I need to make a torque arm.

[bad_idea]

I have a 2002 Z28, I am installing a 8.8 ford rear end in the car. The most difficult part of putting a different rear end in these cars is the torque arm. I want to build an adjustable torque arm to work with the 8.8. I do not want to buy an adjustable torque arm for $300 and then modify it to fit the 8.8. I am comfortable fabbing the torque arm, but I am clueless about rod ends. I plan to make an arm similar to the below pictured one. The manufacturer says the pictured torque arm uses a Solid QA1 ¾" Rod End, what is that? I found these rod ends on ruffstuffspecialties.com. Are they the same rod end? What are "Missalignment spacers with 34 degrees of misalignment"? Where can I find the adjustable rod coupling nut? I assume a normal coupling nut from lowes isn't going to get it. I want to use quality, strong parts for this due to the stresses involved. I have future plans of building other suspension components for the Camaro and possibly a Jeep, so I would love to find a reference to read up on heim joints and suspension components in general. Know any good sources of information? Thanks guys.

 

[slow50]

qa1 is just a brand name. there actually better rod ends though. high missalignment spacers are those little gold things in the link you posted from ruffstuff they basicly alow more movement out of the rod end or more missalignment you can sorta tell how they work by that pic. allot of offroad shops will sell all those rod ends that are on that arm. check out ballisticfabrication they got alot to choose from.

 

[George in Rancho Cordova]

You can Google "Hot Rod Suspension" or search Amazon. Lotsa books...

 

[CRead01]

you will want to make sure to use grade 8 hardware for everything. as far as rod ends go there are tons of choices but regular spherical rod ends like you see from qa1 or competition engineering will wear over time and get loud. a better choice for the street are something like a johnny joint from currie or something similar from another company. you can see the difference on the spohn torque arm you show. the single joint on the left is like a johnny joint. the two on the right are spherical rod ends. the johnny joint type end is much more durable for the street but more expensive. if this is going into a race only car then the spherical joints will be fine.

 

[Griff93]

It wasn't real clear above, the johnny joints have a poly race so they isolate vibrations and road noise pretty well. They are much better than a hiem for this. They will also absorb a bit of the shock loading from the torque arm. If you are making enough power, it's not to hard to tear the mounts out if you have sticky tires. I have a friend that destroyed his.

 

[Walterchang]

Pm sent. By the way mine has never been on a car.

 

[bigguns69]

Look at McMaster Carr for ball joint rod ends. I use them all the time for making adjustable struts for farm and earth moving equipment.