Stainless Steel round stock ? Good for steering?

[mofoco1]

Found a good source for metal. Am wondering if there are any metallurgists that can help me out, I have found 9' of 1.5" round 303 stainless steel. Would this be strong enough to use as a tierod bar and draglink? If not what is the minimum type that could be used?...Mo

 

[Patrick.M]

I design parts from mostly stainless steel.

What's the stock tie rod made from? Doubt it's anything stronger.

I'd think any low-grade stainless like that would be fine for something like a bronco steering linkage.

 

[mofoco1]

hey Pat not sure, but I see a couple of co. out there that make them out of hex shape aluminum rod. What about 330 or 440? Seems like this is right up your alley. If you were to make some out of SS what would you use?

 

[JIMS74]

I would use at least a 400 series s/s has more carbon and is less ductile and much stronger than a 300 series s/s in this application. If you want a custom steering linkage I would look at chromed steel hyd. cyl. rod stock used for making new hyd. cyl. piston rods.

 

[mofoco1]

so 300 series is weaker than what the parts houses are selling with there steering kits and the SS is solid 1.5" diameter...Mo

 

[JIMS74]

I'm not sure what the venders steering rods are made of but 1 1/2" bar should be over kill, I was talking about the elongation and yeild strength of the 440 being more like alloy steel.

4340 (chromoly) Normalized Alloy Steel
Minimum Properties Ultimate Tensile Strength, psi 186,000
Yield Strength, psi 125,000
Elongation 12.2%
Rockwell Hardness B100

303 stainless steel (cold drawn annealed, room temperature)
Minimum Properties Ultimate Tensile Strength, psi 89,900
Yield Strength, psi 34,800
Elongation 50%
Rockwell Hardness B83

440 Stainless Steel (annealed condition)
Minimum Properties Ultimate Tensile Strength, psi 110,000
Yield Strength, psi 65,000
Elongation 14%
Brinell Hardness 285 max


17-4 PH Stainless Steel Condition A (annealed)
Minimum Properties Ultimate Tensile Strength, psi 160,000
Yield Strength, psi 145,000
Elongation 5%
Rockwell Hardness C35

 

[bmc69]

All the steering and the track bar under my trail rig are 316 ss; the tie rod and drag link are 1.25OD with .25" wall and the track bar is 1.5", .375" wall.

Solid 1.5" would be way overkill so no worries there!

 

[mofoco1]

bmc how hard do you wheel? Trying to get a sense of how it takes abuse. I know 1.5" is overkill especially solid, but the price is good and and I want the solid as it holds up better to drilling and tapping as I have never been a fan of welding threaded bungs for the tie rods. I know its a bigger PITA but I gotta be different too, just don't want to put the family or others in harms way if the material is not up to snuff, + I want it polished out, even thinking of getting sum for the shock hoops if the consensus is that it is strong enough.

 

[mofoco1]

Jim on those properties you quoted, will there be a difference(I assume there would be) if say the Cromo is .125 or .25" wall thickness as compared to say again 303 solid in a 1.5" OD size? I am not schooled in this, just my own warped common sense.

 

[JIMS74]

Sorry I did not get back to you sooner.
your right in your assumption.

ultimate tensile strength, is the maximum stress that a material can withstand while being stretched or pulled before necking, which is when the specimen's cross-section starts to significantly contract.

Elongation measures the percentage change in length before fracture
Elongation to failure is a measure of ductility

I believe the values shown are for 1" dia cross section. Tubing and solid stock while have different properties and values.
good luck with your project.

 

[EricLar80]

I believe the values shown are for 1" dia cross section. Tubing and solid stock while have different properties and values.
good luck with your project.

Not true. Those values are for the base material. The equations related to the strength calculation will change in relation to the items shape and size, but the material properties remain. Depending on the thickness and diameter of the hollow tube compared to the diameter of the solid tube, the hollow tube can be stronger/weaker/the same as a solid tube.

Making something solid usually doesn't help much if instead you can make it a little larger diameter and hollow. I-beams are a classic example of something "hollow" that is very strong in bending.

Mo - if you want to compare 2 choices (material, inside and outside diameters), I can tell you which is the better choice strength-wise.

Eric

 

[bronconut73]

I'm not sure what the venders steering rods are made of but 1 1/2" bar should be over kill, I was talking about the elongation and yeild strength of the 440 being more like alloy steel.

4340 (chromoly) Normalized Alloy Steel
Minimum Properties Ultimate Tensile Strength, psi 186,000
Yield Strength, psi 125,000
Elongation 12.2%
Rockwell Hardness B100

303 stainless steel (cold drawn annealed, room temperature)
Minimum Properties Ultimate Tensile Strength, psi 89,900
Yield Strength, psi 34,800
Elongation 50%
Rockwell Hardness B83

440 Stainless Steel (annealed condition)
Minimum Properties Ultimate Tensile Strength, psi 110,000
Yield Strength, psi 65,000
Elongation 14%
Brinell Hardness 285 max


17-4 PH Stainless Steel Condition A (annealed)
Minimum Properties Ultimate Tensile Strength, psi 160,000
Yield Strength, psi 145,000
Elongation 5%
Rockwell Hardness C35

Gotta save this. Good data sir.

 

[mofoco1]

Ultimately my ? is will the 303 SS solid hold up like a comparable sized cromo in 1.5" x .125". I can get the stick of SS for under $100 and make both the tie rod and draglink and really what I like is the fact it can be threaded, as I am not a fan of the weld bungs( I know everyone uses them successfully, but I don't, personal preference).

 

[jim3326]

Mofo, Short answer is yes it will work fine. The problem would be if you have to bend the trackbar, it's gonna take some tonnage to get it to tweak any.

Jim W.

 

[EricLar80]

Ultimately my ? is will the 303 SS solid hold up like a comparable sized cromo in 1.5" x .125". I can get the stick of SS for under $100 and make both the tie rod and draglink and really what I like is the fact it can be threaded, as I am not a fan of the weld bungs( I know everyone uses them successfully, but I don't, personal preference).

If the chromoly wall thickness is .125", both are the same length, and the same outside diameter of 1.5", then the hollow tube will see almost double the stress of the solid tube. So, if 4130 chromoly has a yield strength of 80,000 psi, and the 303 has a yield strength of 35,000 psi, the stainless bar is a little less strong (since 35k is less than half of 80k). Overall, very similar. One thing that this doesn't account for is that hollow tube tends to buckle, whereas a solid rod will bend.

Of course, if you go with normalized 4340 at 185,000psi, you are not coming anywhere close with the 303 bar. But that's assuming you did the normalizing right and dont have annealed 4340 with a yield strength of only 69,000 psi. %)

Eric

 

[mofoco1]

I wasn't going to do a tracbar out of it Jim, just the draglink and tierod bar. ? what about the vendors selling the hex bar tie rod bars? Wonder how does have held up?