Hi guys, I'm in the design stages of building a frame from scratch for my 35 chev truck. I have it all mocked up with tires and axles, and i'm trying to figure out how much clearance i need between the bottom of the frame rail and the top of the axle to allow for suspension travel. Right now i have it drawn up with 6" of clearance but it looks funny (too much). do you think i could get away with 4" or maybe 3"? thanks, george
Someone will help you out, but I would SERIOUSLY do an intro first or these guys are going to be ALL OVER YOU!!
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=18 read a few examples, and do as you feel fit. as far as why goes... Would you walk up to a group of guys at a car show, and immediatly ask that question? And if you would, when they asked you who you are, would you reply as you did here? Oh, and as far as your question goes, it depends on your suspension travel, which is dependant of your suspension setup, spring selection, etc.
Would you like it if I walked into your garage and started asking questions with out even telling you who I am or what cars I have? That is what the intro is for. Around here most everyone is going to ignore you unless you tell us a little about your self. Nothing personal, hell, we don't know who you are. Gene
You want enough clearance so when the air bags(?) are down and the frames on the axle it's laying frame, or not. So, What do you want it to do?
I told you, I tried to warn you and.... well... welcome to the HAMB! Spend some time here and read some of the rules and common courtasy stuff that Ryan has laid down for everyone in each section of the site. Nobody's trying to make you feel unwelcome, we're only trying to make your life easier and keep the structure. Now get to it so we can get to that question of yours!
Yeah i'd do an intro these guys can get carried away. To help answer your Q .The six inches may look funny now, but when you put all the weight on the front end it will drop a lot . I'd keep it at least 5-6 inches . Hope I helped a little ,Welcome to the hamb. Spanky
WOW! We scared him away already! AWW man! None of us mean any harm, we just like the structure. Hope we can help you out some way. There is tons of knowledge here to share. Sometimes the FNG's just get the "initiation" when they don't do an intro. Just do a quicky... "Hi, my name is_____ and I love cars and I'm building a _________ which I will have questions about. I'm from the "cheesiest state" (cheese is my favorite food) and I do _________ for a living..." Just do one of those so we know you'll be a rad member of the HAMB fam'! Cheers!
Intro has been posted. So back to the dilema, the measurement in question is with all the weight on the car and sitting at ride height. I know where I want it to ride, but i'm not sure how im gonna be able to get it exactly at that height. Im thinking i'll have to add and subtract leafs? The front end is gonna be an early ford with tranverse leafs and radius rods, so no airbags. The rear is gonna be a four bar setup, maybe airbags. So whats your guess on the frontend travel? would 3-4 inches of clearance over the axle do it? Or, I wonder if I could end the frame at the spring perch and not worry about clearance issues....hmmm. george
having the shocks that you intend to run in hand would probably help you decide. p***anger cars are usually set up to allow the suspension to drop farther than compress. so if your shock had a 8" stroke you'd need 3-3.5 inchs of clearence above the axle plus a little extra to be safe. at least that's my version of the story.... that old chevy has parallel leaf springs right? just my opinion here but if you're planning on going fenderless you might want to find a ford axle with a traverse spring..of course underslung frames are neat too
so, do you have it mocked up, or are you still in the drawing board stages? If its mocked up can we see some pics? are you planning on running fenderless, or full fendered? how many springs do you have in the spring pack?
I would love to see some pics of this too! Sounds like a great project. Never seen a 35 Chevy bagged. That might be pretty cool too!
It is mocked up, i'll get some pics as soon as i can. I'm planning on running w/o fenders. I dont have a spring for the front end yet. I've run into another problem. The tube axle I have is 48" eye to eye and the radius rod brackets are supposed to be welded on about 30-31 inches apart, i think. Problem is, the front of the cab where the frame rails will be coming through is about 36 inches wide. So, the radius rod will be pinched inwards at the front, that doesn't sound right. i could weld the radius rod brackets farther outwards on the axle but i think it still wont be enough. Do chevys have wider cabs than fords? Do i need a wider axle? Or, do i need to have the frame rails narrower at the cab? I dont think that would look right either. Dunno. george
The frame rails narrow a great deal at the front. Do you have the grille you plan to use? If so, it's easy to follow the model A design where the front of the rails are just outside the grille shell, so add about 4 inches to the grille's width to see what neighborhood you're in. As the rails widen further back toward the cab, you'll find the rear mounting point for the hair pins something less than the 36 inches of the cab. Keep the hair pins parallel and the rails flush with or just inside the cab sides. My bet is that you will be right where you want to be.
I have a pretty similar situation on my '38 ford cab. The original 1-ton frame was about 38" wide in the back and narrowed slightly at the front. The axle is about 36 1/2" between the perches which were slightly outside the frame rails. I'm planning to widen the frame rails to 44" in the rear and angle them in slighly under the cab so that the very front of the frame is a few inches wider than the grill. I'm thinking about mounting the bones/radius rods inbetween the frame rails near the transmission...if they'll fit...haven't mocked it up with the motor yet. Otherwise they'll mount outside the rails like you're talking about doing. The front of the cab (without cutting...) allows for 38 1/2" between the frame rails... 2" wider than the perches on the axle. The radius rods will angle in twords the front like you said but it will only be 1-2" per side...shouldn't be that noticable. I hope to have the frame rails ****oned up and back under the cab for another mock-up in 2-3 week and I'll do a progress pics post then... I'd weld the brackets on as far apart as possible....
Do i have to worry about clearance between the tire and radius rod when the wheels are turned? Here's the pic of the truck set up in my garage. I plan on cutting about a foot off the bed, and channeling the grill a little because its only about an inch off the ground. The front half of the frame is also mocked up with a board cutout, but i think i'm going to change it so that the frame stops before the front axle. what do you think of the way it sits? Also, i thought ive heard or seen of sombody that makes weld-on drop axle tube ends, so that you can make a tube axle as wide as you want. Anybody ever seen this?
The Jalopy Journal
