Projects The bucket of ugly! A de-uglifying thread...

Perhaps THAT is what it meant in your neighborhood. I just can't remember Any springs BEHIND the axle in my little part of the world.

 

Getting the steering arms out far enough to get correct Ackerman would be difficult with drum brakes. Now with small disks it might be done. (I had a hard time writing that). I never liked the look either. Just thought it was a lazy build.

 

Rebel,
I just could not agree more,

On a related note: Your's (and Norm's design) is the exception, as far as springs BEHIND the axle,, that mount could NEVER fail.. Just too well done. That is my preferred "spring behind axle" mount !!! Well done, praise to Norm.. !! rip

 

Its not the spring mount that can/would break but the spring. On the car I pointed out with the bad Ackerman there is plenty of room to correct it, you may not get it exactly right but you could move it to toe out on turns and not toe in. As for the length of the arms on a 100'' WB car, that I haven't worked out the formula of that ratio, it depends on wheelbase and track width. JW

 

I have my axle 3.5" ahead of the spring and my crossmember for the spring is under the rad.
Using Superbell long steering arms I got my tie rod to run to the rear and cross over behind the rad.
IMO the tie rod hanging out in front is ugly even if you might think you can get it set up right .
I agree with Gary. Lazy building.

 

About ALL that clip showed me was 6 air cleaners, Hoped for a lot more..

 

It might not show in my avatar but my front spring is mounted over the axle. I achieved the front drop by raising the spring mount. I did have to heat and drop the tie rod arms which shortens them. I did have a low speed death wobble that wouldn't go away until I installed a V.W. stabilizer. All works great now. You know I did have to have a new bottom leaf which I didn't have chromed. I had heard chrome can make them brittle. ?

 

I thought you cut off wishbone and reversed them, Like Norm's

Whatever, it looks correct to me..

 

verde
In the '80s when I was building my bucket I wasn't building a clone. Hell I don't think I had ever seen a clone. That is why Franko was able to pass his build off as the original. I actually asked Norm at the Oakland show if it was his old car. His response "if it's not he fooled me" Not a dead lie. What I was after was "the look" of Norm's or Tom's rods. I had certain things that were a must. Steel T body. banjo diff. and V860 axle. Pretty much other than that it was what I found got from friends or found at swaps. Actually if I had it to do over I would have done it different. 20/20 hindsight. Actually the body I found for the start had a pretty ratty built frame that had four bar brackets welded on it. If I had it to do over I would have straightened up and boxed that frame and copied Norm and Tom's front suspension.

I also had the chance to have Tommy the Greek stripe my finished roadster and decided not to. In 1990 when I first finished it a friend of mine knew Tommy well and would visit him at his last shop in Oakland. Tommy would still go there just to feed the cats according to my friend Rich. The shop was in a pretty rough part of Oakland and I pussed out and didn't go. My roadster might have had the last teardrop the Greek ever layed down. 20/20 hindsight.
Gary

 

Time to show yers from every angle again,
mostly I see yer avatar, and remember the mattress on the bed. and the girl by the railing. !!

Favor us with more pictures, close ups,please don't make me beg..

 

Well okay if you insist. You know how I hat to show off. NOT!

Check out her butox in the Levies.

 

yep, That's my girl,
Yep, I like the overall look of that car...
What steering gear are you using.?

 

Glad you asked. Ross. Old chrome Ross. You know I have friends that I probably don't deserve. I was at Jack's shop and he had this laying in a roadster he was building. I saw it and I said "Jack if you don.t use that box I want it". A few months later a mutual friend brought it over and said all Jack wants is the $20 he paid for it years ago. I don't deserve friends like that. And then again a friend that just rebuilt my banjo for what must must have been minimum wage saw a set of aluminum Tornado headlight stands that I just bought and said he wanted to buy them from me. I'm going down tomorrow to give them to him. That's what this shit is all about.
Gary

 

I had a Divco milk truck, it had a ROSS steering gear, but I probably could not have sold the milk trk, without leaving it in the Divco,
I understand Ross was in a lot of older trucks, not finding one tho.. What is your W.B. ?

Are the headlite stands on your car, the Tornado ones you refer to? If they are, I have a brand new set, never been drilled for mounting. Goin' keep em, just bragging..

 

And it doesn't have that "kicked in the ass" look
dave

 

I actually have 2 inches of spacer plates on the rear spring. (They're hidden behind the license plate.) I've been thinking about pulling an inch out the back so that the top of the rear tire lines up with the center of the "X" in the oval T tank ends. But, I probably should just leave it alone for now. Thanks guys.

 

Verde these are the ones I'm taking down to Mike tomorrow. I bought them a few weeks ago at a swap by his home in Petaluma Ca. and Mike saw me walking out with them, asked to look at them and started talking about the height of roadster headlights. I could see the gears turning in his head. He called me a few days later and asked as I had Jack about the Ross. "if you don't use them etc.". I actually have no use for them at the time but they looked so nice (unused) and you just seldom see them that I just bought them and hung them up in my garage.
I've never seen Tornado stands that weren't drilled and counter sunk for mounting by Lee Chapel himself. Post a picture of what you have. A lot of manufactures started making aluminum headlight stands during the T Bucket Fad of the '60s and beyond. I don't remember if it was on this thread or not but their is an almost perfect Kookie Kar Klone around with the wrong stands on it. It just drives me nuts overtime I see it.

Gary

 

How'd your ride go ??
dave

 

Wrong. I had my arms in front, when I did my first T Bucket. The arms had the correct Ackerman. They angled towards my DISC brake rotor. I'm going to use the same set up this time around, too. I just liked the look and never had an issue. Now, if you're using the flat arms without the angle, (like I did in the rebuild), it won't matter if the arms are in front or behind the king pins, Ackerman will suffer. Total Performance used that set up on their T's. Works very well.

I learned to live with the straight arms, but making a U-turn was a bitch.

 

65-70 mph was no problem. It rode smooth. The tread noise from the tires right beside my head takes some getting used to. I didn't seem to have that with the slicks.

I wish I would of kept the windshield 2-3" higher. The wind buffeting above 55 gets annoying. Oh well.

 

As far back as I can remember, this was refered to as a suicide front end., the spring perch supporting the front end and not a crossmember.

 

I have a single, undrilled Tornado (or Tornado clone) headlight stand. It definitely isn't a new piece. I would love to find a matching one for the Dodge bucket. Anyone got a spare?

 

You need to burn some of that tread off. The GOOD way.

 

Check with me in October, at my Summer home till then...

 

I build my front perches with the spring on top, using 1/2" u-bolts.

 

can you turn the drivers wheel a little way, so we can see better?

 

If it is Tornado you can use it to cast another one. Tornado are the same each way. Post a photo I can usually pick out a Tornado.

 

NICE TALK !!!!

 

Here are some shots of another car.

 

wish you would save it for different crowd. sorry, Its my favorite word, but I try to show refrain. TJM