IMCA hobby stock tech question on trailing arm bolts

I was disqualified last weekend because one of my trailing arm bolts was loose....when I asked for clarification...IMCA said that unaltered rear suspension was the rule it fell under....and that the bolts were tight from the factory...and if the bolt is loose the suspension has been altered....

I am curious...is this rule enforced like this at every track? and...how do you keep the bolts from coming loose?

Also...do you guys know of any more gray areas they might use to dq someone...I am new to this class and don't really like getting disqualified.....

That's a bs rule. Did they check them with torque wrench? Do they have to be a certain torque? That's a bs call right there.

Its not a bs call at all. I was a local track IMCA tech for 4 years. The loose bolt issue is widely popular and there was a bulletin sent out 2 years ago about this issue, there is a torque spec for them, I cant remember off the top of my head right now. IT is very evident when you shake the car side to side, there should be NO slop in the bushings or the bolts and is very easy to spot and feel without even looking for it. It is a safety issue as there have been some cars that have had the rear ends fall out or rip loose due to people thinking they just found the latest and greatest speed secret, when all they really need to do is pull down on the rear of their car and then tighten the bolts to the inner sleeve properly.

if there was a bulletin 2 years ago...how do they expect new racers to know about it without putting it in the rules? and one bolt out of 8 is pretty clear that is was not intentional. and I call bs on the rearend falling out....if it did..it was more likely due to contact..now to be clear...I don't have a problem with having bolts tight...I just don't see why it cant be clearly stated in the rules....

The problem with the way IMCA does the rule revisions not adding them to the current rules. I know pigpin and this is his first year with an IMCA license. He doesn't have the years of newsletters that some do.

I remember when this was an issue with stock cars as well. Just tighten them up every week. Double nut or loctite them if necessary.

It matters in Texas. Don't know about the west though.

Correct Confused, It mattered in texas as this is the state that prompted this rule. A rearend DID IN FACT fall out of a car with NO contact. It was found that one if not 2 bolts were missing from the top and out it came. Its absolutely moronic that people are running them loose because they think they have some slick advantage. It does nothing but break stuff

One of the biggest problems with the stock Metric "W"trailing arm design is Binding. A common mistake is over tightening the trailing arm bolts which contributes to more Binding. I ran all my bolts loose to keep the suspension as free as possible. With that said, I ran castellated nuts and drilled the bolts for a cotter pin. If they tech for bolt tightness, there is only so much you can do, but there is an advantage to keeping everything free. Just my .02

Dave

You just opened up a can of worms for Stocky. Proper maintenance prevents failures like a rear end flying out of a car. You can reinforce the arms around the holes by welding plate or washers and drilling to the correct size. In the end you'll want all of the brackets lined up properly. They're stamped steel people and if a mid west back eat car rust everywhere!