Yup. Torque = Force x Distance, where distance is taken perpendicular to the line of action of the force, not from the point of application of that force.


Norm

 

Thanks Norm!

I read what you said the same way Texotic did, and you had me scratching my head. I think I get it now, though I'm not sure I can say what "it" is. Something seems clearer.

Ok, I can't resist. If I am getting this (D is taken perpendicular to the line of action of force), then assuming the crow's foot was perpendicular and you're pulling perpendicular would mean (at least in theory) that it actually doesn't matter how long the crow's foot is, yes? Please say yes.

I'm shocked. I would have never guessed that one. I'll take your word for it, but that is really amazing (and flat out cool).

Best,
-j

 

Yes. (should make you happy)

The disclaimer is that it can be somewhat difficult to guarantee that the line of force that you are applying is truly perpendicular. In this case, since that means "parallel to the axis of the crows-foot", let's just say that the longer the crows-foot gets, the more sensitive your measurement accuracy becomes to the "error" in the perpendicularity/parallelism of your force application.


Norm

 

YES! I understood that.

FWIW, it also means Texotic was initially right.

Now hopefully Dineau can get his struts on with a clear conscious...

 

LOL, I feel sorry for thread-jacking with all of this technical stuff. I doubt he even wants to try the install himself anymore, lol.

I'm glad I ended up being right, Texas A&M Engineering FTW

ATTENTION: If you didn't want to read through all of this, the verdict is: As long as the crow's foot is perpendicular and you pull perpendicular, you DO NOT need to make any adjustments to the torque wrench settings.

 

The stock end links are just plain crap ! There are so many people running around with pops,rattles,craks @ creaks ....because there end links are runined , they check the torque and there tight but still noises !

Like you said once you spin the ball joints to fast or to many times they are runied because of the NYLON ball joints that are supported with a nylon race ! The correct way of tighting them are holding the 8mm strut with a socket and take a box wrench and tighten the nut down ..then correctly torque them down . I will tell you none of the shops do it that way, they stick a impact gun a the 8mm shaft while holding down the nut with a wrench and then spin the **** out of them , resulting in MELTING the NYLON ball inside ! once that happends your screwed,

This has happened to me by J.B.A (never go there) I cut open the old endlinks and you can see the race was destroyed . I have just purchased some new endlinks from Maximum Motorsports (They have a description on how there made and there night and day differences over the OEM ones , I love that the ball joint is actullay made out of steel with a reinforced race and you dont have to spin the stud to tighten them down , you just put a flat wrench on the back of them and use a ratchet to tighten down while using a little bit of red loctite to hold them in place .

 

Very interesting sd07gt !

That could explain why some people still have these pops and rattles after fixing the top plates and suspension upgrade.

Torquing these endlinks seems to be very tricky, especially making sure we apply the right torque !

I never thought of holding the 18mm and torquing the 8mm shaft instead. Assumming you have tighten everything properly before, would it damage the the ball joint if I slowly torque the shaft ?

It's much easier to hold the nut with a key and put the torque wrench (with an 8 mm socket) on the shaft to validate the torque value.

Same can also apply to the strut.

 

I wouldn't think you'd either need or want to use red here, as that stuff generally requires heat for future removal.


Norm

 

Yeah, that's good to know about the front endlinks. It sounds like a horrible design on Ford's part.

 

I'm picking up a set of the Stranoparts front links tomorrow at Sam's place. I'll let you all know if they get rid of my rattle once they are installed April 4.

http://www.stranoparts.com/partdetai...D=80&ModelID=5

They have rod ends, are adjustable for length and have real bolts to hold them together.