Plastic ended dog bone?

[greene-r74]

I ran across something weird. I was working on my A&L trailing arm car and started cleaning the dog bones and noticed the ends were plastic. And glued on! What's up with that? Is this part of the original A&L kit or some weird "hop up" / option part. I think the bones are aluminum, but I was told they are titanium.

[transamman908]

They were made by Race-Prep I believe.

[scr8p]

yup, race prep.

[greene-r74]

Thanks. I think I'll keep them in the car.

[THEYTOOKMYTHUMB]

Just out of curiosity, why'd they use plastic? Did they hold up well over the long run?

[greene-r74]

I'm curious about the durability too. And what is the cool factor on something like this?

[scr8p]

going by the 3-4 pairs i have, the bones bent before the plastic had a chance to wear out.

[greene-r74]

Both of these are slightly bent as well. And they look twisted 90 degrees unless they were made that way.

[LTO_Dave]

I remember seeing some NIP ones on ebay and the header card said they were delrin ends. The end pins were also turned 90-degrees from one another.

[scr8p]

it seems to me alot of the aftermarket dogbones had the drive pins turn to a 90 on one end. i have the race prep ones, t&a's, and the mip "gold" bones, and all of them are like that.

[THEYTOOKMYTHUMB]

it seems to me alot of the aftermarket dogbones had the drive pins turn to a 90 on one end. i have the race prep ones, t&a's, and the mip "gold" bones, and all of them are like that.

Anyone have any idea why? I can see no advantage in it other than the buyers wouldn't be able to judge whether or not they were flexing over time. It actually seems like they'd be slightly harder to manufacture that way. Not much, but a little.

[scr8p]

i don't have a clue. maybe it has something to do with balance. less vibration in the drivetrain.....

[Charlie don't surf]

I would bet that it had more to do with the pin binding in the cups?

[greene-r74]

I was thinking that too. So it binds twice as often.

[THEYTOOKMYTHUMB]

Well after thinking about it for a few minutes the only conceivable reason I can find(outside of some manufacturing details that I may not know about)would be that you are less likely to throw a bone because at no time would the weakest capturing point of the shafts be lined up. In other words at least one end would be deep in the cup. And yes, I am trying my very hardest not to make a joke about that last sentence...