Glued/Bonded a-Arms?

[the-mickster]

I have been considering powder coating my a arms on my 2013 Polaris pro rmk, but I know that they have to be put in a cooker oven if they are powder coated, so does anybody out there know if the glue that holds the a-arms together would hold up in the high temps of the powder coating oven? Thanks

 

[MTN Powderhound]

I would put the money spent on the powdercoating on a set of aftermarket arms. I was happy with the stock arms until both lower arms started to separate, RT side one weekend and the other the next. (and I'm not and aggressive rider)For the price of the single arm, I bought the timbersled sr kit and have stonger arms, powdercoated and the peace of mind of the arms not coming apart on the trail.
I would think that the heat from powdercoating would affect the bond, but I am not an expert on that.

 

[mountainhorse]

If you were going to powder coat your arms... I would put a small 1/8" rivet through the casting and into the steel to "fixture them" so that they cant move during the bake cycle... also... make sure that these are not put in the oven for long...that the powdercoat shop does not do a high temp "bake off" cycled to clean them and you use a lower temp bake cycle so that you don't mess up the casting strength. Many p-coat shops will tell you this is "BS"... if they do... walk away.

Make sure they tape off the inside of the ball joint and bushing bores so you can get those parts back in.

Last week I installed a pair of just the LOWER arms on a buddies 2013 before he left on a road trip.... the outer casting had separated from the tube on one of the stockers... The Tibmersled arms can be bought individually and installed one at a time if you wish. His stock top arms were just fine.

mountainhorse:
There are some people out there that may want to powdercoat the entire PRO-RMK/Assault/RUSH chassis. Powder coating is, ironically, baked at 400 degrees F.... which is the approx "release" temp of the adhesive used in boding the PRO Chassis.... Lord 406/19 Acrylic adhesive.

This MAY be OK because of the additional bolts used in construction of the bonded components that will keep the assembly from moving during the baking process.

The essential part of the puzzle here is that the assemblies are not really moved or jarred while heated and before they come back to normal temps and that the entire assembly is well supported.

Powder Coating after Bonding with LORD® 400 Series
Acrylic Adhesives

The LORD® 400 series acrylic adhesives have excellent heat resistance characteristics up to 400°F (204°C), reducing the concern of possible degradation of the cured adhesive due to heat during the powder coating process. (There is data for heat resistance at 400°F [204°C] up to 1000 hours.)

However, it is important to keep in mind that at these higher temperatures, the hot tear strength is very low. The lower strength values make it essential that the assembly is properly fixtured or placed to avoid slippage of the bonded pieces, especially if they are heavy in nature. Spot welds are frequently used in the industry to hold the assembly in place.

The integrity of the bond will remain unchanged, and in fact increase, once the assemblies have returned to room temperature.

A frequently asked question is “Why does the adhesive look orange/tan in color after exposure to heat instead of the light green we are accustomed to seeing after normal room temperature cure?” This color change can typically occur because of the higher temperatures seen during typical painting and E-coat processes.

The integrity of the bond after either one of these processes should remain unchanged, and in fact increase, once the assemblies have returned back to room temperature.