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Unread 02-25-2010, 08:44 AM
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Smithers Smithers is offline
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Location: San Luis Obispo, CA
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Holy crap there are a lot of people checking out these pictures now that I looked at how many times this thread was viewed. I can't remember the exact story but I saw pictures in a magazine a year later after the truck was built and the truck was crashed pretty hard. Yes, this beautiful truck was rolled and the whole J-arm suspension on the right side was completely destroyed because the rear pivot was slammed into the ground. This effectively just ruined all this custom work so much it was scrapped I believe. I don't even think that re-enforcing that area of the frame would have helped it in a rollover... the corners are just too vulnerable and it can't be deformed at all without messing up the operation of either sides suspension stroke. For competition it was just too complicated so when something goes wrong your totally screwed. You have to put a TON of time into repairing custom suspension and there aren't any off the shelf products to help you out.

This is something I think about ALL THE TIME when it comes to my truck. My rear suspension is pretty safe but I've been thinking of building custom front suspension arms but if I did this and I stuffed the front end or broke something I would be totally screwed. If I buy a Camburg kit or equivalent then I could just buy the replacement parts and be back on the road. Anytime your building something super custom you have to think about "what if it breaks or needs to be replaced from an accident?"

Like Andrew Carnegie (leader of the industrial revolution) said, "Pioneering Don't Pay".
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