Thought I'd share this steering arm found on a '32 Ford 5 window I acquired. Car was converted to hydraulic brakes using '40 style spindles. The car overall looks good yet has some poorly executed modifications. Ron
Traditional does not always mean good, or safe..... After finding that, hopefully there are no other surprises awaiting you. Good Luck with your project!
you should see the steering arm I have on a fifty dodge I just bought. Holy smokes! basically its the shape of a Y. the one end fits the steering box, then the arm was cut and two eye ends were welded back on, the original and then another, one turned upside down from the other.
Scary sure does describe that one. I often think of that when one of these machines is coming at me. Who built it and what surprise does it hold in store. WOW
Haha....that's some homemade back yard engineering. It did however last this long but none the less scary.
Well at least they got both sides roughly symmetrical. You have to remember that back in those days you were lucky if you knew someone who had both arc and oxy welders to do this stuff. How about a pic of the car itself? I'm a 32-5 window junkie.
Looks like Military Surplus stuff , maybe from the Moon Rover . Safety is where it's at , everyone thanks you for removing that MESS . We need to keep this hobby going , the events that could have happened with use of this type of home brew stuff could be nothing but bad for our hobby .
I've read everyone's remark's but I'd ask to look at it again. Those bends are there for a reason, not to bend easily. There was some thought put into it and it didn't fail.
I would suspect that the bends were put in during Phase II of the design, to shorten the length of the arm. A bolted in ball joint would have added the ability to rebuild the arm. A plate welded between the two rods would have provided a big increase in strength and if done right still looked good. Canuck
That comes from a time when they may have gone to a local blacksmith shop to have it made. In the 50's and even early 60's I rode along with my grandfather to the blacksmith shop where he had them make something or repair a piece for his farm equipment and the engineering doesn't look a lot different. Now, I' clean the grease off it an give it a spot on the shop wall
That almost looks like it might have been a store bought piece from back in the old days. Look at the threading, both end the same, castle nuts on both ends. You have to remember there wasn't as much engineering from the aftermarket back then. They were early in the learning curve back then. An average hot rodder today has all the learning of those guys.
The Jalopy Journal
