Anybody tried these from IPD yet?

After 10 years or so of use and one trans change, I removed a control arm to make an adjustment and could not turn the threaded portion into the solid shaft. Tried everything possible but really could not move it more than 1/4 turn at most. Hard for me to believe, but I'm thinking pounding of threads together inside shaft, due to using a drag race prepared 700-R4 trans which shifts very very hard at even low RPM must have somehow distorted them so the male and female threads are locked together. Looking for a new set of control arms but do not find them available anywhere on the inet. If anyone knows where I can buy a set, I would appreciate the help. May have to resort to hacksawing the threaded portion and inserting a short steel pipe coupling so I can make adjustments at the coupling.

I have a set on my V8 242. I'm using a one-piece driveshaft and the adjustable torque arms allowed me to properly set up the U joint angles. I did it using an angle finder that I purchased from Sears. Easy to do; great results. Prior to this, I had a slight driveshaft vibration under some circumstances. It is now completely gone. I've had the driveshaft up to about 6800 rpm and it worked just fine.

18

How much did you end up lengthening the adjustables compared to stock length to achieve the angle? What angle did you set it up at relative to the drive shaft? Tell us more! Inquiring minds want to know.

never heard oif them

New IPD catalog arrived yesterday; I hadn't heard of them before either - design looks very similar to the new adjustable Panhard rod. One end is simply on a threaded fitting. Allows .050" of increased/decreased length for each rotation of the fitting. Would all you to change the pinion angle for better one-piece driveshaft match, etc. Seems like it's $90 for the pair and they come with polyurethane bushings on both ends.

I went to this Swedish Car Day near Boston yesterday, and there was a fellow who goes by Yama on TurboBricks, and he had bought a set of these adjustable torque rods from IPD. I guess they are on backorder now, but he got some of the first parts. They look awesome. They are quite a bit heavier than the stock parts, and the bushings feel firmer than IPD's usual blue poly torque rod bushings.

Most people running higher torque say that the original torque arms fail eventually, often the ends that contain the bushings will elongate. John Lane, with a rally Bertone making over 500 lb-ft of torque broke several, and then said that IPD made him a special set that do not break. Those arms were made a few years ago, and were probably a one-off or prototype, but I would bet that IPD's new torque rods have similar strength.

They are on my must-have list.

Greg
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http://home.earthlink.net/~greg.wong/

Greg - I just ordered mine. The do indeed look beefy. I suspect for the big torquers however that the rods were the 'fuse' that saved the mounting brackets on each end - the rear end and the frame. Those next need attention - I suspect once the torque arm problems are solved that those pieces will begin to 'shape-shift'. :)

Yep, it's always something...
I remember Mats saying that he broke a bolt once, either on the torque rod or the trailing arm. Maybe the bolt was defective or old/corroded? Or loose?

Greg
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http://home.earthlink.net/~greg.wong/

According to the guys at IPD, one of their part time R&D guys - Oz - has a V8 242 that's always at the drag strip. Apparently he was breaking the torque rods with some regularity; these grew out of that experience. I believe they most often were failing in the metal that surrounds the bushing. I'm planning on calling to chat with him tomorrow about optimum lengths on them - I'm assuming that lengthening them a bit is the way to go - slightly raise the pinion on the rear end.

I can't find these on the web site. Any pointers?

Peter

Fall/Winter catalog 2004/05 #43
Page 13
Part number MX8K0442
$89.95 a pair

i broke one mof my rods...it pulled the bolt right through the eyelet.