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No driveline vibration either.
And trying to compare the forces on a plane to the forces on a car is like trying to compare peanut butter and concrete. Two completely different worlds.
The torque arm definitely sees beding loads, and they are cyclic (ie fatigue-inducing). The stresses at the rear of the torque arm will be quite high.
Even steel torque arms break at the diff every now and then, where the stresses are huge. I'd be very hesitant to try an aluminum arm that wasn't absurdly beefy.
I've also stayed at a Holiday inn Express before, so ...
Beyond all that, I agree with Sean ...
And trying to compare the forces on a plane to the forces on a car is like trying to compare peanut butter and concrete. Two completely different worlds.
i know a plane has to be light. the point i am getting at is that if aluminum can take it on a jet plane. i know it will take what my car can throw at it. and they are different worlds. but both see force, drag, lift, and gravity. but my car doesn't have wings. so lift really doesn't matter. an as an "engineer in the Air Force" you should know that this will work. if some one takes the time and understands were the weak points are and makes it strong there. then alumium is the best way to go. i would rather spend money on 110lbs of all aluminum parts( lca, torque arm, front control arms and k-member) of the same strength. then spend money on 250lbs of parts. ok if you have part A and part B that one is aluminum and one is chromoly. both same strenght. both same price. but part A wieghts 10.5 lbs and part B weights 33 lbs. some one would be stupid not to buy Part A
If material A is used on an airplane, then material A must be good enough for a car.
That's not how it works. As was already eluded to, it is all about how the part is designed. You could have a part that was made from aluminum, but only engaged two threads on a rod end that screwed in to it. That would be a horrible design, and that part would fail in short order on a street car. The steel part would fail just as quickly. If you had taken any classes that dealt with loading and modes of failure, you'd understand that you can not draw parallels between those two completely different worlds (aircraft vs. auto). It'd be like saying "Well, the plastic used in my vacuum cleaner is pretty strong. I dropped it off of a three story building and it didn't crack. It must be strong enough to use plastic in my car."
I'm not saying that it won't work...I'm saying that your reasoning is just simply wrong. Just because you have a buddy that works on them there fancy jet planes doesn't make him an expert on part design. That's why we have multi-billion dollar contracts with companies that employ some very, very smart people. Having worked hand in hand with Lockheed Martin, Boeing, and Raytheon, I know this is true. I've also met the people that write the Dash-1 manuals for those aircraft that tell your buddy how to do his job.
As for my personal opinion on the car parts, I'd see no problem using aluminum LCAs or an aluminum panhard rod. Provided the rod ends were sized correctly. As for an aluminum torque arm...I wouldn't on my personal ride.





