Lower Control Arm Reinforcements (LCAR)

[mesooohoppy]

for those who have welded these, are you applying weldable primer to the backside for corrosion?

i have done this in the past to certain parts and its worked well. just wondering if others are doing this.

thanks again keith for making these. will buy with a PCK.

 

[96RedRunner]

for those who have welded these, are you applying weldable primer to the backside for corrosion?.

I used it on the rear control arm reinforcement parts that overlap.
Better than nothing, Primers usually absorb moisture, 3rd coast rust not a issue.

 

[mesooohoppy]

that is good to know. i live in a climate that can be very wet/dry/dusty/snowy all in the course of a week, so i need to ensure all steel that will corrode is protected; even if i cant see it.

 

[96RedRunner]

For the best weld you don't what to weld through a coating, it will burn off at the point of weld and
beyond a certain distance anyway.
On the parts that have air gap between them I'd drill some holes coat after welding, allow air to dry out things clean out the dirt spray rust preventitive in. Why frames are open design.
Notice how LCA's are a open design.

 

[mesooohoppy]

For the best weld you don't what to weld through a coating, it will burn off at the point of weld and
beyond a certain distance anyway.
On the parts that have air gap between them I'd drill some holes coat after welding, allow air to dry out things clean out the dirt spray rust preventitive in. Why frames are open design.
Notice how LCA's are a open design.

while i would ususlly agree with you RE welding on paint. im talking about weldable primer. its made to be welded through so the blind material can be coated. ive used it in the past on subframe bracing with great success. you paint prior to welding anything so when you are done and paint over the weld there is 0% exposed metal.

you will never get 100% coverage if you 'drill' into your freshly braced arms. not to mention possibly weakening the part you juuuuuust stiffened up.

sure we may have 'open designed' frames/LCAs, but theyre coated.... to prevent rust.

 

[96RedRunner]

you will never get 100% coverage if you 'drill' into your freshly braced arms. not to mention possibly weakening the part you juuuuuust stiffened up.

sure we may have 'open designed' frames/LCAs, but theyre coated.... to prevent rust.

Just saying it's better than nothing.
Lol, coated frames yea they rust out.

 

[owyheerat]

@ eimkeith

I just placed an order for the LCAR kit and the strut tower reinforcement kit.

Thanks for making GREAT products for our GREAT 4runners.

Durwin

 

[jkeith.w]

@ eimkeith

I just placed an order for the LCAR kit and the strut tower reinforcement kit.

Thanks for making GREAT products for our GREAT 4runners.

Durwin

Thanks for the order! I'm headed in to ship it right now.

 

[mesooohoppy]

thought i would add these pics to this thread to show how i dealt with rust prevention on these reinforcement kits (mostly the top where the'E' can expose the elements to the bare steel). the weldable primer i bought was by SEM and it was the non copper variant. the guy couldnt explain the difference to me, despite rattling over a bunch of other useless facts, so i just went with the regular variant.

basically i just laid down the reinforcement plates, 'traced' them with a sharpie and laid some frog tape approx 1/8" inside the line of the sharpie. i then wirewheeled the sharpie off and had my room mate weld them in. you could probably get away with doing just the top plates, but i did the bottoms as well.

no its not going to win any weldporn awards, but i can say these plates are now a part of the LCA and they arent going anywhere

 

[mtbtim]

thought i would add these pics to this thread to show how i dealt with rust prevention on these reinforcement kits (mostly the top where the'E' can expose the elements to the bare steel). the weldable primer i bought was by SEM and it was the non copper variant. the guy couldnt explain the difference to me, despite rattling over a bunch of other useless facts, so i just went with the regular variant.

basically i just laid down the reinforcement plates, 'traced' them with a sharpie and laid some frog tape approx 1/8" inside the line of the sharpie. i then wirewheeled the sharpie off and had my room mate weld them in. you could probably get away with doing just the top plates, but i did the bottoms as well.

no its not going to win any weldporn awards, but i can say these plates are now a part of the LCA and they arent going anywhere

Looks like your roommate welds pretty damn good to me. But, I'm not a welder. Good roommate to have I'd say.

 

[APhelps]

Looks like your roommate welds pretty damn good to me. But, I'm not a welder. Good roommate to have I'd say.

No kidding, wish I had a friend like that :/.

 

[mesooohoppy]

i was able to get my LCAR'd LCAs installed this past weekend. there is one small tip i would like to point out that i think will save alot of people a future headache/ripped boot down the line:

for the topside of the eim keith braces, i recommend you grind off any slag left from the mig. when the LCA/CVs are at max droop (i had the sways disconnected during reassembly, last thing i put on) you could see that the cv boot was resting on the top brace you weld in. not necessarily a problem for people who never disco their sway, but if you do and you let the front droop, the boot will make contact with the brace and if you have slag on it, it will greatly shorten the life of the boot. once everything is compressed at static there is ample room between the brace and the boot.

i wish i would have thought about before i painted the arms but oh well. i have no desire to disconnect my front sway bars so it will never be a problem for me. i do know that this info will be helpful to someone.

 

[jkeith.w]

i was able to get my LCAR'd LCAs installed this past weekend. there is one small tip i would like to point out that i think will save alot of people a future headache/ripped boot down the line:



i wish i would have thought about before i painted the arms but oh well. i have no desire to disconnect my front sway bars so it will never be a problem for me. i do know that this info will be helpful to someone.

ooh - where's that quote from? I'd love to see the pics.

 

[mesooohoppy]

ooh - where's that quote from? I'd love to see the pics.

i got it from my build thread. most recent update. its just an observation, but for someone who overlooked it, i thought i would add that info in.

oh yeah, here are the arms before going in. i think you saw these on IG, but ill post them here for everyone else.