Steering Arm routine bring up

[Steve Jones]

Steve just to make you happy, I will look at your steering arm next time I scrutineer you.

Seriously, I'm not suggesting that replacement steering arms aren't a good thing. I use them,  in the same way as I wouldn't build a new engine without a replacement crankshaft. However, to regale newcomers with tales of disaster centred on these components is inappropriate and not helpful in my opinion.

Agree 100%.

A lot of us have used our Sevens to excess and beyond over many years and one thing that's consistently proved is that they're tough little beggers. Yes, things do break sometimes and that's inevitable given the age of many of the components but, most of the time, they don't. Keep an eye on everything, obviously, and keep up with the maintenance and, as Ruairidh says, '...don't worry about it, just use it'. 

If you read David Cochrane's paper on his replacement steering arms (on his web site) you'll see that I'd had a metallurgical analysis of a steering arm carried out out some years earlier. Why doesn't matter but we used a steering arm of mine that had a significant crack showing on the inside radius such that it was scrap. As part of the process we decided to fix the scrap arm in the vice and break it. No matter how we tried we never managed it (and we tried VERY hard). We ended up cutting it into two with a disc. 

Notwithstanding that, of course I'd never use a steering arm that displayed any form of fracturing but the experience did lead to the conclusion that they are, perhaps, tougher than they look. Austin quality even............!! 

Steve