Why I never had much confidence in Kenny Brown parts

[Flying Fred]

dont all of us track hos have at least two irs subassemblies?

No.... only track hos with mechanical knowledge. Some of us are idiots, but love to drive our a$$ off!

 

[Mr. Mysti]

Vince:

I have a total of three IRS assemblies and numerous miscellaneous spare components I rob parts from as I use them up. It's also helped me to develop the bushing kits as well.

:-D

Then I guess you just keep the KB IRS on their because you love how well it works? :shrug:

 

[ac427cobra]

Then I guess you just keep the KB IRS on their because you love how well it works? :shrug:

Well, to tell you the truth I'm so deep into it that it's hard to back out at this
point.

I did not notice a HUGE change in the rear end going from our Delrin bushing kit in the Ford components to the KB kit with poly. In fact, my wheel hop returned with the KB set up. Fortunately you don't have to pull too many hole shots leaving pit road. But I did notice improved rear tire wear with the KB set up.

As long as I have comitted, I figured I'd stick with it and make it the best I can.

:shrug:

 

[93SVTCobra]

That's interesting Bruce because the one thing that amazed me about the blue cars suspension was that we had ZERO wheel hop and didn't even put on the front IRS brace.

Perhaps there were other factors at play......

 

[Mr. Mysti]

I have a total of three IRS assemblies and numerous miscellaneous spare components

Well, to tell you the truth I'm so deep into it that it's hard to back out at this point....

As long as I have comitted, I figured I'd stick with it and make it the best I can.

Bruce, so deep into the KB? :shrug: If you have three IRS assemblies it would cost you nothing to switch. :fart: You could even sell the KB IRS; go with the 03/04 IRS and still have two IRS assemblies left. :read:

I'm going to have to raise the BS flag:

I am beginning to think you are a secret KB admirer oke: and you are sold on the advanced geometry of the KB IRS.




That, and you cheat... oke: op:

 

[ac427cobra]

That's interesting Bruce because the one thing that amazed me about the blue cars suspension was that we had ZERO wheel hop and didn't even put on the front IRS brace.

Perhaps there were other factors at play......

Mark:

The Delrin allows no deflection of the contol arms. The poly is well, poly! Better than rubber and that's about it!

Your blue car is CONSIDERABLY lighter than my car. Perhaps why it doesn't wheel hop?:idea: I'm not sure? :read:

Joe Johnson experienced the same thing (wheel hop) that I did converting from the Delrin in the Ford control arms to the KB set up.

Bruce, so deep into the KB? :shrug: If you have three IRS assemblies it would cost you nothing to switch. :fart: You could even sell the KB IRS; go with the 03/04 IRS and still have two IRS assemblies left. :read:

I'm going to have to raise the BS flag:

I am beginning to think you are a secret KB admirer oke: and you are sold on the advanced geometry of the KB IRS.




That, and you cheat... oke: op:

Vince:

You know how cheap I am!! Anything you sell you're lucky to get 60 cents on the dollar for it. So, I have this KB crap and it actually saves me a little cashola in the tire department budget. :idea:

I never said it was a bad design. For crap manufacturing?!?! Absolutely! I've seen few things I couldn't fix and this is no different than anything else!

:thumbsup: :coolman: :beer:

 

[ac427cobra]

Repair is complete

After cladding some .187" plates on:

Photo 2 of raw repair:

After paint 1:

After paint 2:

 

[ac427cobra]

Well, the Kenny Brown saga continues at my shop.

I pulled the IRS out of the car last Friday only to discover this on the right rear hard mount:

It's actually supposed to look like this:

Because of the way Kenny Brown configured the rear hard mount connection it only attaches to the side of the rear frame rail and has no support or stop on the hard mount to rest on the bottom of the frame rail! :fart: In their defense there really is not a lot of room to put much on there because of the Y2KR fuel cell but I'm going to see if I can get a 1/2" x 3/4" angle on the bottom to at least rest 1/2" onto the frame rail.

That's the bad news. The good news is I now have two 'favorite' shop tools to help ease the pain of working on the car. My new two favorite tools are the lift :bowdown: and the hydraulic trans jack. :rockon:

Repair pics to follow once I get some time to work on the car between final year end yard work, putting outside Christmas lights up and work! :cryying:

:thumbsup::coolman::beer:

 

[racebronco2]

I did not notice a HUGE change in the rear end going from our Delrin bushing kit in the Ford components to the KB kit with poly. In fact, my wheel hop returned with the KB set up. Fortunately you don't have to pull too many hole shots leaving pit road. But I did notice improved rear tire wear with the KB set up.
:shrug:

When i installed the kb lower arms my wheel hop returned but the nvh were little quitier.

