Possible Other Solution to Sagging Aluminess Rear Swingarms

deminimis · 03-07-2008, 01:36 PM

As stated in other threads, without a doubt, you should replace the all thread hing bolts on your rear bumper swingarms with shanked bolts to help prevent the bolts from milling alumn material away.

On to fix number two: I was about to order up four Jerry (Gerry) cans for my rear swingarm. Concerned about weight when bouncing along off-road. My solution to this concern, the NHL. Specifically, official NHL hockey pucks. Being originally from the central states, I love hockey. Its the only real sport left. Hockey pucks are made up of very hard vulcanized rubber (1" x 3"). They make great spacers for body lifts. I've used them as fold down windshield bumpers on my former Nissan Patrol. In this case, I am going to use one for each swingarm on top of the bumper for the swingarm to rest on when in the closed position. Thus, instead of the two hinges taking all the weight of the swingarm and load, much of the weight will be transferred to the pucks. Didn't measure this AM, but looks like less than 1" between the bumper and the end of the swingarm. If that's the case, will auger out a partial channel for the swing arm alumn tube to rest in. Will not auger the full 3" diameter, however. Will leave some at full thickness to help prevent the swingarm from slamming into the rear doors should the lower latch break when hit from the rear as happened with my SMB (or when backing into some concrete-filled post as a gas station). Don't know about possible rear door clearance issues as forgot to check that this AM. If the doors won't clear a full 1" puck to open, then I'll mount the pucks on the storage panel lid, if possible. Would require removing the lid to open the doors, a bit of a hassle, but not much. I've ordered some pucks (all the way from Mass). However, it seems a local sports store may have some in stock (these non-hockey types couldn't tell me if they were official weight and size or just practice pucks, geeshze). Anyway, weekend project if I find the good pucks locally and will post of pics of whatever ends up working the best. No drilling. Household Goop will keep the pucks in place for years. Have some other mounting options to consier as well (for example approx half a puck (1/2" thick) mounted to the bumper to address rear door clearance issues if need be and the other approx 1/2 mounted to the swingarm so that the two halves rest against each other when close, and so on. Some times you've just got to "Think Outside the Rink." I need to copyright that one.

kzemach · 03-11-2008, 02:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by deminimis

As stated in other threads, without a doubt, you should replace the all thread hing bolts on your rear bumper swingarms with shanked bolts to help prevent the bolts from milling alumn material away.

Is there a pic of that fix somewhere?

As for the door clearance... you could always auger out a channel in the puck and attach the puck to the bottom of the swingarm instead of the bumper, yah? To keep it from slamming into the door, you could also add some small thickness part to the bumper to catch the puck attached to the swingarm, if you see where I'm going with that.

Either way, I like the idea. Am planning on adding a bike rack to my swingarm, so am concerned about this issue.

deminimis · 03-11-2008, 02:26 PM

If only mounting to the rack, then I'm afraid the paint on the bumper would wear off as the puck drags along the top of the bumper when opening/closing the swing arm. I got way side tracked over the weekend with other SMB projects, so haven't tackled it yet. Did size it all up, though. If I can figure a way to split a puck into halves (leaving two 1/2 x 3 inch disks (minus blade thickness), it would make sense to mount one half on the bumper and the other on the arm. They'd mate when closed, the doors could also open without issue. Would do nothing for keeping a wayward swingarm from bashing into the body, but a small sacrifice. Newish place and haven't wired my shop for my table saw. If I had a band saw, splitting the pucks would be easy. Going to have to visit another's shop to cut them. Rough estimate is with the loss the the blade thickness once cut, the pucks will be the prefect thickness to do this. Amazingly simple solution.

kzemach · 03-11-2008, 02:35 PM

Hmmmm, cut in half. I like it. Post pics so that I can steal the idea...

deminimis · 03-11-2008, 03:26 PM

Yea, that will be a clean grease-free operation, so pics abound.

scatter · 03-12-2008, 06:35 PM

Just to let everyone know, Aluminess is aware of this problem and is working on a solution. As far as the shoulder bolts go, they do have a replacement kit available. Give 'em a call. Dave is super to work with.

They are also working on a swing arm support. Similar to the split hockey puck idea. Matter of fact, I went by there on the way north from Baja and showed them my swing arm which had cracks in it. I had tied it to my rear door for the trip home just in case it broke off all the way - which it didn't. I ended up getting a new swing arm which now has three hinges instead of the older version with two. They welded another hinge on my bumper to match up. I also had them weld in a gusset where I had the problem. Dave said this problem is just starting to show up as folks are using 35" and larger tires. Also, it doesn't seem to be a problem unless one does a lot of nasty, high speed, washboard driving. That brings out the worst in everything.

Anyway, I have the new swing arm in for powder coating and will be mounting it and one of Aluminess's trial "split support" ideas and a bumper to help with fore and aft support next week. I can post photos of the whole thing if anyone is interested.

kzemach · 03-12-2008, 07:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by scatter

I can post photos of the whole thing if anyone is interested.

Post photos of everything... let's keep a good log of fixes (and point to the places you had cracks/problems in the photos?) so that others can self help.

scatter · 03-13-2008, 05:54 AM

Will do, but it'll take a week till I get the parts back.

deminimis · 03-15-2008, 02:36 PM

Some trial and error and here's what I came up with. Buy a length of 3" plumbing (only had ABS, but PVC cuts much nicer). I started with 2'. Set up your chop saw with a stop like so:

Cut several slices of pipe until you get the size right (would be 1/2 the 1" thickness of the puck minus the blade width) like this:

Don't skip this step and you want consistency.

After you've got your stop set where you want it, then take the remaining piece of pipe (probably down to a foot and a half by now). Make sure you've cut the ends so they are perfectly square otherwise it won't work right. Use glue (I think Super Glue is best for this) and glue a puck into one end of the pipe. Before glue is dry, turn the pipe on end on a flat surface so that the puck is laying in the bottom of the pipe. Better protect that dining room table with something or there'll be hell to pay. The puck should be perfectly flush with the end of the pipe by the time the glue dries. If not, pop the puck out and try again. You've got to get this step right. Once dried, do the same on the other side. Make sure you've closed off your fence as well to prevent any kick out. Once cut, it will look like this:

Even glued into the pipe with Super Glue its easy to pop out the puck halves once you've cut it.

The removal of material the thickness of the saw blade makes the two halves fit perfectly between the bumper and the swing arms on my unit. Since I came up with the above procedure after ruining one puke, I haven't installed them yet. Should have new pucks on Monday. Will have to bevel the leading edges where the puck halves meet when closing the swing arm as the fit is snug (just right). Will relieve most if not all weight from the swing arm when closed.

deminimis · 03-15-2008, 02:47 PM

I should add, if your don't make the cuts perfectly halved, its not the end of the world (it should be close as possible though). So long as your stop is set and not moved, then each puck will cut the same. Keep the pucks together (don't mix and match). Mount the smaller halves on the bumper and the wider halves on the swing arms. Won't matter if not perfectly halved.