FOT:
I got a nice email from Henry Frye this morning. Henry, knowing that we are
reworking our TR4, pointed to inspecting the shock towers and anchor points
for the cross member. He is exactly right.
Although most everyone understands this, it bears drawing attention to it.
This is why we are totally dismantling the TR4. Sean and I detected something
amiss with the front suspension as we discussed winter storage. That led to
moving the chassis to Niehaus Restorations. Keith is a master
welder/fabricator.
We did some gusseting twenty years ago that helped for a long time, but
finally the shock towers were exhibiting large cracks. The anchor points for
the cross member is light gauge sheet metal and they were crushed and torn.
All of this was fixed and reinforced with better materials. The x-member was
showing rust and fatigue so it was redone.
Sean painted the frame in an industrial grey so that we can better see what is
happening with frame.
There has been some on track frame failures with TRs in the past. We noticed
something going on when #197 came off the track the last race in 2012.
Ignoring it would have resulted in a serious failure in 2013. Perhaps a free
ride to medical, as well.
Anyway, unless you are investing in a RATCO frame, this is a good time to do a
close inspection.
Joe Alexander
A. R. E.
645 1st Street
Jesup, Iowa 50648
319.464.4711 (cell)
n197tr4@cs.com
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