I have a dropped axle with transverse spring on early ford hot rod. Also has wishbone radius rods, vega steering and panhard bar. 1st spring perch broke (separated inside axle at thread termination) at 7 miles. 2nd one broke at 3,000 miles. Anyone else experience this or have an explanation? BR
Pics needed. One from the front to show the entire shackle system and angles, clearances... Also what type of bushings in the shackles. Poly can seize or run too tight, which can flex the perch. What type of perch? original Ford or some off shore repro junk that might be cast, instead of forged. Do you have a broken one to show the break surface? the pic might tell if it's cast, if it looks granular. Perch bolts need to be tight, and they need the cone nut at bottom to prevent problems
I will work on photo. The break looks granular but Posies says they are domestic and forged. The bushings are poly.
In that case you aren't having any failures then. Seriously, you need to post pic's if you want some real advice.
Photo's would definitely help,is the spring above the axle? Do the bones fit snug against the axle when the perch nuts are tightened. HRP
A thread about broken spring perches the other day, all I can say is buy original henry forged units and get away from the aftermarket pieces.
Agree with P&B. All the early Ford genuine perches I ever used were out of early Fords, and had considerable miles on them when I cleaned, rebushed, and installed them. I had never seen one break when used on street driven cars...nor I-beam axles, either: ...until the Aftermarket provided us with "Brand New" repops of underpinnings. Give me the gennie stuff.
Maybe you'll find some help in this thread. The guy is calling it a pivot ball but I think he's talking about the same thing if I recall: http://jalopyjournal.com/forum/posts/11054398/
I would say it is impossible for a forged perch to break there in 7 miles even if something else is wrong. Even if the forged perch was overtightened to stress the thread termination, the threads would strip long before you could ever snap it there. I'd bet they are cast. Spark test with a bench grinder will tell. Just because a supplier was told by the manufacturer that they were forged, is not proof that they are forged. Also, those lower shock mounts won't always stay tight (on one side), unless they are "keyed". One side loosens as the shock puts sideways thrust on the mount, which loosens one mounts threads, and tries to tighten the other side. If you look at enough cars with those, you will see some that have loosened one side, and the shock is digging into the I beam face, because the mount has rotated. Those are poor design IMO, 1-800 bolt on stuff. ...and, those bolt-on mounts are now stressing BOTH ends of the perch bolt.
Make sure where your buying them are selling forged steel perchs. There are some cast ductile perchs on the market. Also make sure they are really tight as any movement might lead to premature failure,
Actually after reading again if they are breaking where the threads terminate I am going to fathom a guess that they have cut threads and not rolled.
Thanks, I agree it should be impossible to pull apart a forged bolt....I too think they are cast even if told otherwise. The lock bolts were not loose. The mounts tend to rotate but only about 3 degrees.
Because of what some call X part & someone else calls the same thing , you really need to get a pic. posted . BTW , that was me with a broken spring pivot bolt .. Fixed mine. New tube ,newbolt Dave
Posies told me they are US made forged and they are super bell. I called P and Js and was told they are cast. My axle is forged and if had known there were forged perches available I would never have used cast. The broken ones have been replaced with SoCals, plain forged. Still working on smaller file photos. Thanks for everyone's input.
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