How can I tell if my beams are bent?

[RockRanger]

Anyone know of a way to tell if the beams are bent from abuse. Is there some measurement on them to beable to tell. I know my drop brackets are bent but not sure if the beams are and want to know if they are so i dont cut and turn a pair of beams that are already bent. Sorry dont have a digital camera so I cant take any pics of them

Matt

 

[mrboyle]

I think it would take a hell of a lot of damage to bend one of the beams. I'd be willing to bet the mounting brackets or radius arms would fail long before one of the beams would bend.

 

[RockRanger]

All that stuff is already bent Do you think hitting a rock dead center on the I beam at 15 mph bringing the truck to a dead stop would be enough? I know I sure felt the jolt when I hit that rock considering it never moved. But I do hope you are right that I didnt bend one though.

Matt

 

[410Fortune]

Matt, I wouldnt chance it man. TTB beams are cheapo.
Also why mess around with the D28 any more? GO D35.

Brett and I built the jigs and a set of 3" cut and turned D35 beams. We are working on the second set now (for his Ex, first set going in my BII)

The TTB beams bend easier then you think, however you are right in assuming the drop brackets for the axle pivot and radius arm bend first (thank goodness)
But you can get a set of beams so cheap why even risk doing all that work to a bent one?

ONly way to tell for sure is to measure yours up against a known good beam, can be hard to do because of their funky shape.......

I am going to be running a 5" eibach coil with the Duff 2" drop brackets, 3" cut and turned beam, Skyjacker radius arms, and rancho 9000's. The bump stops will be moved down a little to avoid any problems, and I may need limiting straps to keep my axles from leaving the diff (ARB = no c clip). 13-14" travel is common on a setup like this with non heim radius arms.......

 

[DesertSpive]

Originally posted by 410Fortune
Matt, I wouldnt chance it man. TTB beams are cheapo.
Also why mess around with the D28 any more? GO D35.

He already has D35s.

--Sean

 

[410Fortune]

Well I knw we have a few beams laying around, Brett's little brother wrecked the BII lastyear and bent up the drivers side beam pretty good, you can tell by looking at it, only because it is next to a non bent beam. So I would be real hesitant to cut and turn any beam that was even suspect of being bent. You can pick up a full D35 TTB hub to hub here in CO for like $100, pig, knuckles, axles and all........

 

[RockRanger]

I already have a spare set of I beams. A quick glance between the two and neather looked different from each other. Also after installing the new beams on the truck (a PIA with bent brackets) everything looks like it lines almost like the old ones did. I put a new pivot bushing and radius arm bushing so it moved it like 1/8 to a 1/4" which with the shape of teh old bushings it should do that.

Matt

 

[sirhk100]

Hey Matt, Baja Concepts up in Fallbrook has a fixture for the stock beams that they stick your core beams in to make sure they're straight before they give you your money back. They got sick of selling modified beams and having people give them bent ones for core that were useless. If you have them off it may be worth the drive, aren't you in Alpine or something?

Khris

 

[RockRanger]

thanks khris Maybe ill head over there if I get a chance.

Matt