History Looking for history-Vintage commercially built 40 Ford Front coil spring conversion.

Looking for history on a commercially built coil spring conversion for 40 Fords.

Tim is running it an A on Deuce Rails 40 Ford front crossmember.

-The Coils fit in the crossmember with brackets
-The coils sit on a "swing arm" that bolts in place of the stock spring
-The "swing arms" then attach to the stock Ford wishbone using stock shackles.

Any insight would be helpful
@Moriarity

Thank-You,
Robert J. Palmer

Yes I know we are using a right spindle on the left it is what we had for the photo

 

My interest and curiosity have been peaked. Id love to know the story behind that piece. Ive seen alot of stuff but never that front end setup.
My wheels are turning now about building a similar setup for a spring behind setup mounted to a hairpin. Hmmmm interesting.

 

I'm looking forward to this history lesson.
Those pic's sure get you thinking...

 

Those arms the coil springs attach to sure do look like they might have been used on the rear suspension of something originally.

 

Similar to what Allard's ran, they were squirrely at speed due to the camber change due to the short swing arms. I wouldn't run one.

 

I was thinking Allard. However, this set up uses the stock Ford shackles and Ford axle.
The coil "spring arms" just replaces the buggy spring. The axle is not split, so there is no camber change.

Stock Allard

Stock Ford Shackles mount to the wishbones


Stock 40 Ford spring

 

I remember some street rod type company was selling a twin I beam setup similar to this with the idea it would look like a beam axle from outside but handle more like an IFS. But that was like 10 or 15 years ago and those pieces look way too old to be from that era.

Ford's factory Twin I-Beam suspension for pickup trucks is quite a bit different, with the pivot points far away from each other, where this one is split right in the center.

Very interesting pieces there.

 

NOT a split axle !! I have seen pic some where in the past, I will poke around in my old books. I am thinking along the lines of off road for more ground clearence or flexability..

 

Thank @seb fontana that would be great if you would check!

 

I'm officially fascinated. Never seen this before. Those are some beefy looking coil springs!

 

That front end was under an old 40 Ford Hot Rod, the guy who bought the car wanted a period correct hot rod and put the buggy spring back in and this set up sold it to Tim.
That coil front end that was put under the car 25 years or more before I was born (1981) but somehow isn't period correct.

 

Can't see that much would be gained in ride quality by using coils vs a leaf spring. Interesting conversion tho; but it looks like it would ride sorta high. Need to get it together with an axle and stuff and post more pictures.

 

Crazy set up....looks period to me, a lot of restorer types on here it seems. Strange for a hot rod kustom site in my eyes...

 

What I think,think as you like !;
No,not simple or smart,adds nothing good,but dose add lbs. an more crap to fail. Coil springs are stiffer an are hard used that close to center. History repetes good an bad stuff=try not to redo bad ideas.
Ture that a leafspring not cared for as it should be ,can be stiffer then it was design for and bind,but keep up with them an rest of front end,it works well. To many mod are done in the name of "better" that are not/like MustangII crap put in,do to them not knowing how to set up a stock front end.

 

Moonshiner Modification.

 

I am curious as to how the Ford spindles would mount to this setup.

 

Same way as with a leaf spring. This setup ONLY replaces the leaf spring. As has been mentioned, this is not a split-axle. The regular axle is still in the mix.

I have a similar setup, using air ride, on a Model A. It is not from these guys, but it is similar.

This will help explain:
https://www.hotrod.com/articles/traditional-air-cen-pen-speed-shop/

 

Never thought I’d see another one. I bought a 47 two door for the Columbia almost 30 years ago. I pulled the rear end and scrapped the rest . But it also had that goofy front spring deal. It was so different that I saved it. Many years ago I did find the sales brochure for that front end In a early Ford V8 magazine. Made some Photo copies of it and may still have some. Decided it was something I was never going to use and even listed it for sale on the Ford barn and on the HAMB . Some Thought it was cool, but no takers. Just this summer I threw it away the only thing I have left is one coil spring I use for an anchor in my pond. Mine did have a little aluminum manufacturers tag Riveted On it but I don’t remember the manufacturer. Happy to answer any questions about it and you are welcome to my anchor if you need it.

 

I'd be interested in seeing how they resolved the bump steer issue.
It would ideally need an idler arm in the centre.

 

I was able to bring the article up . But for some reason the pictures won't show up. Very interested to see what this looks like together.

 

I am not sure that the manufacturer was marketing it for a 40 Ford .Mine came off a 47 or 48 if I remember correctly it had A bar going from the frame to somewhere on the axle which is stock Ford.

 

Does the bone get split?

 

Other that the customary reasons to split the wishbone, there would be no other reason to do it.

This setup replaces the leaf SPRING, not the axle.

 

Here's a modern version, from the article. Note the whole axle, uncut, and the pivots for the spring bars, in the crossmember. On the OP's setup, there are conventional coils, and the spring bars are bolted to the crossmember, at the original spring mount:

 

The "swing arms" low coil mounts simply replace the buggy spring.
The arm bolt to the stock 40 Ford crossmember see above then attach to the stock Ford wishbone using stock shackles.
The axle is still held in place by the wishbones.

This is a stock 40 front end set up.
The red lines represent which the "swing arms" bolt to the stock crossmember using the four U-bolt holes and using leaf spring shackles mount to the 40 wishbones in place of the stock spring.

The Yellow lines represent the coil springs that fit inside the front crossmember.
Note the coils mount more to the outside of the crossmember about under the engine mount


The yellow arrow points to the bracket that fits inside the crossmember and bolts to the frame.

 

@gimpyshotrods is correct the wishbones do not need to be split.

Tim did need to split the bones for this project because of the engine transmission choice.
347 Flathead Cadillac and a Cad/LaSalle transmission. I am really shocked no one noticed that!

 

This is all the info that I have on it.

 

While I can understand the attempt at applying logic to making a setup like this, as it should have advantages over a leaf spring, for a variety of reasons, if it made all that much difference, we would not be having this conversation.

 

And the H.A.M.B. comes thought again!

Anyone know how long they were produced?