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......................--- Rear Control Arm Brackets ---
On this page I'll start on the rear suspension by first making some brackets that will bolt to the outer hubs on the IRS. These will provide a foundation for attaching the rear control/locator arms from the frame to the outer hubs. These arms will locate the outer hubs and provide a means for the hubs to move with the suspension.
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I first made 2 upper plates out of 3/16 X 2 inch strap. These will bolt to the top of the outer hub using 2 of the four holes that were used to hold the brake backing plate to the hub. I also made 2 plates out of 1/8 X 2 inch strap that will bolt to the bottom half of the hub using the other two holes for the ex-backing plate. I cut the circular areas out with my torch and ground them down to the final dimension with a hand grinder and drilled the holes. A plasma cutter would have been nice.
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Here you can see the plates bolted to the outer hub. I am making it so the brackets/control arms can be unbolted from the hub to service the hub bearings. Most of the loads in this area are going to be from the top, thus that piece is of larger dimensions. This is just the foundation for what will follow.
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Next I cut a plate for the next part of this assembly and drilled 3 holes through it and into the outer arm on the hub assembly. I tapped the holes to hold this plate on.
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I then welded a cross piece connecting the first top plate to the new plate out on the arm. I will be able to unbolt all of this and more to come from the outer hub. The bottom plate will bolt on separately
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Finally I machined a flat area at 90 degrees to the other flat on the end of the arm on the outer hub in preparation for a piece that will be located there.
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