Heating and bending steering arms

[Crosley.In.AZ]

Forged steering arm on this axle needs bent to clear the axle tube.

Forged Super Bell steering arm

Heat red hot,  bend and cool with water?  Or allow to air cool ?

[Harry]

Cool naturally.
If possible I think it's better to cool it in some sand.

[enjenjo]

What he said. Heat , bend, pack in dry sand.

[tomslik]

i know a guy that throws it in a bucket of  floor dry and covers it with more floor dry...use a metal bucket

[unklian]

If cooled too quickly,(water or oil) it could become hardened(brittle).

[Crosley.In.AZ]

ok,  pack the steering part  in sand after heat n bend ,  I will do.  

[oj]

Why do you have the arm on top of the axle?  It should be below it and then it'll have the clearance and mechanical advantage to turn the spindle.

[Crosley.In.AZ]

Why do you have the arm on top of the axle?  It should be below it and then it'll have the clearance and mechanical advantage to turn the spindle.

because the arm for the cross link tie rod  to the passenger side of the vehicle bolts on to the bottom of the spindles

[tomslik]

Why do you have the arm on top of the axle?  It should be below it and then it'll have the clearance and mechanical advantage to turn the spindle.

how will the "mechanical advantage" change?

[oj]

Why do you have the arm on top of the axle?  It should be below it and then it'll have the clearance and mechanical advantage to turn the spindle.

how will the "mechanical advantage" change?

Good question and i might be wrong about the mechanical advantage, it is an intuitive thing and it may not be so.  
What makes me think so is that when making these axles (like in the pic) there is tons of caster, when you turn the steering wheel the tire will raise and lower the car by a good amount when you go fron lock to lock.  If the steering arm is tight to the pivot point then i think the steering effort to raise the car (by turnoing the steering wheel) will be greater than if the steering arm is further away from the pivot point.  
But then, i might not have a clue as to what i am talking about either.

[enjenjo]

Why do you have the arm on top of the axle?  It should be below it and then it'll have the clearance and mechanical advantage to turn the spindle.

how will the "mechanical advantage" change?

Good question and i might be wrong about the mechanical advantage, it is an intuitive thing and it may not be so.  
What makes me think so is that when making these axles (like in the pic) there is tons of caster, when you turn the steering wheel the tire will raise and lower the car by a good amount when you go fron lock to lock.  If the steering arm is tight to the pivot point then i think the steering effort to raise the car (by turnoing the steering wheel) will be greater than if the steering arm is further away from the pivot point.  
But then, i might not have a clue as to what i am talking about either.

It  will change, but not for the reason you stated, and not by enough to really feel. The mounting bolts on the bottom of the spindle are slightly closser to the centerline of the kingpin, slightly increasing the effective length of the arm.

On the other hand most side steer setups steer from the top so the drag link does not interfere with the tie rod.

[oj]

On the other hand most side steer setups steer from the top so the drag link does not interfere with the tie rod.[/quote]

Yes, you are right.  I got stupid for a minute and wasn't thinking right for the wrong reasons.  Thanks for being so polite.

[Crosley.In.AZ]

I bought some sand at local Lowes...  odd living in Aridzona and I go to a box store to buy sand.

I got some help to load the 100 # bag  

[Crosley.In.AZ]

the results..   I piled about 4 inches of sand under and over the arm after I bent it while red hot.

[jaybee]

Looks just about perfect, I'd say.