Customs Super bell steering arms ,forged or cast?

Krylon is correct except the deep dropped arms were bent during manufacture

 

Folks, we are beating a dead horse. Those steering arms are forged.

 

Yes, but the poster has to show evidence of that to bureaucrats.
As has been suggested, contacting Superbell and getting documentation from them should be authoritative.

 

The wide parting line clearly shows it was produced in a closed die forging operation and would have the superior grain structure that only a forging can give. That parting line is caused when the two halves of the die are hammered together and the excess material is squeezed out. Once cooled the part undergoes snag grinding to trim off that flash and then it will be sent to heat treat to set the desired hardness and stress relieve the material.
I never worked in heat treat but from contact I had at work with guys that did I’d expect a forging to be around 38 on the Rockwell C scale and cast steel about 8-10 points higher. Does that make the casting tougher? No, it is harder but has limited ductility, it might snap like a chicken bone where a forged steering arm of the same cross section will bend before it completely yields.
I’m far from being a metallurgist, that is just stuff I learned on the shop floor in 40 years as a machinist. I’ll say it again, those arms are forged. If anything maybe do a Rockwell test to check the hardness but be aware that value will vary depending on the steel used for the part.

 

Try contacting Jason at Pete & Jake's for help with the certification.

 

Yes sir ^ best in the business and will satisfy your question. Nobody better. Thanks to the Slovers the hobby is tried and true.

 

Old HAMB metallurgist here. The wide parting line is a forging. Cast would be a thin line. Thin like 1/16 inch. This is easy proof since a casting can't have a 1/4 inch parting line, the liquid metal would pour out of the mold.
The ring test, forged will ring when you tap with hammer while holding it from one end. Cast will be more thud for cast iron or dissipate the ring quicker if cast steel. Not an exact test, but a good indicator.
Spark test is a way to see carbon content and some alloying elements. But you need known comparison samples to use for visual comparison. Unless you do spark testing everyday, you need the known chemistry samples. Note spark testing is only good to differentiate chemistry and not cast vs forged.
Hardness testing does not tell if forged or cast. Since any heat treatment can affect the hardness after being forged or cast.
Generally forged is better. Forged has better ductility all else being equal to casting.

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If you have trouble getting to sleep, read this at bedtime:

Pardon my reiteration, but let's not confuse cast iron ("chicken bone") with cast steel, which has virtually the same mechanical properties as forged steel of the same composition.

Ductile iron's properties are far closer to steel than to cast iron. For a homework assignment go to:

https://willmanind.com/what-ductile-iron

Ferric based materials that are not considered alloys have a teeny pinch or two of other elements, the most significant being carbon. "Mild steel" has about .05 to .30% carbon. As the carbon content is increased, the steel becomes stronger, at a cost in ductility. "Spring steel" has roughly .7% C for high yield stress, but broken leaf and coil springs are not unusual. When you get to 2.5 to 5 % C, you have brittle cast iron, and tensile strength has plummeted (except for ductile, spheroidal graphite iron; see above website).

So, why does steel cost lots more than cast iron? Mined iron ore has a high carbon content. To make steel, additional processes must be utilized in smelting to remove the carbon.

 

Truck? There’s a truck?


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yes...