Bending steering arms

[Toqwik]

Was talking to an old timer who does all my machine work today about heating and bending my steering arms. He told me it is much safer to put them in a press and bend them, rather than heating with a torch to bend them. What are you guys opinion of that?

[Muttley]

Sounds like good advice to me, heating it will make it brittle and thats something you deffinately dont want on such an important piece.

[Unkl Ian]

Depends on how much you want to bend them,and how tight the radius is.
The tighter the radius,and the greater the bend angle,
the more likely they will crack without using heat.
How much is too much?

[Unkl Ian]

Heating would only make them brittle if they were quenched in oil or water.
If they cool in still air,they won't get brittle.
Ask the Official HAMB Metalurgist on this one.

[fab32]

They have been heating and bending old Ford steering arms almost from the day they started building them. The first Pete and Jake instruction sheets told how to do it, there were no aftermarket ones being built yet. The old timer who showed me how to do it in 1958 said it wasn't a good idea to do it twice on the same arm but when allowed to cool in air (no quench) there wasn't anything dangerous about reshaping them in this fashion.

Frank

[old beet]

I've done it many times.........OLDBEET

[Toqwik]

Let me rephrase my question. This guy says it is safer to bend in a press than to heat and bend. Is he right? He offered to do mine for free, but I had never heard of bending them any other way other than with heat. I damn sure don't wanna crash this thing, so I wanna make sure it is safe....

[Unkl Ian]

Safer ?
No.

[fab32]

I can't imagine how you would hold the spindle in a press to bend it. It is such an odd shaped piece I woul be worried about it flying out and hurting someone if it wern't positioned exactly to take the force before it would shift off center and come flying out. To me this would be the SAFETY factor in the operation. If he does it for you how about taking some pictures of the fixturing he uses to do the job?

Frank

[Toqwik]

Oh yeah, forgot to mention, these are for 49-54 chevy steering arms, they unbolt from the spindle

[Toqwik]

any other opinions????

[porknbeaner]

Fab you can hold them in V Blocks. I've done it no problem.

Now onto the question, if I was going to tweek 'em a little I would probably go with the press.

On the other hand if you're going to put a major bend in 'em then heat is the only way to go.
Remember that Fab is right, don't heat and bend twice. Try and get it right the first time. So if it takes more than one bend, say a couple of 90s or whatever, then don't let it cool in between bends. Bend one way, then move right on to the next bend. Everytime it cools off and then gets reheated you take more of the temper out of the metal.

No mater which way you do it its a good idea to smooth out all the tool marks when your done. That helps get rid of the stress risers.

[Zodoff]

Depends on how much you gotta drop them..
maybe look at some other chevyes,like 54- up or something,maybe they go lower,and fits your spindle.

[38Chevy454]

Thanks for the plug there, UnklIan. You can heat and bend the arms without trouble as long as you cool slowly and don't overheat them while getting them hot.

I believe those arms are forged from the factory. Do you know that forging is done at red hot temps? In effect the same as what you are doing at home, except they squeeze the metal between dies to make the shape. So if the factory can use heat, so can you.

Cold bending is fine, as long as you do not cause any cracks to form, even very tiniy ones that are difficult to see by eye. The problem is that cold bending takes a lot of force, and you can crack the metal if you go too far, whereas the heat allows the metal to form without cracking.

Either method can work, but you have to be aware of the limitations that each has. For most people I would say that heat is easier to control and do what you want as far as the shape.

[TomH]

38chevy, can you reheat and rebend them after they have cooled?

[Zodoff]

"I believe those arms are forged from the factory. Do you know that forging is done at red hot temps? In effect the same as what you are doing at home, except they squeeze the metal between dies to make the shape. So if the factory can use heat, so can you." If you can do it twice,I guess its ok to do it three times too.. or four. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

[Toqwik]

I only need to go about 1/2 inch out, I am having clearance problems with my rims, and I would rather bend the arm than using wheel spacers and longer studs. It sounds like either way I go will be ok. Will probably bend them, since it is not that much it will need to move.

[flt-blk]

Are you just lowering the arm or changing it's relative
position. Be aware of how it will effect your steering
geometry and Ackerman angle.
TZ

[Tudor]

Not really an opinion -

if you heat it red hot and bend it and let it cool slow it remain ductile and be able to take abuse without breaking like how it was made

if you heat it red hot, bend it, and drop it in water to cool it quick - it'll be hard and brittle as hell

if you just bend it it'll work harden and become hard but more brittle - depends on how many times you do it- wiggle a paper clip back and forth till it brakes

[BigChief]

If you really want to be anal about them (and I don't think anybody can be anal enough about steering parts) you could carefully bend the arms using heat then have them magnufluxed for cracks. If they pass MAG then remove all the sharp edges and parting/forging lines (similar to polishing the beams of a connecting rod) and have them shotpeened. If you want to be totally *totally* anal about the 'toughness' of your arms you can send them out to me and I'll cryo treat the polished and shotpeened arms for you. The only way they'll break after that is by a severe impact (curbing the car or accident). The deep cryogenic tempering is a slow, sllloooooowwww process that takes the part down to minus 300 degrees F at a controlled rate holds it there for a predetermined amount of time (15-30hrs) then brings it back up to room temp at the same controlled rate it dropped the temperature. After the cold treatment the arms are triple tempered at 300degreesF. Once the cycle is completed the parts are fully stress relieved and tough as nails.

-Bigchief