Part lifespan

[zeroracing]

Went to a racers auction over the weekend and you notice teams selling items, some are completely worn out some are like new. So here is my question, which is really to spark more of a discussion to help newer teams and or help people avoid issues. What components on your car are part of a regular replacement schedule?

Example: We only run x laps on this before we replace it.

[phenom08]

Lift bar for sure every year

[TheJet-09]

There are certain parts I wouldn't run over one season for wear reasons, like: ball joints, steering heims, lower control arm heims. I replace my radiator every season and keep the old one as a spare. When buying stuff used, I've learned to stay away from things you can't see the "inside" of. I once bought a used Bert trans from someone who I thought was a reputable guy, and it lasted less than two nights. You could also set a cap on what you'll spend on a used item, say like $500. Lastly, I've learned that when guys take the extra time to shine something up real nice, they might be hiding something (put a dress on a pig, it's still a pig). I've had better finds with the dirty looking stuff.

[FlatTire]

Steering Rod Ends and Axle shafts all get replaced every 30 races. Shocks get rebuilt every 20-25 races.

I've typically replaced my steel lift bar every 15-20 races because of a catastrophic failure I had a few years ago. How long do others go?

[zeroracing]

You get one catastrophic lift bar failure and you remember just how many items connect to it... and how much it can tear up.

[FlatTire]

lol yep. I had one crack right in the middle from fatigue and when it was all said and done, the transmission got stabbed by the driveshaft, bent 3 shocks, snapped every rod end on it, bent the 4 bar linkage, took out the panhard mount, panhard bar, yoke, broke the center section, dented the fuel cell, and bent the frame. About $2000 worth of greatness!

[fastford]

if you have the money to replace all these items on a regular basis , that's great, but if you don't, then you learn how to properly inspect these items , I build my own lift bars , I sand blast them once a year, look for any defect or stress crack, if I find something, I repair or replace, if not, I repaint and put back on, I also use rebuildable ball joints that I check and repair if needed.

[gatorade]

does the fifth arm replacement hold true with a wehr style 5th arm?

[FlatTire]

All I have experience with is steel pieces. Aluminum has a shorter fatigue life than steel.

[SuperEight]

I've never been a fan of an aluminum lift bar. The risk/reward just isn't there to me. Like others have stated, if you loose a 5th arm it can whip out everything from there on back and worse. To me some parts just don't need to be that light. This all brings up an observation I saw under Landers Bloomquist car, he doesn't use a fancy lightweight j-bar mount. Landers car had a tubular steel leg with welded bungs for the frame mount, I haven't seen one of those since my 1995 Barry Wright car.

[phenom08]

The new Warrior cars are the same way also. Pretty cool