Finally! My welder finally came back from being serviced.... I guess they gave up and just sent me a brand new one
I ordered the parts to make a preliminary set. This first set will be a basic modification of the OEM arms - with a twist: I am also going to be welding on some high quality, greasable, polyurethane flex joints where the rubber bit is. The set I received in the mail is showing the first signs of dry rot on the rubber bushing. This is probably going to start becoming a problem on the car eventually, so replacing them with a rebuildable joint is probably wise. They will add around $100 to the cost of a modified set of arms, but I think they'll be worth it. These are from ballistic fabrication and are generally used on hardcore jeeps and stuff, so they are plenty strong. From what I hear on the 4x4 forums, they are quiet and reliable too so they should stiffen up that linkage pretty good. That goes especially if you get the other trailing arm bushing from Turn In Concepts.
After a little more measuring, I should be able to make this work with 18" wheels as well. When I get this first set done, I'll do a little measurement to see how much wider a wheel we can get under there. I'm hoping for 11" under stock fenders
These are the joints in question:
http://www.ballisticfabrication.com/263-Heavy-Duty-Ballistic-Joint_p_1226.html
So I want to get an initial head count on who wants what, that will determine the pricing and how much the core fee will be. Products are:
Stage 1: Stock arm, modified for wider wheels, stock (used) bushing. I won't use junky cores for these, just the best ones I get in. These will be painted because you can't bake on powder with the factory rubber joint in place.
Stage 2: Stage 1 arm with a Ballistic Fabrication rebuildable and greasable flex joint. Powder coated.
Stage 3: Beefy fully fabricated arm with Ballistic joint and powder coated.
All joints will be TIG welded by a pro - me
In all seriousness, I'm a damn good welder for someone who writes code for a living.
If I get enough interest in this thread, I'll start up a new thread to keep track of orders, notify you guys on build status, core status, etc.
So post up, who wants in?