Author Topic: DS a-arm kit information needed.  (Read 101833 times)

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Offline Aprilfools

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Re: DS a-arm kit information needed.
« Reply #315 on: August 11, 2021, 07:42:09 PM »
if you were to change the color, no one would believe thats the same rail! nice work. i am glad it rides well but it will require some shock tuning to ride perfect. as perfect as one wants to make it  ;) ;D   looks great, looks well braced and its still lighter then the beam.....maybe not by much with all the additional bracing but still lighter. it will turn far better then the beam and a better ride.

100% agree, I sit back and look at it and it's hard to picture it being the same car.
I definitely dont have much seat time in it yet, but the short blast I did was a real eye opener to what this did to this rail!! I am alot closer on the shocks than I thought I would be out of the gate. Again hard to tell in the short test ride but intial thoughts are springs are close, maybe within 50lbs. Valving I cant tell yet, but I am going to leave it alone until I put some seat time in it in our trip. I will have everything needed with me if I want to make a change.
I will definitely give this a full write up here as soon as I get some seat time. But I am stoked to have done this to say the least. We leave on the 19th, I'll get good pictures of it on the sand for sure.
I plan to put some miles on this and tear it down in November for paint and a complete reassembly. So glad I did this prior to that. I am planning to get it on scales before we load up to leave as well

Offline Aprilfools

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Re: DS a-arm kit information needed.
« Reply #316 on: August 11, 2021, 07:49:38 PM »
Great job on the front end!  Did you make the tapered ends for the bumper?  looks cool

Good eye!!
I did, I had that idea when I went with the straight bar on the top to finish it off. I am pretty fortunate to work at a machine shop and have many CNC's at my disposal. There may be a few custom, purpose built pieces on my daughter's,  my sons and my rail.  ;D






Offline dsrace

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Re: DS a-arm kit information needed.
« Reply #317 on: August 12, 2021, 11:35:43 AM »
 rofl rofl LMAO LMAO LMAO

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Offline dsrace

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Re: DS a-arm kit information needed.
« Reply #318 on: August 12, 2021, 11:36:11 AM »
i thought that was just too funny not to share.
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Because he will drag you down to his level and beat you with experience

Offline Aprilfools

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Re: DS a-arm kit information needed.
« Reply #319 on: August 13, 2021, 06:00:34 AM »
My son had this idea, just had to do it when he thought of it!





Offline dsrace

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Re: DS a-arm kit information needed.
« Reply #320 on: August 13, 2021, 07:40:25 AM »
My son had this idea, just had to do it when he thought of it!






that just added another 25 hp right there!!  ;D ;) ;)   i like it
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Offline Aprilfools

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Re: DS a-arm kit information needed.
« Reply #321 on: August 21, 2021, 08:20:44 PM »
Finally got the new set up on the sand. For the guys that have done this swap with this kit there is nothing I can say that you don't already know!! For those that haven't, it's well worth it, you will not regret it.
Big thanks to all for the info and questions answered before I purchased and through the swap process.
This is a well built, well designed kit. It's a blast to install and completely changes your ride in a good way.
I had what I considered what was a very good beam set up so it's not that came I from a "stock" beam. I cant describe the differences it made with my rail. The ride, the handling, the steering, the "nimbleness" and just overall light feel is instantly noticed. Even my wife noticed it as soon as we hit the dunes, that says a alot!
The "plow" type feeling I guess I'll use is no more and seems to float over everything and seems to have have endless travel and fall in and I'm only running a 10" shock.
For dune riding I am either not picky or I think I have gotten extremely lucky on my spring rates and valving. I dont see or feel a need to change anything, at least yet. I only have a few hours on it here but I love how it feels. And yes, I've already launched it and lands amazing well. I also carried the front end for the first time!! I could not do that before! Dam that's addictive!  :m
If there is a downside to this conversion I would say it's the stress it will put on the rest of the car, as I will push it much harder now!! Goimg to be a great week playing in the sand, I'll throw up some more pictures as the week goes on.
Thanks again!!



