LittleRed Posted October 31, 2022 Share Posted October 31, 2022 Greetings all! They say that “Necessity is the mother of invention”. I have a Reatta that I recently picked up and the control arm rod was rusted off at the frame. I read every posting I could find on how to repair it and did a lot of research on my own. The solution I came up with is pictured below. Now I know that some of you are going to scream “Nooooooo!” but I did what I thought I had to do. I took careful measurements and cut the rod so that my completed work would be 10 5/8” from the control arm. I then cut about ¾” m20 2.5 threads on the rod (I used m20 because it was the closest to the diameter of the rod and cutting those threads was a “bear”). Then I screwed on a m20 hex coupler to which I screwed in a m20 to m12 adapter on the frame side. From there I was able to use a m12 threaded rod to complete the installation. I know that it is not original but I was looking for a reasonable cost solution. It seems to work fine, I will have to wait a while to see how it does on the long haul. There you have it, take it for what’s its worth. 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2seater Posted October 31, 2022 Share Posted October 31, 2022 I have a pair of lower arms, one with a broken end, and I was thinking of a welded repair. Somewhat similar to the threaded one shown, but just a plain welded sleeve with a threaded rod on the extension, probably stainless steel material. The only suggestion I can offer is either a jam nut on the coupler or perhaps a tack weld to prevent an possibility of rotation or push/pull on the new threads. Overall, I like the idea 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DPS.01 Posted November 1, 2022 Share Posted November 1, 2022 2 hours ago, LittleRed said: “Necessity is the mother of invention” Always… 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronnie Posted November 1, 2022 Share Posted November 1, 2022 Is it just the angle the photo was taken or is the coupler threaded on the rod a little crooked? If it is crooked I don't think it's likely to hurt anything, but it could put a lot of side load on the threads if you had to slam on the brakes in a panic stop. Just to be on the safe side I think I would tack weld it onto the rod if it's crooked, even if you have to take it to someone to do it. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronnie Posted November 1, 2022 Share Posted November 1, 2022 BTW, I didn't mean my post to sound critical. I think it's a good solution to fixing that problem. I would do the same if I needed to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LittleRed Posted November 1, 2022 Topic Author Share Posted November 1, 2022 2seater and Ronnie, thank you so much for your thoughts! I considered just welding a pipe or sleeve to the end but was unsure about the strength of just welds given the movement of the arm. I think both of you are right in putting some tack welds on it just to help relieve some of the pressure on the threads. I did weld the threaded adapter on the other end in place. Ronnie, no offense taken. With this being a critical support structure, it needs to be sound! As for the bend, it is an optical illusion because it is straight. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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