I've asked on some topics, there's opinions from hell in the board topics, kits are 1 way or the other, Ford had his own ideas based on some things. This should tell y'all I've searched. For clarity, buggy sprung front and rear, flatty, dropped axle, 4 tube shocks, 39 Std Tudor. My final result seems counterintuative to what I think should be right, and I never have been the "...just try it and see..." type when such work/results are involved. It seems a front panhard with a cross steer get up is preferred by most. As I look over the car and try to deduce where the weight and better control will be needed, maybe it is best for a rear sway, front panhard. I have HD tube gas shocks on all 4 corners and all are pretty close to about 30 deg so I will get additional lateral support front and rear. What are my concerns? We've all been there, get off the freeway and all of a sudden that ramp is a harder turn than you thought. In a modern car who gives a ****. In an old Ford? Well let's say they weren't exactly a top choice for gymkhana (remember that?). Maybe the weight that's best controlled is the high tudor steel body, the rear of the car on 7.00s, the nose down stance afforded by a 4" dropped axle perhaps effectively lowers the CG up front (although generally you don't divide that value). Cross steer tends to bump steer according to many. My springs are in tension, I went back up to stock hgt shackles and feel the 6.00s and 4" drop is all I want. I'm changing the rear shackles back to stock as well because level sux. All that banter is how far I've thought this through. I have all I need to make a nice long front panhard, at least 32" which will make no perceptable side to side movement in full up-down front travel. Now I need to decide who's rear sway will work best with @purehotrods shock mounts and my mess of tail pipes. Any input there is welcome. I want a ride quality and level of confidence that borders on boring. If I'm ever gonna do it it's now because "maybe later" is more like never later. So go ahead, kick my ***, add experience, show some pics, spill it who's rear sway you used if you did, show some pics (did I already say that?), etc and so forth. And yes I know Henry added a front sway to the 40s which adds to my deep dive into something so basic but Henry didn't offer a 4" dropped axle and gas shocks, so there's that. And as always, thanks in advance for the convo.
On my 40 Sedan I used the Drake rear sway bar/tube shock kit with the original banjo and a Posies spring, and it worked well. I didn't go road course racing with it, but it felt stable back there. I also did not have a front panhard rod, just a Ch***is engineering sway bar and it was stable up front too.
On my '40 pickup, I used a 13/16 rear bar that was for a tri-5 Chevy, had to re-shape the ends slightly, am using a 1" on the front. It's still at the paint shop, so I can't give you any handling info.
We have been building balanced sway bar setups for quite a while now. 1" front and 3/4" rear. The rear mounts much like the one in Marty' post. The front is like stock. If your front shocks mount to the top of the perch pin, our front will work, if they are like the Pete & Jakes/CE, it won't. We build a 26" panard bar kit that bolts on and unless you have a lot more suspension travel than most, you would never notice any side movement. Plot and arc that is 26 inches long and see how much the dimension shortens in your expected travel. I have this setup on my avatar and it corners extremely well.
I have had many 40's with dropped axles. Rear sway bar helps as weedburner mentions. On the front a sway bar helps as well. There are perch pins that have a mickey mouse ear piece on top with two holes--one for the shock and one for a sway bar attachment as well-shock mounts are 46-47? ford maybe .Bolt to stock holes in 40 frame. I have used a stock 40 sway bar with links to that piece with good results and aftermarket ones as well. There are other sway bars that attach to the bottom of the perch pin with a peanut looking affair and a link as well No extended shackles as they induce side sway. On one 40 with this setup I could not tell the difference with a panhard bar or without but I was'nt road racing. Drove it hard though for 10 years-no problem.
FYI--some guy on here had an ad this morning of various ford parts. In the ad was a set of those Ford shock brackets.
On my 41 PU I added a sway bar in front and one in back. CE stuff, rear was custom mounted over the axle to clear my inboard mounted leafs. I haven't driven it enough to know what difference it made but I feel less swayed now, which is nice.
Shocks are in already, all 4 corners. I won't change my @purehotrods rear mounts. Nice parts,I recommend em: It looks like more than 30 deg in the picture but it's 30 degrees: I made front mounts on the 'bones due to loss of turning radius with the 4" drop. No room for "normal" practices. I used a threaded tube adapter and modified the Pete n Jakes uppers as well, got almost all the turning radius back... So other than a couple bars I'm about set. I guess I was interested in the pros and cons of choice. Panhard front, sway rear, vice verse, Frank or Dean, cats or dogs, chocolate or vanilla, small block or big block... And I need to update my build thread, been a bit.
The Drake kit mounts look just like the pure hot rods ones you have, except the have a tab on top to accept the Sway bar links. I almost bought the mounts you have until I discovered the Drake kit.
IMO the Drake rear anti- roll bar setup is the best thing that ever happened to an early Ford. If you have stock length shackles, no need for a panhard bar.
Ok, of interest to the topic. In 29 or 30, Packard developed a unique spring mount at the front. Front semi-eliptic springs, drag link, bigheavy cars. Their solution to reduce input to the steering wheel was what they called a "trunion block" mount on the left rear spring eye. It had 2 spring eye bolts, one throuhg the spring and one through the block. The block was suspended from the ch***is by 4 short tough coil springs. When the car hit something the axle could absorb the shock and reduce or eliminate and feedback to the driver and it works well. The caveat was braking. Equal braking forces caused a pull to the left, so to combat this they used a shoe set that was narrower than the the other 4 wheels. This equalized braking. As I review our beloved wishbone-buggy fronts I imagine an excessive bump could induce a bit of force to the wheel because the whole works can pivot from the rear mount to one side or the other. Perhaps in normal driving it's no big deal but n a Motown potholed road or freeway it's possible. and I can see why cross steer would amplify the effect. Am I wrong here? Even in a tension spring mount, could it happen? Just for your viewing pleasure I'll post a pic of an engineering drawing of the trunion block later.
48 Fords had a panhard bar and front sway bar as a stock setup. For my 41 (which is similar to a 40, same front axle) I am adapting a panhard from a 48, moving the front sway bar to the rear (11/16 diameter) and using a Ch***is Engineering kit for the front (3/4 or 7/8 diameter, I don't recall). Its still being put together so have no driving impressions yet.
Ok, from the skinning cats dept... I'm not advocating anything with this. We're talking about bump steer and the like, just thought some of y'all might find it interesting. Enjoy...
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