Strut spacer material ?'s

subydrift

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Dec 4, 2010
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Hey guys, I just got myself another 97' Outback and am wanting to build some lift spacers for it. I have them all designed in AutoCAD and Solidworks and have templates made from MDF so I know they'll fit but I am just wondering about materials. I want it to be a 1" thick piece of plastic-like material so I can cut it out rough with a jig saw and then clean it up with the template and a table router. Origianlly I was going to use HDPE as it is used in rally cars and is the same material used by other manufacturers for their spacers. But, my work has an abundance of 1" thick clear acrylic sheets that are going to be discarded soon and I was wondering what you guys thought about using this material for the spacers? I am going to try and get the material specs from our local distributor also. Just hoping someone has had experience with this material in high compression applications that can chime in. I'm mostly worried about it cracking either from being under stress or from the cold weather.

Thanks for any insight/tips/advice, etc.

Robbie
 
Ya I've seen Subtle's but I can build almost the same thing for a quarter of the price which is what I'm after... Budget lift. I think I'm going to get a 12" x 24" sheet of UHMW plastic instead. Will be 50-60 bucks and won't have to worry about it holding up.
 
Hello everybody, I think plastic mateials are not good for endurance, like aluminium, the options for the spacers should be 6061, 6082 or 7075, the last is more strong ( quite similar to steel), you can build whit CNC machine very easy, and also if you need to weeld some many parts 6061 and 6082.
 
How easy is it to install the spacers?

I'd like to install them for my next Aussie outback adventure but then remove them for city usage. Is this silly? I guess alignment will have to be done after installation and removal.....

Is it a DIY job for someone with "SOME" but not full mechanical knowledge?
 
Just a quick update. The material I ended up using was a piece of 1.375" thick HDPE (high density polyethylene). It has an extremely high compressive strength and was very cheap. It cuts like butter with a jigsaw! I had mine CNC'd at my work though. The fit is perfect and after a little more than a month the top hat nuts are still snug so its showing no signs of compressing. Pics are attached...
 

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subydrift said:
Just a quick update. The material I ended up using was a piece of 1.375" thick HDPE (high density polyethylene). It has an extremely high compressive strength and was very cheap. It cuts like butter with a jigsaw! I had mine CNC'd at my work though. The fit is perfect and after a little more than a month the top hat nuts are still snug so its showing no signs of compressing. Pics are attached...
Click to expand...


I have been using this on my Jeep TJ for approx 5 years now and no issues with them cracking, crushing or anything like that :biggrin:
 
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