brittle as they will bend with accident damage.

Stuart.

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