-2 swinger

[klemet banshee]

if anyone has ever cut one let me know how it turned out and ill pay you to do mine! thanks in advance

[fastrthnu]

I bought a part out that had a cut swinger, they added in 3.5" off another stock swinger cutting into the middle. It wasnt perfectly straight though.

 

Its not hard to do provided you have everything you need. Find a local chassis builder or metal fabricator to do it. By the time you pay some one and pay shipping 2 ways you might as well have gotten one new.

[POORBOY350]

its simple to do. i've never done one before but i kno it cant be hard! prob just sleave it and weld it make it look good and make sure its strong and straight! i have 2 stock ones and im going to stretching one soon! but as far as fabbing up one shorter or longer if you can weld dec3ent or good it will be nothing.

[278]

I have a friend that builds cars/dragsters as a hobby and is an amazing fabricator... I know its a little different but after helping him some it really would not be that hard. Just take measurements, and cut your swinger right in the middle. After that cut exactly how much you want to extend it out of another swinger or even use some tube steal from a metal shop, the line it all up measure everything again an weld it in. The grind the welds down and polish or powder coat it all up! Im going to do it to mine after the holidays :thumbsup: If you want to make it smaller just make your measurements and cut it in the middle, then measure how much you want to take out and cut it off, make sure you have exact measurements though.

Edited November 26, 2008 by 278

[AKheathen]

how much do you weigh? cuttin it will change the geometry, hence giving the shock more leverage. it'll be stiffer, so you may have to shorten the shock arm about an inch too. for strength, i don't like strait butt joints, but that's just my pref. i would make the cut, then cut 2" out or the side of one half, and an inch from the top and bottom of the other side and overlap

[klemet banshee]

i weigh around 140 and i wasnt going to do butt welds either ahhaah don trust them i was going to cut in diagnoly

[AKheathen]

i weigh around 140 and i wasnt going to do butt welds either ahhaah don trust them i was going to cut in diagnoly

oh yah, at 140, i'd bet you're trying to get it to hook up better, but, did you try any other options? before my banshee, i was riddin my blaster and ended up on my ass too much and became way too familiar with my front bumper every time i tried to climb a hill. it had no problem hooking up, but after i got beat out by a sportsman, i decided that i need a banshee :biggrin: i guess what i'm gettin at is that if you're riddin trail/hill, you might not wanna move the wheels any further foreward, but, shortening the arm could allow you to moove the pivot point higher providing stability and traction. first, might i suggest mooving the lower shock mount up and forwarda little to see how that does? :shrug: just a thought

[278]

Yeah I didnt mean use butt joints I wouldn't trust that either... Over lap like AK said, That's what car builders do to shorten frames so it will work for a swinger. Yeah if your looking at shortening it to get it to hook up there are alot of other things you can do, because unless you race MX I wouldnt advise shortening it.

[regalrocket]

I have been a welder for 20 years now. Even a diagonal cut is still a butt weld. Any time your attacthing two peices of tubing that under high stress, and are critical, you always sleeve them. Get a pice of tubing that will fit inside the cut swingarm and when you go to weld it, you leave a 1/8 gap and you weld into both half of the swingarm, and the sleeve. Once thats done, you then drill threw the swingarm where the sleve extends into, and put a few plug welds to hold the sleve as well.

 

Or you can do what we do in aviation, and but weld the swingarm, then add "fish plates" that are just nicely cut pieces that overlap the weld, and are welded around the perimeter to secure the splice.

 

NEVER!!!! grind welds. A weld maintains is strength by being a little thicker than the parent material. In addition, usually when people grind they overheat the weld. The weld is a "heat effected zone" that has absorbed more carbon than the parent material. This area is more bitttle than the rest of the swingarm, which is why you leave the weld as is.

 

If you want a nice finish, get someone that knows how to properly use a TIG welded, the welds will be so nice that after paint or powdercoat you will hardly see them, and what you do see will be so sexy it will make the bugger and grind bunch jelous.

 

Example of a Sleeved installation:

 

Example of a fish plate installation:

Edited November 27, 2008 by regalrocket

[POORBOY350]

''Even a diagonal cut is still a butt weld. Any time your attacthing two peices of tubing that under high stress, and are critical, you always sleeve them.''

 

well said!

[shogs]

I'm curious about doing a minus 2 as well but I think it would be a lot harder than extending a swinger. You cant cut between the shock mount and mount for the frame for obvious reasons and after the shock mount you run into brackets that are there for extra support for your axle. Let me know if anyones ever done this or wants my welding teacher to go at a stock swinger for them. He said he'd do it for me he just doesn't want me to be disappointed since its kind of experimenting unless I have the measurements.

[jjn56]

I don't get this mod at all - seems like alot of work for nothing.

[peterlocal22]

just buy a -2 swingarm

they are awsome

you wont believe the difference.