LIL Monster needs A-Arms!!!

[Whiplash]

Hey guys, I have been thinking how to tackle the front end of my car for as little as possible and I figure it will cost me the same or maybe even less to build an A-arm front than it will to buy a decent VW style front end. I was wondering if anybody would be willing to give up their design, (something that is proven to work well) so I can build it once and have it be right, I am no longer working my good paying job and $$ are very tight so I need it to be as budget minded as possible. I understand some of you keep these things secret but I really could use the help. I am looking to do something in the 18" travel range to match my rear travel and it needs to be somewhere around 85ish wide to be close to the rear. If anybody needs a real measurement of the rear to setup a design, I can get the size for you. Thanks all for the help, I would do it myself totally but I can't afford to mess it up!

Thanks!!
-Bryan

[Punkur67]

Did a set of 4 x 1 front arms that I built , 6" wider beam, rack, gusseted spindles, and a set of fox shocks on my Dads car. All said and done it cost us about $400-$500 and it works great.
 
This pic was prior to putting the foxes on. If you are on a budget this works real good. You will be disapointed if you blow a bunch of cash on an a-arm setup and have it not handle as well as a beam could for half the price.

[Whiplash]

Really, got any design sketches? I have never built a beam arm before and would not know where to start?

[fabr]

I HATE to suggest it but there is a member at MBN-Tut- that is a BIG time beam fan. Ya might ask him if he'd have the balls to come over here to discuss it.I think he's by far the most knowledgable person on the forums of what makes a good beam car setup and a good guy in general. Tut's a member here but also a mod at MBN so he may not wish to "cross the powers that be" there by showing any further interest in DTS tho. 

[Punkur67]

Really, got any design sketches? I have never built a beam arm before and would not know where to start?

I used a friends jig, but one could be built relatively easy. We used the stock arms and cut the ends off. Then replaced the section we cut out with 1-1/4" .120 moly tubing. Definately not some race car arm but My friend has been shashing them n the front of his bug for about 4 years now and has not broke one yet.

[Whiplash]

Interesting, I might try this with the ones I have on there now just for the width if its that easy...They ARE forged right, so they should take a weld pretty well? I never even thought about doing it like that, Probably could even make a jig off the stockers, and then just extend the length on it to keep the geometry right....Hmmm.....Good idea!! It would gain travel and I could even get some used link pin arms and cut the ends off them to make a "conversion" arm that would allow me to retain my current beam up front but make it link pin style for the increased travel! WOW I can find stock arms for practically nothing on craigslist!

[Punkur67]

Arms were free for me to make, just used left over tube in the garage. Cool thing is you dont need new spindles and you can still run your tortions. We did the wider beam with the adjusters, and found a free set of tortions to do the other side of the car. You will also need to use some stiffer shocks to overcome the extra leverage on the arms. Like I said not some race car arms but on a budget they work out good. The jig I used had 3"x1-1/2" or 4"x1-1/2". I would not go wider than  1-1/2" though. If you want to go wider, use the wider beam to do so.

[Whiplash]

Cool, I like this idea, the only reason I was thinking A-arm other than the look, is I thought it might be about thesame cost, but now that I think of it, after the spindles, heims, steering box, etc, this is a WAYY cheaper routs, hell I could do this for like a 40.00 stick of tubing! WHat do you think about the conversion arm going to link pin? I am limited to only about 9" of travel with the ball joints and this would solve that without doing major surgery...or I could just weld bungs on the ends of the arms and do heims for better travel?...Hmm...