Those bones magnify the problem because they have no strength to start with! The 4 link conversion works slick as long as you put bushings or Heims on the back of the bones too. I can still imagine people doing it with solid mounts at the rear though...
Jordan, glad you came out OK & the car wasn't hurt any more than it was. Looks like a perfect time to upgrade to a set of ladder bars. Pete & Jake are traditional enough for me. That looks like what's left of a '37-'48 style rear radius rod... IMHO, an even worse choice than the '35-'36 rear radius rods. At least the '35-'36 parts have some "weight" to them in that area. The web (where Jordan's broke) on the '37-'38 rear radius rods can't be more than 3/16" thick. Scary stuff. Thanks for posting for others to see. JH
damn Jordan that sux, but that is a very common problem with those rear bones, they cant handle flexing from the axle wrap and torque of your small block. a lot of guys dont know it by my coupe is 4 linked in the rear, i have two bars on top of the axle and a panhard bar in front of the axle so you cant see anything from the rear. the split bones act as the bottom links, you would never be able to tell unless you crawled under my car. im sure you will have it back on the road in no time though.
Ok, I guess I'll quit being ignorant. Mine aren't split but I was about to use those same rods on my rear setup. Think I'll go unbolt them from my ch***is, toss the bones in the dumpster, and come up with something else.
Sent ya couple pics, Its Dark and i cant see much. You may not be able to see much with all the dirt & oil from when the oil press tube broke last month You can see the General idea, has hiem joints front & rear and connecting points top & bottom with a sloid flange on each side of each joint. Someone here said "Ladder bars fail".. If moine fail they will have to rip the axle housing in 2 & tear out the "K" member to do it.
Have heard of this on a couple of cars--was gonna do the split bones on my roadster, but after a coule of horror stories, I did the 4-link,but tucked it up in the frame rails--only way to see em is get under the car---and the car handled great.
note that's cast STEEL. if you're running a closed driveline with unsplit radius arms, then they are doing exactly the job they were made for, no worries.
im looking for some better ones but these are the only ones i can find right now check out these 36 bones that Jimmy White reinforced http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=337545&d=1185819407 functional works of art.
I have the same setup on my 30 A Coupe that Tet**** describes and Bad Bob also mentioned. Glad to hear you are okay. I had a similar experience prior to the setup I now have. It was the day after driving back from Primer Nationals. (Always a Great idea as mentioned before by Littleman to check EVERYTHING even more after a long drive because thats when all the shakes/ Rattles/ and Rolls Loosen everything up). I was getting on the 5 freeway and as I made the sharp Right hand turn going uphill on the entry lane, Bang, Bang, Bang, the left rear Bone (40 Ford) snapped like a twig. It caused my Rearend to shift SEVERELY and scared the Soul out of my body. Luckily I was still on the slow lane but it was some scary ****. I Welded the Broken Bone back up and now Run Heimed ends. I also added two more links with heimed ends inbetween the rails and are the top two of the four link. No problems yet and Definitely well worth the work.
im going to set it up like tet**** shots car now, i think that might be my best bet right now, otherwise i will go with a latter bar..... i like the bones with the upper links......very functional....thanks eric
So would a '36 bone be strong enough if it had a diagonal brace that basically turns it into a ladder bar? Now you guys have me thinking about the setup on my car.
The upper bars are controlling the torque, but don't you still have the twisting force on the 'bone mounts?
if you are tight on space for a 4 bar you can keep the bones and add bushings to them and build a torque arm like later model camaro's have. i also wrote a tech on making bones into lower links. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=74337&showall=1
Bad designs,and poorly engineered parts, have been breaking since the first car. And some people keep making the same mistakes, over and over,"because it's Traditional". A lot of the street rod,and race car, parts developed from broken parts. People figured out why they broke,and improved their ideas. The designs evolved,to improve the species. Why did they bother ? They got tired of breaking parts. The stuff that used to break 40+ years ago,hasn't gotten any stronger since then.So,we have the chance to learn,and come up with a better idea,or keep breaking the same **** over and over. Your choice.
I'm going with an open driveline. The bones are split as in they have tie rod ends at the front but they are not spread out to the framerails. I wanted to keep the bones because I like the look, and my rear suspension is completely exposed. But a P&J ladder bar set up doesn't look half bad right now. My bones will not have near the amount of stress on them as on this coupe, but I don't think I'll be taking any chances.
Or, as a less than famous "old school" mechanic friend of mine always reminds me, when it comes to using "old car" stuff. " If it was so great, they would still be making it..." You know, he's right, but I still like all that old stuff anyway. Good luck putting your coupe back together, and Im glad your OK.
2 questions Tet, are those heims on both ends of the upper bars and how are the bones attached to the axle solidly bolted or bushed Glad you're ok Jordan
My opinion: Blasted and Slag Custom have the right idea by adding a bushing at the rear and turning the set-up into a four bar. Good under torque and good under suspension travel The set-up Tet**** Shot is using will work well to limit torque applied to the lower arms, but I would still be concerned about the lower arms twisting and possibly fracturing the weld between the casting (or forging) and tube.
Glad your ok, remindes me off when my 51 shoe box droped the drive line! lots of fun!!! the last pics of the four bar with the lower useing the orig bones will work fine as only the tube is used and not the casting.....Roach.
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