LS1Steve

After 16yrs my front rancho upper A-arm broke in half. A speed bump at the grocery store did her in. the kit has obviously been discontinued for a loooong time and it doesn't look like it can be welded back. Would rancho do anything? Its an old truck and I REALLY want to avoid changing the whole suspension over to another available lift kit, since that would be pricey.
What would a solid axle conversion run? What can I do to get this thing back on the road?

fastkevman

Why can't it be repaired?

mt_goat

If my Superlift UCA breaks I'm sure I would be in the same situation as they quit making my kit 11-12 years ago. I'd be looking hard at repairing it somehow. You may even be able to make it stronger with enough reinforcement. If you can't weld good find someone who can.

LS1Steve

I don't think it's repairable, plus there is another fracture that developed as a result. The thick reinforcement surrounding the tube also broke, so i'd have to weld at LEAST that much reinforcement back on. The amount of extra material i'd need to tack on to be confident in this arm would probably make it too big to be able to replace, it wouldn't fit right.

rocket

iTrader: (1)

Trial-gear.com has an "inexpensive" SAS kit.
You find it on sale here.....
http://www.wabfab.org/monthsale/monthsale.htm

Yota Runner

you broke that on a speedbump were you doin 80mph

tc

Eh, that'll buff out

Seriously - some weld down the side and it's good as new. Maybe brace it with some angle, but that is definitely repairable.

algranger

sure is a good excuse to sas it! sas kits are spensive for a good one, i donno much about that trail-gear one. do lots of research on it first cause i've heard stories about cracked frames (a little worse than an a-arm) from cheap sas kits. allprooffroad.com or marlincrawler.com have good ones for about 1200 bucks, plus you need the axle, driveshaft, and install if you dont do it yourself. if thats too spensive keep an eye out on like craigslist, ebay, and your local junkyards for parts rigs. i donno about pricing or qality but a total chaos @ chaosfab.com has lifts with new a-arms. if there is any way you could make it work for the time being you would have time to find a parts runner and swipe that a-arm. hope this helps see ya

rocket

iTrader: (1)

IMO thats just another reason why bracket lifts suck!
Do it right and ditch all of it by going back to stock or SAS it. I would NEVER weld that no matter how good it looked.

Four Runner

Yep, go SAS or stock.

..or two words, TOTAL CHAOS.

Well, maybe more than just two words, plus a link and pic: http://www.chaosfab.com/95200.html

Bear80

Total BS, do you have any experience with this setup, or have any clue the geometry of the Rancho arms?

LS1steve -- Let me guess, 25mm or 26mm torsion bars? How much lift did you have it setup for? Looks to me like you "used" the lift quite a bit in the desert and had to much lift adjusted in, ie. riding on the upper bump stop. This combined with a super stiff t-bar like the 25mm or 26mm led to the failure. Your case is unique, I run the Rancho arms for 12" of wheel travel and could never forsee what I do leading to this type of failure.

Good luck with whatever choice you make on replacing the setup.

rocket

iTrader: (1)

"Total BS" because you have one? yeah, i've seen them fail in one way or another a few times. They provide nothing more except lift and a high center of gravity. Stock arms don't break. Geometry what? Sorry but your BRACKET lift sucks and was designed for street queens. Cool that you might wheel but I think your the one that needs a clue. Provide me with some good showmanship on how awesome your overpriced drop bracket lift is.

edit: love the sweet flex...

SEAIRESCUE

If one failed, the other is probably close to failing. I'd say you got your value out of the kit and now its time to replace it. Find another kit and move on. The advantage of current kits is computerized engineering analysis, better materials and lessons learned meaning the current kits are far superior to the old ones.

My $0.02

algranger

i didn't realize you had the rancho a-arms when i left that last suggestion so i guess finding one in a junkyard would be a little tough. sounds like the TC lift is the way to go.

mt_goat

It looks like to me from the pics there would be a way to box that in for extra strength, but first you need to straighten it out to pull the cracks together and weld it up. If that's not possible, cut out the broken tube and weld it a new one, then box it in.

deathrunner

Call Downey..... they were selling just the upper arms a couple of years ago. They might still have one/some or know where to get one.

Bear80

I belive they should have some left.

-rocket- Again you're making assumptions with INCORRECT information. I would recommend you don't open your mouth in area's that you have no first hand experience. Nice picture though . I was near stock (other than low profile stops) in the posted shot, so please if you are trying to use it to prove a point pick one that supports your argument. Tell me where you see a bracket lift?? Or a bracket in these pictures??? Also how do you know what I paid for my lift?? Try $250 and still I have less than $500 in it. You're full of web wheeling BS. But don't worry about knocking my setup, doesn't hurt my feelings; however I will defend it because I think I have more experience with it vs. someone like you.




I still would like to know what type of 'wheeling it was used under, what type of torsion bars and how much lift it was set at.

I cannot speak for LS1steve, but I don't have the time to spend seting up a soild axle swap. Many of use prefer somthing that bolts on, requires mininal techincal work, ie. welding and makes off-road driving more enjoyable -- all realtive per-person. By all means, for serious trails I don't knock a solid axle, but it's not a cure all for everyone.

rocket

iTrader: (1)

Well lets get something straight here since you can't comprehend what i said the first time. I had had something called an OPINION about a product. Just becuase you don't like my opinion, you don't have to get all sad and start making personal attacks. Web wheeling BS? Can you do better than that lame attack? I don't need first hand experience with whats WIDELY known as junk! I'm not proving a point about anything but sure seems like you are. Have a nice day.

LS1Steve, sorry for the hijack.

LS1Steve

yes they are 26mm torsion bars, and they were crank pretty hard. I needed maximum lift to keep some clearance between the front axles and the lower control arms cause my cv boots can take some abuse when flexing.
I don't think the other side will break, this thing has had a 1/4" hairline fracture in the angled support bracket surrounding the tube for some time. I think that allowed the tube to flex slightly and just fatigued it over the years. It has seen a lot of time on the dunes. As fun a project as an SAS would be, I don't want to spend the money now. My tranny/tcase has a bad leak and my first gear synchro is completely toast, I guess I will try to repair it.

Bear80

rocket, still I think you're full of BS from your comments. You just don't have any backing for your opinion, or made them apparent. It would be you who got bent out of shape when I called you out for it. Whatever.

LS1Steve, if you do get it welded back you really need to insure that it is straight by taking some measurements from the other arm. With the way it bent as it cracked, the main issue will be the camber. Even if it's not exact there should be enough adjustments in the cams to make up for it, but as the suspension cycles the changes in alignment will become greater. This would led me to be concerned about the toe do to the angled arm desing. This would be the main issue if the arm is not straight while the suspension is cycling.

You also really need to ditch the 26mm bars. These arms where never made to take hard high speed hits, which sounds you did often. That with the larger bars is just a bad combo for these arms. At least take a step down to 25mm bars, I highly recommend using the OME 23.4mm bars. Just to let you know (it's well know and infact happened to my truck) that a large t-bar will rip through the frame on the anchor mount.