 

[93SVTCobra]

How tight were those bolts? I'd say you over tightened the bolts and pulled the nut through the body.

 

[ac427cobra]

How tight were those bolts? I'd say you over tightened the bolts and pulled the nut through the body.

Mark:

IMHO these factory nuts are not designed to take any up and down thrust or shear load. The factory nuts are welded onto a very thin piece of metal that is placed inside of the frame rail. These are basically only designed to hold the nuts in place and that's it. With the factory bracket shaped like an "L" it attaches at both this face and the bottom of the frame member. There will be no up and down force due to the capture on the bottom of the frame rail.

When I installed this originally I looked at it and did one of these: :dw: I was like WTF? This is not the hot set-up by any stretch of the imagination. But, like an idiot I placed some confidence in the Kenny Brown parts I had purchased and went against my instincts and just slammed the damn thing together because I was pretty pissed off by that time after everything I had gone through regarding the KB IRS w/rear hardmount install.

I will now be reinstalling it like I wanted to originally with a bottom support for the IRS subframe to rest on so there is not so much pressure at this attachment point.

Like the old saying goes; "There's never enough time to do it right the first time, but there's always enough time to do it over!"

Stay tuned for repair progress pics!

 

[ac427cobra]

This is what the Kenny Brown rear hard mount looks like on the KB reconfigured IRS subframe:

Note there is NO support from the vertical pressure put on this location. That's going to change!

Here is the bottom portion of the frame rail that will soon be incorporated into the mount:

Today I made a plate with two nuts welded on the back side of it (pics to come at a later date) that slips through this opening and will eventually be welded in place with the top edge of the plate resting at the upper edge of this frame rail firmly against the trunk floor pan.

What ticks me off is the fact that I saw this HAFSU (hokey ass f***ing set up) coming to bite me in the ass someday and someday finally came! :kaboom::bash::fart: I'm wondering how much faster the car is going to be with this particular attachment point repaired and my Delrin finally installed in these control arms! :idea: Look out Freddy!!!! I'm gunning for the title back!!! ;-)oke:

 

[cobra186]

Did you notch the rear frame rails when you installed the KB suspension parts?

The '00R of mine that was built by KB has the rails notched for more upper control arm movement. Your car may not sit as low as mine though. Mine has KW coilovers on all 4 corners and sits low.... the top of the tire is almost even with the fender well lip.

 

[ac427cobra]

Did you notch the rear frame rails when you installed the KB suspension parts?

The '00R of mine that was built by KB has the rails notched for more upper control arm movement. Your car may not sit as low as mine though. Mine has KW coilovers on all 4 corners and sits low.... the top of the tire is almost even with the fender well lip.

In a previously posted pic you will see the frame rails notched like this:

 

[cobra186]

I just went back and skimmed through the entire thread and noticed you mentioned in one of the post that they were notched... :read:

Of course if I would have looked at the picture you posted closer I would have seen the notch myself :bash:

 

[ShelbyGuy]

The blue car does the rear hard mount a little differently (Mark, page 1 is corrupted)

 

[ac427cobra]

The blue car does the rear hard mount a little differently (Mark, page 1 is corrupted)

John:

The 2000 R fuel cell prevents that type of mount. :cryying:

Edit *** I do however have room to incorporate one of those underside mounting points. I just can't make it cover both bolt locations.

 

[ac427cobra]

The blue car does the rear hard mount a little differently

John:

This is how the RR subframe mount looks in the 2000 R now that i fixed it:

Here is a pic of the fix I did to the RR subframe mount:

This plate is placed tight up against the trunk floor. It's welded around both of the holes and around the cutout in the center.



Tomorrow I hope to fab up some supports to bolt the subframe to the underside of the chassis frame member. That way these nuts won't be under such shear load.

You guys that have these KB rear hard mounts I would check them out closely!


:thumbsup::coolman::beer:
Stay tuned!

 

[ac427cobra]

I finally got caught up a little at work and got a chance yesterday to work on the IRS.

Fred, Joe, Scott and anyone else that has this flat rear hardmount, I would do a close inspection of what your particular situation is on your car.

This added a slight challenge to getting the IRS back into the chassis but it really is not that bad to tell you the truth. But now it has some serious support. :-D

Here is the fix after a little spray bomb primer:

Will get some more pics once it's back in the car hopefully sometime this week.

:thumbsup::coolman::beer:

 

[TT91]

Nice work, should be a bit more sturdy when its all done.