Disclaimer: I am a full grown adult. Any decisions I make are on me & no one else, regardless of any advice I may receive here or elsewhere. I am asking other people, off forum, for advice on the same issue.
Brief recap for those who've haven't seen my other posts.
This was the crappy cross brace on the swingarm when I got it, inc the 1/2" of filler slathered over it to hide some of the crappiest welding I've ever seen.
I removed that and replaced it with this.
Following a couple of 30-40 mile shakedown runs one of the welds on the upper, smaller cross brace has failed (circled in blue).
I'm presuming this was from a shock load twisting force caused by a pot hole (or several). Certainly isn't from high speed cornering Given I'm running a full width English axel from a Mk1 Ford Escort that would be a lot leverage.
What I'm wondering is which of these two options might be best.
Re-welding & adding fillets across the joints to increase stiffness - or
removing it entirely.
Currently I'm thinking of removing it. My reasoning is that by allowing the arm to twist slightly this will lessen any loads on the swingarm at the pivot point, whereas a stiffer swing arm will transmit more load to that area. I haven't really been able to fully examine what the welding is like at that end but assuming its sound (enough) that wide axel could put some serious loads on the pivot itself if the swingarm is too stiff.
I'd be very interested in thoughts about this.