My weird little wear experiment

[fe350chev]

Given that many people on here have done just about everything you could possibly do to a fe/fc, pls let me think for a second that this is a weird, original and obscure idea of my own 

Today after setting up my electrolysis tank for my nuts and bolts etc, I had a thought when I was soy bean oiling my spring shackle (which happened to be the worst rusted part on the FE), that because of the fact that I have a very high mileage taxi with presumably well over 1 zillion km on it, compared to a Boonie car with relatively low kays in comparison, I would consider this 'food for though" experiment.

Take this, a shackle.



I have measure the unworn surface and it measures 6.48mm, compared to the swinging ends least thickest point about 2mm inside of the outer edge adjacent to the bolt hole which is 6.24mm. I am pretty sure that these parts of a car are not generally replaced, but what I really want to do is get an estimate of wear rates on selected parts, to see if there is any correlation between km travelled and wear rates or, say perhaps utes, to have the measurements on known km on the vehicle compared to worn components.

0.24mm diff

It won't matter if different foundries created different widths cos we are after the wear measurement.

This part has "90" on it, I am assuming all original parts would be the same. I am interested also as to whether spring shackles wear more due to lateral loads on these cars or whether it is due to general driving, i.e. cars that were city cars versus country.  And no, I am sober.

[waynos]

i think you have some serious o.c.d..........
of course a taxi would be worn more than say a ute ...........
maybe you should start putting all that thought into painting /or making another shackle'

[fe350chev]

I don't have enough cars to have OCD 

[waynos]

well you are definately thinking differently....i respect that

[fe350chev]

"i'm nearly finished i swear,but i just gotta redo this bit for the third time"

As if u can talk 

Na I think its a good way of understanding the history of a car if i can make some correlations in relation to a part that is seldom replaced but would have similar wear on any given car. Do u get me?

[fcwrangler]

Deano, it's one of those things that hardly ever checked, have a look at your sway bar arms, I bet they are worn more than the shakel plate.
Jim

[NES304]

I don't have enough cars to have OCD 

Its only bad when you have CDO (when you have to have the letters in order too!!)

[fe350chev]

IT's not totally pointless but I am using a shackle cos its a simple part, but say the lateral load on all cars is roughly the same, well perhaps wear happens on this part say, in the first 50000km, so perhaps after that (harder to measure hours on street vehicles) the wear no longer occurs at all, so I am trying to find out the correlation btw use and the parts wear characteristics. Reason being is that one should always look for a causation for wear cos how do uze think they further develop each model, they don't just leave parts they either recall them or change them if there is excessive wear (nothing scientific here). So say if a subframe bolt telds to always fail in a given spot, this may be caused by a structural flex or weakness somewhere else, so no point fixing one thing and leaving the other to stuff up again, so if one can understand the wear characteristics of given parts by comparing them, it may be a case of reducing perhaps lateral loading in a part by bushing it with a different material or spacers or nolothane whatever to keep old original parts that are getting rarer, to keep going longer. It may mean shamphering a part so a pin doesnt wear out or, using parts that you accept will have a lower life, so these modified parts are sacrificed to save the rarer part that won't be replaceable in years to come.

Doesn't anyone see the point or does everyone have a throw away mentality these days  . For example, subrame bolt wear may be a direct correlation of wrong spacers or defective front end mounting arrangement, or rusty crossmember channels may occur if the previous happens. So if we are talking true preservation, one might recommend taking each bolt out every few years and oiling them or galving the hole.

The reason im asking ppl to measure their shackle in this example is to see whether there are large variances between cars and get people comparing these things for the benefit of preservation.

[hsv-001]

Where it was driven probably more than for how long.If the bushes were replaced regularly so as they stay soft and the vehicle was driven on sealed roads it would not have the wear you might expect over rough country in rediculous temperatures and bulldust.I heard a story from a neighbour 30 years ago.He was a mechanic in Rockhampton and in 1958 four return soldiers hired a FE cab in Cairns an were driven to Rocky and on stopping at his service station the door pillars fell out when the doors were opened.Just thought i would put that out there.

[FCRB26]

And if the rubbers were always wet they would eat out quicker?

You seriouslly have to much free time bit hard to tell if they would be different measurements cos the dies would have been replaced when they got worn so the later out of the die would have more wear?

[Old_Mt_Isa_Boy]

Too many variables now. 

What next!!!!!!!

[fe350chev]

Not really Pete but it helps me procrastinate from doing important boring things.

[waynos]

yes i understand now
and yes i do have some serious ocd, as my sinature suggests 

[Trevor_B]

Hi Dean,
Replace the shackle rubbers on my wagon project today and checked for wear on the side plates & shackle pins - no wear on either parts on either side!

The plates had "90" on them as well.

I don't have any real history for the car other than it was on the road until around 2000.

Cheers,
Trevor_B

[fe350chev]

Thanks for taking the time Trevor. I cant wait to see what the taxi ones are like but they are holding the vehicle upright at the minute. You are now part of the mad scientist club, see how easy it was to measure lol.

[NES304]

yes i understand now
and yes i do have some serious ocd, as my sinature suggests 

Spelling? 

[fink]

Luv yor work Deano!I checked mine 2day and they had 69 stamped on them,''totally''worn out !too many miles,lol.

[fe350chev]

some people think differently which u can appreciate fink me boy. Hey, now he will have to spell signature like that all the time  , or is that some Afro American cool way of sayin' it yo