A-Arm Roulette: Need an upper A-arm

[Rob.G]

Well, that rock I tagged a couple of rides ago tweaked my right upper A-arm. I just realized it today. It's not bad, but it's still tweaked. So... what's the best route to go for aftermarket? I see that Ice Age has lowers, but not uppers. ZBros has both. I also see they have a billet vs non-billet that's $125 less (when getting all four). Is billet worth it? Should I just bite the bullet and get all four?

All input appreciated!

 

[shattuck]

Buy factory I put heavy duty an arms on a sled and ended up replacing a bulkhead half. It’s not worth it. Polaris a arms seem week but they fail not the bulkhead.

 

[law.74]

Rod end (heim) style arms have a built in fuse. See t-Rex thread.

Ice age are stronger than stock but not too strong according to the manufacturer.

I recently tagged a huge boulder hiding under wind smoothed powder. On edge, deep snow, heavy throttle… Major damage to ice age arm, minor damage to upper, sheared rear lower pivot bending one of the bulkhead studs. The bulkhead and elevate spindle survived w scars.

I wonder how bad it would have been with stock arms. Bent shock? Weaker arm prob would not have sheared the pivot.

I replaced the ice age arm with ice age. Not sure what I’ll do in the future.

 

[turboless terry]

Another good thing that helps is get rid of carbides. They bite onto rocks and put a quick twitch in things and bend arms. A lot of times it doesn't feel like much of a hit. I always change to hardened wear bars. Your concrete and trailer will also love you.

 

[Rob.G]

I read through the T-Rex thread (found several) but I'm unclear if the T-Rex arms are any good... there was talk about chinese knock-offs and stuff. If they're good, $450 for a set is a good price.

 

[RBalazs]

I’m running b-pwr a arms and have been happy with them. Fairly priced, good customer service. Have full set of stockers for backup.

 

[law.74]

Another good thing that helps is get rid of carbides.

agreed. Unfortunately this didn’t help my situation. full lock, on edge powering trough a turn. Side of the ski took the impact.

in the past carbides cost me some cheap trex rod ends

If they're good, $450 for a set is a good price.

my primary sled last year (now back up) has trex arms. I broke every single rod end (heim) two seasons ago on minor to moderate impacts. Upgraded to a mid grade FK rod ends. Havent broken one since but also had less land mines last year.

if you go with trex plan on another $100 in rod ends. Also know that when an upper fails it often bends the bolt and spacers. So you’ll need spares of those too.

im guessing I had a pound of spare parts on my sled. I personally would install the FK heims, and keep the cheap t-Rex heims as spares. Unfortunately, I don’t have any reports on how the FK handle major impacts. Hopefully not “too strong”.

see the trex thread for more details

 

[Rob.G]

Do you have a link for the FK heims? I ordered up the T-Rex arms. Need to make a list of the parts I'm gonna need to stock up on.

Thanks!

 

[law.74]

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/FKB-JMX10T
https://www.summitracing.com/parts/FKB-JMX8T

These are a mid grade rod end. Don’t buy the best as that will defeat the purpose not to mention much more expensive. A lower grade rod end will definitely preserve the “fuse”…

You will also need jam nuts as these can get stuck on the threads or get damaged when the rod end fails.

The upper 1/2” rod end fails easier than lower 5/8” rod end. Higher energy impact can take out both simultaneously.

I bought some misalignment spacers elsewhere but would probably just get them from trex. Lowers are in double shear so the spacers and bolt are usually fine. The uppers are in single shear so the bolt and spacer get damaged.

Again, please note: I have not broken an FK rod end. Deep snow last year prevented these issues and I haven’t ridden that sled at all this year. YMMV.

 

[Rob.G]

Sweet, thanks! So I just need one rod end per upper or lower arm? Summit is local so I'll just go over there and pick some up.

To be clear... the bolts you're talking about -- are those the ones connecting the arms to the bulkhead?

 

[law.74]

The M10 bolt that secures the misalignment spacers and rod end to the spindle.

At a minimum I’d buy two of each rod end and jam nut for each. I’d also buy spacers and bolts for uppers.

The longer the trip or lower the snow would dictate more parts on hand. I remind myself how much I would spend to get my day, trip, or season back and plan accordingly. Hence a whole backup sled.

hopefully by running the better rod end you’ll not need the parts.

 

[law.74]

Also, use anti-seize on rod end threads.
you will need to spin out a broken piece w your fingers to make the mountainside repair. Just retorque periodically.
Do NOT use thread-locker.

 

[Rob.G]

Awesome, thanks. I haven't placed the order yet; I'll be close to Summit next Tues so I'll order and pick them up at that time. For the bolts, are those english or metric? Should I go Grade 5 (8.8) on them?

I'll have a spare sled next year; I snow-checked a Catalyst 858. So I guess technically THIS will be my "spare" sled. Or something like that.

Oh and thanks for the anti-seize tip.

 

[law.74]

10.9 M10. I dont use 8.8 on any suspension components.

The rod ends are SAE. The misalignment spacers adapt SAE to metric to match the spindle. I’d get them from trex as they’re not common.

 

[Rob.G]

Do you have a link for those spacers? I tried searching the T-Rex site but nothing came up. And anything else I should get there while I'm at it, since they've already shipped my a-arm order?

 

[law.74]

Upper Misalignment Bushing set

Replacement misalignment bushing set. Fits: All Polaris upper a arm kits

www.trex-fab.com

I bought them from trex and later McGill Motorsports on ebay.
They are 1/2” to 10mm misalignment spacer or bushing.

 

[Rob.G]

Thanks.. so I assume I need two sets of those? I'll get 'em ordered up.

Edit: Holy crap, T-Rex wants $21 to ship them; that's what they charged to ship the a-arm set, which is reasonable. For these? Not so much. Do you have a link for the ones on eBay?

 

[couch]

bPwr on 5 of our sleds ...much tougher than stock ...have tagged all kinds of nasty stuff with them ...

Sent from my motorola edge plus using Tapatalk

 

[law.74]

Do you have a link for the ones on eBay?

typical eBay, link is dead.

 

[madmax]

Too late for Rob, but I have a full set of matryx T-Rex arms if anyone needs. New in the box. Located in salt lake, $425.