Pretty sure I'm going to run hairpins on my build for the front to locate a dropped I-beam. The questions. If I were making them from scratch I would make them from steel tubing. How thick of a wall... .120-ish? How would I get the tight bend? I see 27" is a typical length, is that radial centerline dimension with the rod ends in place or just to the end of the stubs? If I were buying them I see I have a few styles and can choose from standard steel or stainless. I will have things to weld to them to accomidate the transverse spring so I was thinking of going with the steel ones from Speedway. Would that be a huge mistake or are they still pretty good? They just seem really cheap. So, someone advise on steel vs. stainless. If I made my own they would be steel so why wouldn't I BUY steel ones (***uming similar quality). There will be a Hemi on board so I'm thinking of just buying the stainless. Input please!
Stainless is so you can have shine without chrome or the rust that goes with it. Steel works fine also but you either have to paint it or plate it. They don't all look like a hairpin either. BenD has some pretty old ones on his phone booth that look like a pair of ladder bars. Actually there is a pair on a friends wall ( he won't seel 'em to me) that have about 45 degree bends in the ends. I'll try and make you a picture. they look pretty good and were made back in the day ( whenever that was). If you make your own just make 'em the right length for you car, if they need to be longer or shorter than 27" to land in the right place you just make 'em to whatever they will need to be. A little crude but you catch my drift right?
The home-made radius rod you see on this car is 34 1/2" long eye to eye. They're constructed of 7/8" OD DOM tubing with .156 wall. Threaded for 5/8-NF. This tubing is also the correct size for making your own tie rods and drag links. You'll need left and right hand taps in 11/16-18 which is the right size for Ford tie rod ends. (Available at Speedway.) Panhards too if you wish, but most guys use 3/4" OD for front panhards. A 7/8" panhard works well in the back. You can make the bend in the tubing using the old sand in the tubing trick with the ends capped off. The sand - make sure it's dry - keeps the tube from collapsing. If you make a gentle bend as I did, you may be able to do without the sand. This radius rod was bent in a Harbor Freight pipe bender - which has different sized dies than what is required for bending tubing, but the 1" pipe die is the right size for 7/8" tubing. Pipe is measured ID. Tubing is measured OD. A lot of guys end their radius rods at the hood/cowl juncture and that makes for a pleasing appearance. I went a little further with mine because I like em a little longer than that. Note that the radius rods lower bar with the bend looks kinked. That's an optical illusion formed by the steel stored under the car. Batwings are Deuce Factory stainless.
If you're going to hang a hemi off the hairpins you had best use at least 1 inch .180 wall tubing.be sure to put an upright brace where spring hanger will be. It's also important to run a few upright braces between top and bottom bars.If you have decent sized front tires the torque from braking will and has many, many times bent the hell out of light hairpins,with a small block. Never mind a big ***ed hemi. The longer you make the hairpins (within reason) the less binding will occur in suspension. Longer hairpins should be built stronger to resist bending. Gemini EFI
I made mine from heavy hydraulic steel pipe about 1" diameter with a sidewall of about 3/16". I bent the pipe with a pipe bender (10 ton) to 90 degrees on a 4" mandrill. I cut them on an angle and then welded a short piece between them to mount the end in. They're heavier than anything you'll see in catalogues, but I don't have to worry about bending them. Flatman
They're not hard to build, but they're not expensive either. I built them front and rear for my 34 truck project, the only reason I did not buy some is because I made a decision to build as much stuff as possible on this project. As someone mentioned, there is a 7/8" wall tubing that is very close to being ready to tap 11/16". I run a 41/64" drillbit through it to make the tap run easier, and I do use a lathe to tap, trying to get it straight on the bench is a *****. Bending is no problem, I use a jig made out of 4" pipe. Heated properly, I have never deformed or collapsed the tubing during bending.
Try this address : http://colemanracing.com/ Coleman has tubing that is made for this application. It's listed as tap tubing. It's cheap and Coleman is good people.
Tell me more about your hairpins. Length, diameter, material, wall thickness, etc... I didn't see a description next to your product.
FYI - I haven't found a source for Stainless Hairpins. So-Cal has Stainless Batwings...but the Hairpins themselfs are Chrome Plated If anyone know where you can get Stainless HAIRPINS please let us know
Lots of good info here guys! Thanks! Considering building my own down the road. I like the idea of making them to whatever spec I need. For rod ends, I sort of like the clevis ends better for the batwing/axle end of the hairpins. Are those lefthand threads? Excuse my ignorance, but why would I need a lefthand thread for a hairpin that is triangulated and won't and cant be rotated be rotated once mounted up? Someone mentioned having a lefthand thread. Was that just if I'm going to run the Ford ends? Thanks everyone!
Speedway sells them along with their steel ones. http://www.speedwaymotors.com/xq/aspx/paging.yes/dept_id.321/display_id.3328/qx/Product.htm Good price too!
I wanted to make mine out of stainless, problem is finding the right size at the right price. The best price I have found so far is $20/Ft.! I guess I am going to go the chrome route.
This was my concern also working with stainless (bending, drilling, machining, tapping, anything) is more difficult. If stainless is the route I'll probably just buy. I have some things to consider when it comes to buying vs. building also. I prefer to build everything myself when and where I have the means... just have to see where things are at with time, materials, etc. when I get to that point... which is still far off... Bob... still waiting to hear about your hairpins. Need a sales pitch! Also, do your include the ends?