Offline dsrace

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Re: DS a-arm kit information needed.
« Reply #322 on: August 23, 2021, 10:18:51 AM »
you description was not a urprise but very well stated!    really transforms a sandrail, for sure.  so it sounds like you had a great dune trip, glad to hear!

i have asked most customers over the years and the answer has remained the same.    some used them frequantly with beams some claim they rarely.    this front end should turn sharper then the bean and should eliminate or at the very least greatly reduce the need for turning brakes.     your thoughts??

how many friends were there that didnt know you made this change?
« Last Edit: August 23, 2021, 10:20:53 AM by dsrace »
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Offline Aprilfools

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Re: DS a-arm kit information needed.
« Reply #323 on: August 25, 2021, 08:22:25 AM »
There is a difference between the steering from the beam and this conversion. Its definitely sharper and so much smoother as well. I do have a turning brake, I have not used at the dunes as much in the past. I will have to see how that compares trail riding back home.
On this trip everyone that us here seen the build before we left so they knew about it. They were all very curious as to how it would do and compare though! We typically have a group ride over labor day weekend that is a big group of sand rails, know one in that group knows or has seen the conversion, should be an interesting weekend if they all come!

Offline Aprilfools

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Re: DS a-arm kit information needed.
« Reply #324 on: August 25, 2021, 08:35:22 AM »
We did manage to get it scaled before we left as well. As I thought the weight was almost spot on with what it was before the swap. I had a feeling with all the bracing and how we did this that is would be close. We used .120 wall tubing for everything as well.

But, looking at the numbers before and after, the front has dropped 60-ish pounds off, the rear is wear I gained. I forgot I had swapped the rear to 3x3's and to 930's. Bigger arms, bigger cv's and longer axles. I also had changed my springs to what I run at the dunes vs at home which would add more rear weight. So indeed this conversion does save weight up front, at least in my case where I had 10" wider beam, longer arms and bigger spindles.

Before and after;






Offline Aprilfools

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Re: DS a-arm kit information needed.
« Reply #325 on: August 25, 2021, 08:38:18 AM »






« Last Edit: August 25, 2021, 08:40:15 AM by Aprilfools »

Offline DeepBusch69

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Re: DS a-arm kit information needed.
« Reply #326 on: August 25, 2021, 08:47:09 AM »
Great update.  Everyone that I know who did this swap likes it and won’t go back.  Congrats.  What sand dunes do you guys ride?  Silver lake?

Offline Aprilfools

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Re: DS a-arm kit information needed.
« Reply #327 on: August 25, 2021, 08:50:53 AM »
Definitely agreed. We have one more rail in the garage that isn't swapped.....if it wasnt already powder coated it sure would be tempting to do it after seeing and feeling the differences.

Yep, we are at Silver Lake, here until Sunday morning.
« Last Edit: August 25, 2021, 08:52:24 AM by Aprilfools »

Offline dsrace

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Re: DS a-arm kit information needed.
« Reply #328 on: August 26, 2021, 10:01:15 AM »
enjoy silver lake and i'm sure you'll be posting some trip pics once you return home.
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Offline Aprilfools

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Re: DS a-arm kit information needed.
« Reply #329 on: September 07, 2021, 07:27:38 PM »
Had a great trip to the dunes 👍
I'd say I broke the new front end in quite well there. And it passed with flying colors. It definitely is more of an improvement that I imagined it would be. I would say my current set up is pretty good for dune running.
We did some trail riding over the holiday weekend as well so it gave me a chance to see how it would do and compare there as well. Agian, no complaints and it exceeded my expectations in about every aspect. The trails around here can get pretty beat up and it rode really well. I am going to make a small spring change just for the trail riding we do but I'd say it's more out of curiosity to see what it does and how it changes things. The width is definitely more noticeable in some of the less open areas we run but was manageable.
With the new front, now it has us really discussing and re-thinking the rear suspension now...😄 more on that later.. and the possibility of doing another a conversion on another rail that's in the stable.
Which reminds me,  I may have sold another one as a gentleman at the dunes came and checked it out and asked a ton of questions. He didnt believe us that 3 weeks before we were there that it was a beam car!! I told him to look up the website. 👍 he was pretty interested



 

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