Another radius arm build

[Familyman]

Well here is another way to skin (the proverbial) cat!

I have a friend with stock radius arms that is having his 40th birthday so I thought I would make hima set of extended arms so the front of his rig will move. LOL

The tubing is 2" receiver stock and I am using Ballistic square tube adapters and 3" Ballistic joints. I will follow up with the completed pics in a day or so.

FM <><

[crawlin68]

Right on Chuck! Lookin good so far. Do you have Ballistic joints yet? I wanna see those babies.

[Familyman]

Yea, just got the joints. I should have gotten the 2.63 ones because these make the tubing look small. I will post up pics soon.

FM <><

[Familyman]

Here are some pics

FM <><

[PhantomEB]

NICE WORK!!! Just exactly how long is the receiver hitch tube is it in its entirity??? I see me trying that!

LES

[crawlin68]

Those look awesome! Man I wish those were available when I ordered mine for my 4 link.

[Familyman]

PhantomEB the 2" receiver stock is 36.5" long with the bung and the joint the arms are 40" long to the center of the joint and are obviously adjustable up to 2 ". I was considering making them shorter - I remember Lars statng something about the arms only needing to be 6" longer then stock but I wasn't sure so I kept them close to the leangth of the WH arms.

FM <><

[69GHOST]

FAMILYMAN how much cash will you have wraped into those arms including the joints and frame mounts, are you going to build the frame mounts too. you do great work

[earlybronco72]

Nice looking welds Chuck. Those joints are huge. Did you put any caster adjustment into the arms?

[Daddy4zack]

Nice looking welds Chuck. Those joints are huge. Did you put any caster adjustment into the arms?

I agree.. I have been thinking that as well... Those welds are nice!!!! Good job chuck.. nice work!!!

Aaron

[Delta 4 Wheel]

Like always, excellant work Chuck.

[Familyman]

FAMILYMAN how much cash will you have wraped into those arms including the joints and frame mounts, are you going to build the frame mounts too.

Blue Collar supply for 2 pieces of 2" receiver stock 5' each - $90 + tax
Grade 8 hardware for everything $15

AAA Fab - shock tabs $3

Ballistic Fab - 3" joints, with 1.25" studs + zinc plated (2), 1.5" square tube adapters (2), 1.25" jam nut (2), Heavy duty frame link mounts plus shipping
= $229.78

So just shy of $350 total. I would build them again instead of buying arms because looking at how WH arms are built, I think these are much more stout. I also think the flex joint is far superior to the bushing style that stock arms use. The one thing these don't have is the bend inward to allow full lock to lock steering without hitting the arms. I didn't want to compromise the strength of the arms by cutting them to make that same angle. However if you have full width it won't matter since the tires are so much further out.

Did you put any caster adjustment into the arms?

No, I chose not too since I was able to keep more of the stock arm intact to weld into the new tubing. My other thought is since they are much longer they will decrease caster since they will have less angle down then stock. My guess, but it seems right. I would guess since they are 11" longer then stock that they have 1-2 degrees less caster . If there are any real engineers out there I am sure they can tell for sure. Lars??
If you wanted be able to adjust the caster a bit you would just have to cut the arm about 2 " shorter then I did.

[69GHOST]

familyman thanks for the feedback i think those are the best home built arms i have seen. what welder are you using(im in the market for a new one) thanks again

[Broncrick]

Excellent work Chuck!

[Daddy4zack]

the only thing you may want to consider is putting the shock mounts on the side of the arms. I had binding on the shock with the mounts on the very top of the arm during full stuff. I have added mounts to the side of my arms and it frees up the shock.

Aaron