Im new to the forum. Never been much of a blaster guy, but after reading you can trick these pretty easy. Anyways here is A diy walk through im doing on a swing arm. I got 3 blasters for doing some welding work. I sold one and am gonna do a complete drag build, and a complete trail ride.So stay tuned for my future posts.
DIY Swingarm Extension
- Thread starter Oakie's Atv's
- Start date
So Im gonna break this down barney style. It may take a few days because im in the Army, in the process of moving, have a 4 month old baby, and a hand full of other projects going on. Also if you guys want to see any other fab walk through let me know and I will put them on the to do list. This will be a 6in extension but with this method you can easily make as long or as short as you want.
First remove your swingarm
First remove your swingarm
After its pulled off decide where you want to cut it. I decided to go right behind the welds in the picture. make sure you take your time and mark it straight and even on both sides. I just use a T ruler.
I measured from the shock mount just to double tap that both sides are marked equally.
Now your gonna have to cut it. try to stay on the lines you marked. I just use a 20 dollar angle grinder with a cut off wheel.
I just went to my local steel supply and had them cut me 2 1ft. pieces of rectangular tubing. they didn't have the exact size i wanted but its ok these are just gonna be for added strength.This next step is crucial crack open a tall boy since your done with the angle grinder. After you do a little work on your cold one just drop the tubes in the swing arm.
Slide the other end of the swingarm over the new tubing and decide how much you want to extend make sure its even on both sides
Next just weld the tube in. I couldn't afford welder so i just use one of those pen torches and some welding rods
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.That was my stopping point here in the next day or so will put some bigger tubing around the extension and blend everything. Im gonna build a strut for it so i think i will leave the shock mount where it is. What do you guys think.
Oh, posting pics comes out better if you post them to photobucket.com first and paste the link in your post - pics come out full size. But of course with all you've got going on, the extra step might be a nuisance.
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Problem with leaving the shock mount where it is (sounds like you mean where it is on the extension?) , you need a longer shock or you're gonna be sitting low. The YFZ450 shock is 3" longer (and a much better shock) and may take up some of the added length but you've just lengthened the base of your suspension triangle 6" and the hypotenuse (shock length) is now even longer. There's a thread on here you might wanna look at:
http://www.blasterforum.com/do-yourself-20/suspension-geometry-101-a-11155/
Yea i wouldn't pay the aftermarket ones. Those places are such rip offs. I did a tube one on my raptor.
This is going on the drag chassis i'm gonna build so it will be a rigid strut that im building for it. I could leave the shock mount since will make it to size.
Looks good, and you said you couldnt afford a welder. Well if you are wanting a low budget one a harbor freight flux core wire feed (mig style) welder works great for me. Would be perfect for anything you could want on a atv sized projects, just get used to cleaning up the welds leaves slag like a stick welder.
On the instructions it says dont use for long periods at a time, when i first got it and was just making practice passes for a few hours i never shut it off and it still worked fine with no over heating.
Ive been wanting to do this project for a long time and love you are doing a diy on it
On the instructions it says dont use for long periods at a time, when i first got it and was just making practice passes for a few hours i never shut it off and it still worked fine with no over heating.
Ive been wanting to do this project for a long time and love you are doing a diy on it