SOAB!!!!!!!!! When did they start making those!! - oh well I guess when I re-do the ch***is I already bought the Pete&Jakes Chrome ones 3 years ago so they are getting used for now - & S0-cal only has the stainless batwings
Yeah, $189 is a pretty swell deal since I would have to weld to them anyway. Don't mind polishing myself. All I would have to get is the rod ends. I may consider this seriously. Wish they were slightly longer though.
I agree. I wish they were longer also, but at that cost for stainless... I think I am going to buy rather than build. I can't even buy the stainless for that.
Paging Bob Hindman... please pick up the HAMB courtesy phone and... fill us in on your hairpins! We need more details still! (Jeopardy thinking time tune playing in background while waiting...)
Right hand threads on all three corners of a radius rod work fine and are the way to go. I mentioned left hand taps in case you wanted to make your own tie rod and drag link. One stick of 7/8" x .156 wall - which many times comes 22' long - will make a set of radius rods or four bars as well as a tie rod and drag link. Incidentally the 7/8" x .156 wall tubing is the size the aftermarket uses. 1" tubing may be more common, but I think 7/8" looks a little better. Even so, if 1" front four bars or a radius rod is fairly long the 1" stuff would look ok. I wouldn't sweat stainless, use the standard DOM tubing and chrome plate it. I have Deuce Factory 4 bars on the front of my 32 and home-made 1" four bars on the rear. The rear bars are chrome plated and look a little bit better than do the stainless front bars. The DF bars up front are well polished and they've looked good for a long time. The only way you can tell them apart finish-wise is the chrome has a slight bluish tint. I'd shop around a bit before I'd cough up $20. per foot for stainless. I built an 8' wide, 6' tall wrought iron gate a few years back and the metal supply outfit mixed up the order request. When I went to get the two sticks of 1" x 2" x .090 rect tubing along with a couple sticks of 1" x .080 wall square tubing the bill came to $437. Kinda stunning it was. Then I spotted SS on the bill, looked out the window and saw all the stainless packaged up ready for loading. Seems like the bill for the mild steel stuff was $75. or so. I don't know if steel prices are going down, but we had a new steel supplier open up and his prices are almost half of what the been-here-long-time steel suppliers were charging. If you live near a big city, most time you can find a supply house that specializes in aluminum and stainless. Usually their prices are entirely within reason. And if not a specialty house, the bigger suppliers usually carry stainless and aluminum. Check your yellow pages.
Whew! Thanks for all those bits! Yes, I agree the drag link will need to have LH and RH threads. Absolutely! Didn't realize that's what you were referring too... sorry about that! Yeah, I live in Vegas and have plenty of connections with steel suppliers. I use Curtis Steel Co. Inc. quite a bit. They can get everything I need in just about any kind of metal. If I made my own I wouldn't make them out of stainless for exactly the reasons you mentioned but also because of how much harder it is to work with. If I went stainless I think I would just buy those Speedway models and polish them up when I was done. Here's a more direct question I should probably be asking.... those of you running Hemi's and hairpins (or any heavy-*** motor!) what are you running for hairpins?? My thoughts on that are that the spring is taking most of the abuse from the weight and the radius/hairpins/panhard are just keeping things square and moving. Is there any reason why the hairpins should be anymore beefy then anyone elses? I could see for stopping and wild turns how they may be more effective when the weight of that Hemi is being thrown around, but I'm still thinking it can't be that much more... Thoughts and comments??
Ive got stainless hairpins on mine. They look fantastic and the quality of the tig welding is spot on. I bought them b/c I wanted s/s and I dont have TIG and wanted a proper set that were well made. Check em out at www.rodtech.com.au Rat
Is Curtis Steel the outfit I see when turning off the east bound 15 onto Craig Rd.? Seems like the name is Engineering something. My older daughter lives in North LV and we go there 3-4 times a year. You're just up the road from Kingman and it's an easy drive. More than likely the new steel outfit I mentioned will make it for us, but my pal tends to buy quite a bit of steel at one time when he's doing wrought iron gates and the like so it could be a good deal for us to cruise up there, buy steel, hit a casino for lunch etc.
You might be thinking of Steel Engineers at the Spaghetti Bowl (where 15 and 95 interchanges meet), there is supposedly a new place down the street from my work on Craig and 15, but I haven't checked it out and I don't know the name. Curtis Steel is at 4565 Wynn Road (by the Orleans). There is quite a few metal places in town... Century, Steel Engineers, P&S Metals, and several others. All their prices seem to fluctuate from eachother.
EFI makes a good point on the Hemi and the hairpins or at least it makes sense from an Engineers point of view. What the hairpin, or radius rods or suspension links do is locate the axle front to back. So in a panic brakeing situation they would keep the axle from rolling under the ch***is or the ch***is from rolling over the axle. its an inertia thing. That said I've seen a lot of rods over the years with heavy motors and hairpins. Not that many had anything special as far as hairpins go jyust your normal run of the mill hairpins and I haven't seen many of them wadded up. Those usually were involved in a crash. I'm running 5/8 rod ends on the fronts of the hairpins for my altered and 3/4 on the rear. The 3/4 may be over kill. I'll be running a 440 wedge. My design for the pins is a little different than what you would normally see but they are well designed and I won't have any problems. 3/4 DOM .128 wall ( I believe) and 1" .130 wall on the back side. I'm running Bendix twin pistons and 10" rotors on the front.
The Jalopy Journal
