Riding on a crushed trailing arm

sbojan

sbojan

VIP Member
Joined
Nov 18, 2005
Messages
120
Location
McHenry, Il
Last time I was up riding my buddy slid into me sideways and pushed the trailing arm into the side of the sled. No damage other than the arm, got back to the house and used the truck to pull it back out straight. Put 150 miles on the next day. The geometry looks to be correct but the side is crushed in. (sled is up north, can't get a pic)

I am getting a used arm from a guy on this site, should have it next week but have a buddy who wants to ride this weekend. Any guesses if I am flirting with disaster here? I assume the arms are like pop can's... Strong if there is no bend, weak if there is? Can I continue to ride on it?
 

i road with a bowed in trailing arm for almost 2 years. my brotehr road with a sapling ducktaped to his to keep it from bowing back in. i out road my budy after i hit a tree and bent EVERY suspention componet including the shock on one side. aslong as it doesnt crack or tee pee bend upward to a point id still ride on it but thata just me. i road 100 miels one night with out my uper raduis rods conected on tke chaincase side. it actualy made it carve pretty nice on right hand turns. my broterh an ive have road into and out of teh woods with stuff that most people would rather be towed out on. if i ahd enough snow to ride right now but i had a bowed in trailing arm id go. but i have liek 4 inches of snow so i cant go even if i wanted to
 
a picture of the trailing arm would tell the real story of whether that arm is usable or not, but that is neither here nor there. i have a trailing arm that is slightly bent and it has never been a problem.
 
I'd just wrap it with Ductape where it's stressed and ride it. If it does break at least it wont drop and catapult you. Most likely you'd have to really stress it again before it breaks anyway.
 
You may be able to ride on a bent trailing arm for 10000 miles without it breaking. But it may only last 100 feet, or until you are 40 miles from the nearest road or even worse if your traviling into a bad corner or at a high speed. A trailing arm isnt intended to be put under much compression force, but when you have any kind of bend in the arm, it changes the geometry of your front end causing the force of your ski motion up and down is being transfered into the trailing arm instead of into the shock.

If you ask me its not even close to being worth it, losing a trailing arm can be a very dangerous situation.
 
Have a piece of angle iron welded down the length of the rod, probably cost you $30. Im not saying Its the smartest or the safest thing to do, but it will be alot better than riding it the way it is. I folded mine in half with 114 miles on the sled, dealer said it could take 4 to 6 weeks to get all the parts to repair(new tunnel, ohlins,trailing arm etc.) so I had him order the parts and I welded up my trailing arm. Put about 400 hard miles on and dropped it off when he got all the parts in!
 
I rode mine for nearly 300 UP miles with a pretty bent up trailing arm (same issue as others have said... coudn't get one before the trip) and couldn't tell it was bent when riding... looked ugly but rode fine... it was bent at about the midpoint... and I had to bend it back out so it wouldn't rub on the belly pan. Still have it if you want it! LOL!!!
 
I have 17,000 miles on o2 viper and the bent arm is still holding strong . It's been bent for the last 9,000 . I didn't pull it straight for fear of weaking it . If you can replace it you should but I think your ok for a weekend or two , I think it's time to change mine .
 
do as someone said and pull it straight and well some angle iron to it. If you weld the iron on the inside bottom corner it doesn't even look that bad, and it will be much stronger.
 
jwiedmayer said:
Don't muck it up again after you strength it or you'll likely be asking if you can ride with a bent tunnel next.
Click to expand...

Very good point. The trailing arms are designed to be the weak point in the suspension so that if you take a hit, they hopefully bend before disturbing the main chassis at all (rear trailing arm mount at the tunnel).
 
Thanks for the comments, turns out we are holding off until next weekend and I should have the arm by then. I do plan on welding something onto it so I have a spare.
 
hmm, my trailing arm is also bent, I was just gonna ride it but now I'm rethinking that. What do you think?
 

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Ok guys.
To start it off, last weekend I was trying to ride up this small hill off the ice and it had about a 6" drop, my ski went straight into it and didnt seem like a big deal. It was then toed in a slight bit on the right side. I got home and discovered that the trailing arm mount on the right side was also very slightly bent. I just adjusted the toe and beat the tunnel back down, all was A-OK. Last nite, I didnt see the set of railroad tracks we were crossing and it just felt like I had hit a big rock, no biggie. I get the the next stop and see that the same trailing arm that the tunnel was bent on was almost at a 45 degree angle straight up and down!!!!!!! Still strong enough to ride, off we go. Down the trail a few miles, I get a warning light, coolant. Find a hole in the rear heat exchanger on the right side, got a pick in it. Bring it home and find the tunnel is kinda messed up more now. The track is riding too closely to the tunnel on the right side, almost like its not at the 90 degree angles like its soppost to be. Got a new trailing arm coming, dont know how to straighten the tunnel>????? Need some ideas guys, we've got about 8 on the ground and 5 coming tomorrow.....
 
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