Strut housing reinforcment?

[Mick]

I'm bringing my struts and subframe to a shop to have reinforcments welded in tomorrow. I've heard from a couple of sources that, for track cars, it 's a good idea to put a bead around the strut housing where it meets the knuckle.

True?

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[Bavarian3]

Do you have a strut bar? I know this is probably off topic but I was thinking (probably won't be able to) but weld bars to the struts and connect it where the wiring harness is located? Am I making an sense?

[Reelizmpro]

Most of the time the metal on the bracket rips out. It needs to be thickened and the base of the mount reinforced.

[jordantii]

The strut needs to be reiforced where the sway bar link conects to the strut. You will need to add some material to that area. don't just add a bead of weld. What I did was take some flat steel and shape it to the strut and pick up point. I then made 2 small relief cuts in the steel to better form it around the strut and the sway bar pick up point. This enabled me to bend the steel into the correct shape. I had it all "tig" welded by a nuclear welder. You need to make sure the welder you use is very skilled so as not to over or under penetrate the strut. Tig welding would be the best since you can control the "puddle". If you get too much penetration the strut insert will not go into the strut housing since the heat will have distorted the tube.

Once welded I just drilled through the new steel to create the hole where the sway bar link fits. make sure you clean all the paint off of the area that is to be welded. If you don't do this the weld can get contaminated. Once it is all welded repaint the area.

I do not recomend "mig" welding this area since you will not be able to control the heat, puddle or penetration.

I can send you some photo's if you want.

Jordan

[Mick]

You guys are missing my point, I guess my post wasn't very clear. I understand that the sway tabs need to be reinforced.

I have the strut housings out of the car. I'm bring them to a shop to have the Sway tabs reinforced. While it's being worked on should I have them reinforce the base of the strut tube, where it meets the steering knuckle? I've heard that it's a good idea to reinforce this area on track cars, just wondering if anyone else has had experience with this.

[ct_m3]

Yes, this is a good idea to do. I sent my struts to Ground Control to be modified and this is one of the things they did.

[Mick]

Originally posted by ct_m3
Yes, this is a good idea to do. I sent my struts to Ground Control to be modified and this is one of the things they did.

Cool.
Did they just tack a few spots, or run a bead all the way around?

[ct_m3]

They ran a bead.

[Mick]

Dam. I just got back from the shop, I went before I saw your post... I'll have to run back and and have them take care of that.

Thanks.