Am I the only one breaking the top ball joints out of these (cheezy) struts ?? Sun. my son broke the 3rd one (not even jumping/landing-was on fairly smooth straight away), always breaks threads at upper ball joints. It appears these struts are used by other manufacturers as well, & havent seen much feedback on this style strut w/broken Ball joints, Ive seen post on tye rod Mt. tab, tweak/reinforcement, & have only had bent steering tab once (you'd think this be the weak link, but not for me, always broken ball Joints).
IMG_0580.JPG: 10 Time(s) Viewed, 3.76 MB My GTR spends too much time in this position, this strut only lasted 5 hrs or so.
Am I the only one breaking the top ball joints out of these (cheezy) struts ?? Sun. my son broke the 3rd one (not even jumping/landing-was on fairly smooth straight away), always breaks threads at upper ball joints. It appears these struts are used by other manufacturers as well, & havent seen much feedback on this style strut w/broken Ball joints, Ive seen post on tye rod Mt. tab, tweak/reinforcement, & have only had bent steering tab once (you'd think this be the weak link, but not for me, always broken ball Joints).
Drywalljohnny had the same problem and someone suggested he put thick rubber underneath the lower a arm. Looks like he ziptied radiator hoses to it and he said he no longer had the problem. You jump your buggy and that's what he did. If it lands cockeyed at all, the a arms push that ball joint too far up and out of its range, causing it to break. _________________ Carter Brothers gtr 300
he put thick rubber underneath the lower a arm. Looks like he ziptied radiator hoses to it and he said he no longer had the problem.
??
As to...
Quote:
the a arms push that ball joint too far up and out of its range, causing it to break.
After 1st replacement suspected this to be the case, so checked for this in both extremes (fully bottomed & unweighted positions), fully bottomed had plenty of range of movement left (have never had break occur on landings always breaks in uncompressed position), however fully unsprung looked as tho it may not have any range left... lifted a arm off ball joint & found still had some range left. Huh. all three break downs all the same, breaks threads off top of ball, cleanly, as if made of butter. pics to help explain my issue...
IMG_0642.JPG: 2 Time(s) Viewed, 3.27 MB 1 right side & 2 left side failures. Always same break
IMG_0638.JPG: 4 Time(s) Viewed, 2.75 MB pic of ball joint angle, in uncompressed state. Is close but not out of its range of movement. All a arm linkage/bushings in good shape (no slop), & ball joint socket shows no evidence of ...beyond the angle limit
All notice the shock setting recommendations, as well. I think it could be possible that the joint is weakening during jumps and then final breakage happens later, during normal riding. _________________ Carter Brothers gtr 300
Firebird thankx, I finally found these posts (my search thru BN & Goggle kept turning up nothing). Your right on jumping adding extra stress to my Ball joint prob. Trying to get my kids to jump lit'l less, but then when they think Im not looking ... I PMed Jackster as to his struts. As I have machine shop fabing a larger Ball joint into my OEM struts & now think Jacksters extra 2" (or maybe just one inch) may be something I may want to incorporate into this Mod.
Thanks again, Jeff _________________ Team Farm...
07Joyner 650 SandSpider-Weber carb;Custom headers;ign mod;
07Carter GTR250-uni filter;irrid.plug;exh mod;tuff custom ch.guard;
06CarterGSR150R2-Dr.Pulley clutch,;uni filter;140 main;irrid.pl,ug;Teflon variator w/9gr;1500lb.spring;mod exh;
I looked back at DrywallJohny's struts.
The upper A-arms on his GTR a different that mine are.
TF I saw a pic of your upper A-arm but it was somewhat unsharp.
But I think yours are the same as mine. (a clear sharp pic would help a lot) They also seem to have a steel ball joint mounted in the A-arm (see pic of mine, right under the large Allen bolt).
I'm very close to figuring out what exactly has been done to my struts. I know they are longer (fixing that geometry problem)
But I'm still not 100% sure about the A-arms.
With some help I can reconstruct the alterations.
I need to know:
length of the struts body (17" thanks TF)
diameter of the upper thread
wether or not your A-arms have a steel ball in them
With this info complete I'm able to do a tech drawing to have it done in your local machine shop.
_________________ Buggy: Carter GTR 250 all black.
Mods: Mikuni TM33-8012 flatslide + custom manifold. MX-filter, Hit Clutch, Mallosi Red Main Spring + 7mm shim, 18gr Sliders, Iridium sparkplug, Custom front and rear shocks, Heavy duty front struts. In-ex snorkel.
wether or not your A-arms have a steel ball in them
Not mine (in my PM to you, I thought you were refering to a arm to frame mount-so disreguard that) Better pic to help explain... I hope I explained well below & this helps.
IMG_0124.JPG: 2 Time(s) Viewed, 3.59 MB Under the ball joint nut (top of a arm) is a coned washer, which I chucked & replaced w/hardened flat washer (as oem washer so soft metal, I often found had flattened out allowing nut to be loose)
IMG_0130.JPG: 3 Time(s) Viewed, 3.07 MB Tryed to get decent pic for your question... OEM settup on mine, consists of 10 mm squared shoulder at top of ball joint & another cheezy washer fits under the dust boot, then into A-arm which has squared hole (carriage bolt style), locked down w/coned wa
I got some wording cut short in pic description, so a repost of my comments...
Tryed to get decent pic for your question... OEM settup on mine, consists of 10 mm squared shoulder at top of ball joint & another cheezy washer fits under the dust boot, then into A-arm which has squared hole (carriage bolt style), locked down w/coned washer & nut... Nothing but washer & nut on top of A-arm. _________________ Team Farm...
07Joyner 650 SandSpider-Weber carb;Custom headers;ign mod;
07Carter GTR250-uni filter;irrid.plug;exh mod;tuff custom ch.guard;
06CarterGSR150R2-Dr.Pulley clutch,;uni filter;140 main;irrid.pl,ug;Teflon variator w/9gr;1500lb.spring;mod exh;
Thanks TF,
Now I see how it's originally constructed.
I wanted to know if the A-arms were modded too.
This seems to be the case...
Hmmm.... this complicated things a bit.
My A-arms have a somekind ball joint welded into them.
I suspect they used somekind of spherical bearing for it.
I'll take some better pics too... we'll find it...
Jackster _________________ Buggy: Carter GTR 250 all black.
Mods: Mikuni TM33-8012 flatslide + custom manifold. MX-filter, Hit Clutch, Mallosi Red Main Spring + 7mm shim, 18gr Sliders, Iridium sparkplug, Custom front and rear shocks, Heavy duty front struts. In-ex snorkel.
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I PMed Jackster as to his struts. As I have machine shop fabing a larger Ball joint into my OEM struts & now think Jacksters extra 2" (or maybe just one inch) may be something I may want to incorporate into this Mod.
