The front suspension cradle is obviously a critical component and we do not take the task of replacing the OEM cradle lightly – much less doing so while removing fully 50% of the weight! The experienced fabricators at Razors Edge have years of experience designing and making parts like this, but in this case they chose to supplement their practical knowledge with the same type of engineering analysis used by OEM engineers – namely Finite Element Analysis (FEA). FEA is a mathematical process by which a 3D CAD model of a component is divided into thousands of smaller elements which are then analyzed for stress in three dimensions.

Like many other technical processes, what you get out of FEA is only as good as what you put in to it. Wanting to make sure that we subjected the K-member to forces beyond what it would ever see on the street, we used a 4800-pound Dodge Magnum for our model and subjected it to performance that would be seen by a top-level racing car on full racing slicks. Through a hard (3G) vertical bump, a 1.5G lateral turn, and braking to a stop at 1.2G deceleration, the virtual K-member was put through its paces.

The results? Overall, a very strong showing for a component that weighs half as much as its OEM ancestor! Several areas were identified that could suffer from fatigue stress and minor changes were made to the K-member design to address them. Very few other aftermarket manufacturers care enough to put this amount of resources towards ensuring the parts they sell will work as advertised. At Razors Edge, we are committed to producing parts that not only look great and shave pounds, but that will give years of reliable performance under the harshest conditions. We hope you enjoy the new, lightweight Tubular K-Member and the extra performance that comes along with it.