a.moore wrote:
I would pay more attention to the threaded stud (bolt?) that is welded to the plate.
Ditto. Perhaps instead of the slotted bolt, you could use another clevis like you have on the front tube of the lower arm, only welded instead of bolted.
a.moore wrote:
Once you attach a shock or a push-rod to the lower arm there will be some pretty significant bending loads.
Which you can indeed minimize (in fact, I think you can minimize it all the way down to inconsequential) if your center of your lower ball joint and the center of the two rod end balls on the ends of your push rod are in a straight line, and since you can't get that perfect for the full range of wheel travel, get the lower push rod end as close as practical to the ball joint...which it sounds like you're doing...consistent with keeping the rod-end rod-end ball-joint path straight.
I believe that will take care of the plate bending issue and the vertical bending issue on the slotted bolt/clevis (note I am not an engineer nor have I calculated the forces nor have I built a model and tested it--so don't take my belief as gospel), and the horizontal bending issue on that slotted bolt/clevis can be minimized (and in theory, eliminated) by aiming the front and rear tubes straight at the center of the ball joint. In theory (and it's my theory and I made it up and see previous caveat re my beliefs) the loads on those tubes can be purely tension and compression, providing they're accurately aligned.
The fly in this ointment is there's nowhere to attach an antiroll bar to the lower plate (or tubes) without putting bending loads in them, but since you're using pushrod suspension, your antiroll device (if any) can be inboard as well.