Tom
Please. Any derogatory comments I made were
directed at myself. People who know me know that I
have a very subtle form of humor. But it seems that
many listers have extremely thin skins and take
offense at the smallest item. I presume they are
only children, since I come from a large family,
which guarantees you can take a lot of teasing.
I'm not sure that I want to bother Dr. Herro when
he is barely able to speak and quite frankly looks
like hell. Seeing a 6 foot robust man reduced to
a bald skeleton disturbs me. I think I would rather
go quickly with a heart attack. And if you believe
my cardiologist, I may be heading that way.
I don't know Derek, but he seems to be an honest
Tiger man. He is doing a great service by providing
EN24 pins. But you know that Doug Jennings makes
4140 pins for more money and he is in the business.
I don't think Derek wants to sell pins on a long term basis.
By may I reiterate. Dr. Herro has said that the problem
is not with the composition of the pins but in the excess
stress placed on the pins by the steering system. This
stress seems to be very much larger when delron or other
sold bushings are used. Short of redesigning the entire
front end, there is only so much you can do. Tom Hall has
a solution to the Ackerman angle by using a different
rack and steering arms. But he would have to be crazy
to make and sell such a kit.
John Logan's tech tip is another possible solution and it
does not require replacing the rack or steering arms. It
may or may not reduce the stress, but will certainly
stop the entire A-arm from collapsing and give you a
chance to stop the car. But no one has really tested
this. Does anyone want to volunteer their car? I
intend to make that modification when I rebuild my cross
member this spring. I will remove the delron bushings
and replace them with the bushings SS sells. I have
already bought another set of 4140 pins from Doug.
As Dr. Herro has explained to me, there has been entire
textbooks written on steel composition. Stainless Steel
has nothing to do with the harness of the steel, while
some stainless may be slightly stronger than stock steel.
Hardened steel indicates that has gone though a process
its surface a Rockwell rating of 5 or better. While hardened
steel is much stronger that mild steel, it is also much more
brittle. When it fails, it does so suddenly. Doug told me that
his pins were not made from mild steel and then hardened,
but were hardened steel from the start. When Dr. Herro
examined by broken pin, he concluded that it was 4140
but added that if the manufacturer had added more oxygen
to the process, he may have made it a bit stronger. But
he then added, the composition was not the problem.
Enough of this. I will get off MY high horse stop pontificating
(no offense to the RC's on the list). I think I will fire up
the torpedo and breathe some fresh kerosene hot air. Reminds
me of the tent heater I had in the Army. Besides after this long
note, I have used up most of my hot air. (Another attempt at
humor).
Dave Johnson
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