Customs Is this Gasser front straight axle SAFE for the street??

since when did hot rodding become safe?

 

Probably never, however a person shouldn’t go out of their way with unsafe practices or shoddy workmanship, the HAMB is full of individuals with suspension and steering geometry expertise, anything worth doing is worth doing correctly. Gasser type cars aren’t meant to be corner carvers although some drive pretty damn good I believe, there again those cars are set up correctly. Just my opinion
Dan

 

PS if a few of the experts on here say no way to a particular setup I damn sure wouldn’t drive it.
Dan

 

There is a difference between potentially unsafe, and homicidally/suicidally dangerous.

 

^^^^THIS^^^^

especially when it's coming down the road at me and my family!

....

 

I drove a motorcycle in Los Angeles freeway "rush hour" traffic for a little over 400,000 miles back and forth to work every day (even some weekends).

I would NOT drive that !

Mike

 

Your hobby shouldn’t kill you, your lifestyle neither.

 

Wow, you are totally correct! I did the same thing in my '40 Chevy coupe, in the carport, back in 1964. Just had to
have "the look". Not knowing anything about geometry, if I took a right corner too sharp, I had to get out of
the car and cock the wheels back straight. After a week, it was no longer the look that I wanted. Funny now.

 

Looks a little sketchy…But, at first glance, putting the spring up in the crossmember and throwing the spring spacer in the trash can would be a step in the right direction! Probably could also remove a few of the leaves from that massive spring.

 

Looks about as safe as a lot of stuff seen here.
Would I drive it ? NO.

 

What does the car in the original post, have to do with hot rodding ?

 

I don't think so.

Times have changed and so have building styles, I think the double leaf springs would be far more stable and controllable should you get out of shape, especially on the street. HRP

 

Most Gassers used beam front axles to save weight. This set up completely misses the weight savings point as well as looks extremely dangerous. Can’t imagine turning corners at any speed.

 

Possibly in the 7 years that this thread laid dead before you dug it out for that comment?
The axle and spring and wish bones from the 40/48 Ford that donated them were never the issue, the issue was the cobbled up mess putting them in to raise the car a foot higher than it would have been if it had been done right. Still they probably added weight to the front end rather than reduced it when they did it.
Someone gets bored and digs up a 2017 thread that has been dead since 2017 and posts a nonsense comment and the thread comes alive again.

 

Amen!
I always wonder what's going on when someone digs up a dead old thread.

 

When a Old Thread is - Linked- to a new Thread and you click it to find some useful information. But, when you get there, all the old pictures are nothing but Red X’s. That’s what sucks. Why so many useful pictures disappear into the inter web, and this jacked up -hack up leaf spring job survived. Ok I’ll crawl back under my rock.

 

gasser

 

If gasser front end are not safe why does every 18 wheeler and ever cargo truck still use they for over 100 years? there bigger but thats to handle the weight of the engine and load. On a gasser is put in your car with good welding and common sense. If it looks good it probably is if it looks like crap and unsafe well that's where the common sense comes in

 

I don’t think anyone questioned gasser straight front axles as unsafe in particular, just how some of them are executed. This one in particular!

 

Aside from a solid front axle, what do big trucks have in common with the car in the original post ?
I have never seen a 18 wheeler "Gasser".

 

Some might remember a fad, in the 70s. Cars that were referred to as "Street Freaks".
Jacked up way too high, giant tires on back, solid axle on front, big motor, lots of chrome,
they were the Ed Roth and Ed Newton cartoons brought to life. They looked fast, the same
way Pro Street cars look fast, but none of them really are. It is just a look.

Another fad everyone remembers, is Rat Rods. They started out basic and low buck.
Didn't have to be shiny or or use all the "correct" parts. Eventually some people wanted to
"Out Rat" the next guy, and the race to the bottom was on. Quickly some people thought
it was "cool" to drive a Rolling Shit Show. Meth and cheap beer probably didn't help.

This poor 57 Chevy appears to be an attempt to create something completely new.
Something never seen before. Part Street Freak and part Rolling Shit Show.

Just don't pretend it is a Hot Rod.

 

Most 18 wheelers don't use early Ford transverse leaf spring axles. And they don't have drag links run at extreme angles like that '57 is!