A arm or spindle or something else bent?

[karlburns]

Was riding a couple weeks ago and caught the side of a burle on a tree with my right ski. I thought the bottom right a arm was bent so I bought a used one to swap out. Got the a arm and it looked good so I went at swapping them out this weekend but can't get everything to line up. I had to cut the old bolt head off and use an air hammer to beat the bolt out it was so twisted. When I put the spindle back on the top a arm, shock, swarm arm link ups, line up exactly like they should. Go to put the bottom a arm bolt and you'll see the problem in my picture. I see no cracks in the spindle whatsoever but do these things twist or bend before showing any crack?

Yes I know the bushings are missing I'm trying to figure out my bigger problem at the moment. Lol

 

[Winderallday!]

Been there done that, your cast spindle/knuckle is likely bent or tweeked, this is likely why you had to pound the bolt out.
Doesn't take a major blow to tweek the aluminum casting.

 

[karlburns]

Do they really bend/twist/whatever that easily? Is it normal for the top to still fit in normal and then the bottom to be f-d up?

Assuming the answer to all of those questions is yes, do all the apex and vectors run the same spindle? I noticed that they have different part numbers for newer vectors but they are coded as if they supersede and are cheaper.

 

[dmaxx]

Do they really bend/twist/whatever that easily? Is it normal for the top to still fit in normal and then the bottom to be f-d up?

Assuming the answer to all of those questions is yes, do all the apex and vectors run the same spindle? I noticed that they have different part numbers for newer vectors but they are coded as if they supersede and are cheaper.

Yes, they do bend. Had it happen to our Warrior. Which side is it? I have a left side one cheap.

 

[maim]

try unbolting the upper a-arm 1st. i bet it is tweaked as well. did mine 2 years ago on my apex. thought it was just the lower but the upper had twisted so that the bolt would not line up until i used a 2"x4"x8' to twist it back enough to get it together to ride while the new upper came in. never tweaked the spindle in my case as it turned freely. slid the ski into a tree on a extremely tight trail and i hit the tree right on the ski bolt from the side.

as to the lower bolt, both my lower bolts looked like a w when i pulled them out to put in oillights and found the bent arms. i check them a lot more often now.

 

[karlburns]

Upper looked just fine to me. I pulled it off bolts went through both ends without any issues.

If I unbolt the top I can force the bottom to go in but the a arm looks like \/ sitting on the spindle where the bolt goes through.

 

[maim]

try bolt1ng the lower in with the upper disconnected from the spindle. mine looked fine until i took the bolt out on the upper too.

 

[karlburns]

Did that (forgot to take a picture of it though) that's when there's a serious gap in the a arm and spindle for the bottom. The new arm looks exactly like the old one did on the spindle. Where the bolt goes through the ATM and in to the spindle it makes a \/ shape towards the sled. After installing the bottom there's no way the top would fit because it's 2" away from the mounting gap

 

[Winderallday!]

To see if aluminum spindle is tweeked, I remove the plastic bushings and slide a straight edge up along the lower bushing bore surface towards the upper bore section to see if they are parallel or not. Move straight edge around the diameter to check for parallelism. It will become apparent if upper and lower bores are not lined up. The casting wall thins out between the upper and lower bored sections where the bushings go, this is the weak spot in the spindle/knuckle casting.
It is not obvious looking at the outside of the casting that it is tweeked.

 

[karlburns]

Ok if I'm understanding you correctly get a straight edge and stick it down from the topside to the lower bushings top. Then it should be straight up the entire time as I move it around the spindle?

 

[karlburns]

Here's a few pictures of the spindle with the bottom a arm bolted in and the top one unbolted.

It seems like one or the other can be bolted and look completely normal but then the other one is twisted to where it doesn't line up.

 

[Winderallday!]

Ok if I'm understanding you correctly get a straight edge and stick it down from the topside to the lower bushings top. Then it should be straight up the entire time as I move it around the spindle?

You are trying to see if the upper and lower bushings are concentric/parallel with one another, if you hold the edge of a straight edge firmly against the inside of the upper bushing and slide it down toward the lower bushing, it should not hit or skip over the lower bushing, nor should there be excess clearance between the straight edge and the bushing. Check in several places around the diameter of the bushing as it will vary depending on where the casting is tweeked.
One other thing, maybe this is obvious, the top swing arm has to go on the correct side "up" if you will, there is an offset built into the two arms and it can only go on one way to line up with the spindle housing. The rear tube is pretty much 90 degrees to the bulkhead and the front tube is tapered front to back.