In my opinion, if you are going straight axle you have to cut the frontend off, I'm not at all a big fan of the look of the bulky crossmember under a car with a straight axle. In the old days a straight axle was put on and the frontend cut off to save weight (about 200lbs.) If you want the stock front end then build a gasser without the straight axle. You could always pickup a frame reasonably later on if you want to go back to stock. But if you're going straight axle cut the front end off, just my 2 cents.
I am prolly not the one to ponder this but it is what we build here all the time, currently started a 55 hardtop blown 383 and mas axle set up 52 inches wide , we have used 8 of the speedway setups and all are a bit short but perform great i have had no trouble at all and our cars all bring good money and drive great. this is the first i have ordered from mas but it is basically the same stuff. we dont advocate putting a 40 yr old part on for saftey sake if it is going fast and on modern tires etc. that is what we call an upgrade.. if you do go to the old parts at least rebuild it all and have it aligned properly.. we always use disc brakes frt and rear , just because.. we have used some 90's explorer 8.8 rears with disc brakes and 355 or 370 gears as they are 59 1/2 inches wide and yours is 61 from factory , they also have 31 spline axles ..
Here are a couple of pics of the Speedway deal installed. They are a little narrow but look OK. I ran a early impala steering box on mine because it was cheap and an easy find in a local salvage. It worked out well for a cross steering deal and drove very well (hands free on the strip at 109MPH). No one ever called me on the car not having the traditional look...running a tube axle. I have run many early straight axles over the years and can verify that they bend very easily. Running the BBC in this car and knowing that I would be driving it on the street some I didn't even consider trying to run one. Good luck with your project. I had so much fun with my straight axle car that I am considering building another one...maybe an early Ford this time.
Do you guys that cut the front rails off make your own new rails? Or do you use an aftermarket set? Is there a quality set available out there for this purpose? What about just cutting the cross member out? Anyone ever done that? I was going to use a front engine plate instead of motor mounts. Will this help in restrengthening the rails at the same time? Plus of course there would be a crossbar somewhere at the front of the rails.
They work great. Keep an eye on the bolts that are used to mount the ball joint spacers and all works well. The bump stop bellow the upper control arm is taken out and with the longer springs is about as high as you can go before the control hits the frame on full extension.
I think the key word here guys is he wants a straight axle so . just do it. I would cut the frame as we always do and use 2x4 .125 tubing or even 3/16 to replace it with and you can taper the front and use a spreader bar out of 1 3/4 tubing and it is easy and works great. just measure measure measure.. and think it out. dont use already worn out stuff or it will drive like the old hot rods drove, like crap..... if you dont like new look let it rust without paint and it will be i guess traditional or whatever. good luck
^^^No its definatley going to get painted, I dont see the point in just letting the bare metal rust. Thanks for all the pictures and links, I think I am likely going to go with an I-Beam because I am only going to be runnign a SBC and it wont be THAT fast, so it's prolly not likely to bend on normal driving. I am also pretty sure that I will be cutting off the frame because it just wont look right with the stock front, but there is always a possibiliy I could leave it. How do you guys mount teh rad and hinge the frontend? I dont think I am giong to attempt the front frame forks/axle myself because I am NOT a master craftsman and the frame is a HUGE part of the safety (if not all of it) and I dont think I shoudl try it myself. I am hoping to check out a local shop that seems to well recommended and see how much this is going to cost me. Then I'll have to start collecting parts.
Ya know Cadguy - after looking at both of those builds, doing a new set of rails doesn't seem as hard as I thought it was when I started thinking about doing mine a year ago. I realise it'll still be hard work but I understand the process much more now. Great info in those pics! CDN34 - go for it man! Straight axle all the way!
^^^Yea those pics were great to help me understand exactly what I need to do, pics are always better then words. I think straight axle is the way to go for sure, just need the parts!
The fab work is not too bad, but we did have a friend do the frontend fab work who has been doing profesional fab work for years, you really need a good welder and good welding skills to get it right and strong. We put the pics up so people thinking about doing it would get a better idea of how we did it. The way we did it is not the only way to go but we just drove our cars 500 miles round trip to the Goodguys show this weekend in Iowa and they drive like champs at 65 mph.
Those Chevy pickup axles look like my '34 axle I have sitting here... how wide are they from cl of kingpin to cl of king pin? What about between the cl of the spring perches? Sam.
I went out and measured mine and it looks like it is the same... the one I had came from a 1930 Chevy coupe... and looks the same as yours. Did you pull that from a truck? Or was it a swap meet find? Either way... neat axle... and the same as my '30... Sam.
Got it from HAMB member JonP. He pulled it from a 54 GMC truck. I polished just the edges to highlight them. Might paint the center section. Not sure yet. Here's a pic before chroming...
"This location of cutting off the front suspension was taken from an April 1967 Hot Rod magazine article. " I don't suppose anyone can scan this article or copy it and send it to me?????
The Jalopy Journal
