Technical Hairpin vs split wishbone

But Denny, just imagine how much better that coupe would look with some chrome hairpins.

 

Ten-Four!

 

Bones are cool. Hairpins are cool. There are tons of examples of each. There are crude and elegant versions of each, too.

I wanted a little bit of both and used 1932 wishbone as donors for my batwings. I got a little grief for that, hahaha.

We actually had a set of batwings for comparison and reference for these.



Also. Check out @B*** and how he fabbed his batwings from Ford wishbone.

Sometimes, batwings are a necessity depending on your unique setup.

Still, I wouldn't worry about yours. Lots of folks running them.

 

Pro: The axle doesn't move in an arc as it travels up & down when the suspension works; this gives an improved ride and eliminated bump steer due to improper steering geometry.

Con: Poor aesthetics. Not much looks worse on a fenderless rod than 4-bar radius arms. If you're running fenders and running boards the 4-bars are hidden behind the fenders and this isn't a problem. Or, some guys don't mind the look anyway. I hate it.

 

Send them to me!

 

If you change to split bones, you're going to have to address the issue that @Hot Rods Ta Hell mentioned above. You're going to have to drop the steering arms so the drag link and tie rod will run below the bones. According to this photo you've got chromed steering arms. The chrome will be ruined in the process of heating and dropping those arms. So you've got more work and costs beyond just the bones. For what? If it's just aesthetics, you don't like the way the hairpins look, then it's up to you if it's worth making the change. If it's about safety, then you're wasting your time & money, the hairpin set up is plenty strong for the application, has been used on countless race cars and hot rods going back as early as the 30's, maybe earlier.

 

If you are worried about safety and strength, you should surely take a look at how far threads are reaching inside the tie rod and drag link tubes.

 

I've had two cars with this type of front suspension. The first had split bones, the current one has hairpins. I much prefer the wishbones, as I think they look a lot better (think "Kurtis-Kraft") and they are adjustable.

If you can't build an ***embly that has enough threads inside of the components, it's time for a new hobby.

 

Thanks for all of the input guys! I’m come from the rock crawling world so these thin single shear brackets make me worry!!!

 

I built my roadster in 1963 with hair pins.
I've only had a problem one time and that was on a very hot parking lot in Tulsa, when I tried to stop with my front wheels between two lines about a foot apart, the asphalt was actually melting apart and had turned to a tar patch the rt. side tire stopped but the rest of the car didn't!!
The rt. side hair pin wadded it self up, bad.
We got it straighten enough to make it back to eastern MO.
When I built the new set I just filled in between the upper and lower cord with my initials.

 

You may want to get a shorter front spring to get the shackles at a better angle. JW

 

A concern I have with hairpins, and before you ask yes I'm using them on the Whatever project, is the typical clevis used has a 5/8-18 threaded end (More than adequate), but is drilled for 3/8 bolts to attach to the batwing. I just think it's a tiny bit too small. Especially if you don't ensure that the bolt threads don't end up in shear.

I am using spherical rod ends that have the 5/8 shank and a 1/2 bore, again making sure that the threads are not in shear. It means either buying bolts from a specialty supplier or starting with a bolt that has the correct length for the solid shank and shorten the threaded end to suit.

This is just my opinion. Take it for what it's worth.

 

My '36 has a basic Speedway hairpin kit. I hit a car that turned in front of me with my right front tire. The wheel was forced around into the right hairpin and mangled it pretty good. The batwings survived just fine and the clevises looked OK (I replaced the clevises, anyway). A hard enough hit that it bent and twisted the sector shaft on my GM Vega steering box.

Gary

 

So for typical driving all systems will work just fine other then aesthetics, which will put a build into a certain time frame when these different systems were typically used in... 50s 60s 70s?

 

Your REALLY need to mount that brake line better. The end of the steel, where it mounts to the hose, needs to be solid. Not hanging in mid air.

 

I'm always curious why more people don't run bushed ends on hairpins instead of the clevis type. A bushing will help with ride and provide a lot more flexibility of suspension movement and way less bind.

 

No kids could afford hairpins in the 50's Split wishbones was the thing.