Technical Shorten ladder bars

I need to shorten my ladder bars 2”. They will be 42” after I’m done. I’m planning on doing the cut about 6” from the rear, heim joint then weld it. Is this ok? Thought I’d ask....

 

I would get a new weld in rod end that fits then cut and weld in the new end.

 

If you shorten the rear of regular ladder bars, like most that I've seen, where the top and bottom tubes form a "V" going toward the front, cutting length off the back will move the ends closer together vertically and they won't properly fit your rearend brackets any more. Just cutting off 2" won't make a huge difference, but you would have to bend something, redrill the brackets or make new ones for them to fit. You could heat and bend the ends of one or both tubes, but they might end up looking a bit odd.

Lynn

 

Why not either make some new ones or have them made? I order custom length ladder bars from P&J's from time to time to fit my various chassis. I figure the center to center length and then give them the cut tube length.

 

first is this a drag car or a street car first take a pic of your ladder bar then post it so we can evaluate the problem

 

It’s a street car, 31 ford roadster, stock 354 hemi, T5. Ford 8 3/4 3.0 gear, nonposi

 

I just completed the task...

 

I see you've completed the task but that tubing looks like it was threaded to accept the rod end (not uncommon on ladder bars). My preference would have been to shorten the tube and rethread rather than cut and weld (if it is as it appears to be). That being said, you could add a second brace that joins the upper and lower tubes, having the second brace situated so it is welded to the tubes on both sides of your new welds. At the very least your butt weld should have an insert in the tube with rosette welds on either side of the butt weld.

Don't know for sure how you handled it but hope it works out for you.

 

I did think of cutting where you said. But like lake_harley said the hiem joints won’t line up to the holes on the bracket. As it is, there is a slight bend in connecting the two tubes. So I couldn’t use an insert either. Although good idea and didn’t think of it. Thank you.

 

Do it. Will work fine.

 

You could add an upright post at the weld joint, if you know someone with a bender, you could do something like this.

 

I’ll do that Marty strode...

 

Be careful welding too close to threaded ends! I've done it and had to re-tap the threads as my heim ends wouldn't screw in after welding. A lot of metal gets moved during the weld process, so if it's close to the threads it can cause issues.

 

Thanks, my welds are almost a foot away. The heims went in fine. After everything went in, my bars point 7deg down and I have the pinion at 90deg. Should I drop the pinion down a bit?

 

You should wait until you finalize your drive train angle.

Phil

 

So I added a tubing on both my welds.
How do we feel about the gas tank position, I think there’s room for coilovers? Gonna mock tomorrow

 

There still some moving around I can do.....

 

Regarding your tubing brace ... my original suggestion was that you fabricate a brace that welds to the tubing on both sides of your splice. A piece of flat plate, possibly cut to mimic the shape of the original brace, could have been located in such a position that it braced the tube on both sides of your splice. It appears to me that your new tube brace doesn't do that.

That being said, if you are comfortable with the end result ... great, it's just not how I would have approached the issue and that's fine too.

I added a drawing in the post below to explain what I meant.

 

Look's like shock mount/cross member need's to move forward closer to axle from this angle...

 

"After everything went in, my bars point 7deg down and I have the pinion at 90deg. Should I drop the pinion down a bit?"

Here is my opinion on pinion angle ... with the chassis at ride height, the pinion can then be set to whatever the engine/transmission angle dictates the pinion angle needs to be.

If your engine/trans angle is down three degrees (just a random number), then your pinion angle will need to be UP three degrees.

 

Oh... I did a piece of tubing.

 

The plate is a great idea, but could still be installed on the inside edge of the joint area where you spliced it. Just grind the welds on the inside of your tube brace smooth, and then make up a plate that can lay over the whole area. I would drill holes in the plate to plug weld to the various tubes, and then perimeter weld around the plate also. This should add strength to the spliced area.
I would have also sleeved the joint inside the tubes also, and plug welded the sleeves in place. A butt welded joint is the least strong, so a sleeve inside, and a plate outside should make it super strong.

 

For anyone trying to solve a problem such as yours, I would cut and re-tap the tubes, and simply bend the tubes to the proper spread, to fit the link plates. The bends would be minimal, would be cleaner looking.

 

cut n spliced in the middle of a run is sketchy

 

This is what I was suggesting earlier ... see how the new brace is welded to your existing tubing, on both sides of your butt weld. The second drawing is what I think you've done ... the original tubing is not supported on both sides of your splice. I would still have liked to have seen the splice with an insert ... a solid insert could be heated to conform to the new shape you need.

 

Borntoloze, I put the tube underneath the welds... not to the side. Although it Might look like that in the photo.

 

I figured a plate several inches wide would spread the load over a larger area, creating a stronger joint but just because I have an opinion doesn't mean I am correct

Your car, you need to do what you feel comfortable with