Projects Little Truck Doctors 51 Ford Gasser

Harbor Freight and an 8.8, nothing better

 

Every straight axle I've done, for myself or a customer, I've put the shackles in the rear. Physics tell me than when you encounter a bump while moving forward, the axle wants to push toward the rear of the car, yada yada.... but all of my straight axle cars drove awesome! Then I got into a debate on here about shackle placement. So I listened to the experts, and put the shackles in front on my 55 Chevy, and it drives like shit. To the point that I bought all new brackets to redo it this winter. I believe my input had something to do with Chandler's decision. I wanna get in it and drive the mother fucker, not haul it to the strip and run it an 1/8th of a mile, then back on a trailer. But like I read here all the time, your results may vary. And if this car of Chandlers drives like shit, I'm sure he'll switch them. But I agree, it has to do with the entire setup, front steer, rear steer..... etc

 

You definitely had an impact on my desicion

 

Actually THE impact on the decision.

 

Hey Chandler,
Here is the shifter i was telling you about. It was an NOS Hurst Comp + that a friend gave me and was never on a car before i got it. I ran it on my hotrod T for several years. It was for 55-57 chevys i think, with a bench seat? The original shift lever goes forward aways then up.
I cut it off and welded a round lever onto the top of the original lever. You can use as is or cut the round one off and weld the original chrome lever back on. The shifter mechanism is good and not worn out but could use some cleaning.
I doubt the linkage will bolt right up because i had made a custom bracket to attach the shifter to the trans.
I don't have a normal bracket to bolt the shifter to the trans either.
I will donate it for your hotrod and send it to you if you want it.

 

Yes definitely, thank you so much, this will work perfectly.

 

Randy, thank you so much!! I can’t describe how much I appreciate your wonderful gift.

 

Don't tell this guy that you can't drive a car with front shackles, how many 10's of thousand miles he put on Plan II ???

 

Those Hurst shifters are getting pricey. Randy, that is awesome!

 

I feel like the shackles in the rear is superior, because the upward force being applied is transferred into the frame, and because of that having the shackles in the rear would give you more frame to spread the impact across.

 

I don’t remember looking at all the 4 leaf spring vehicles I’ve had, but my ‘57 Chevy PU has the shackle on the front for the front springs, on the rear for the rear springs.
Who’s to say what is right/wrong?

 

All I know is I’m taking notes from all this so whenever I build me a streetable gasser I’ll have an idea as to what works and doesn’t.

 

When you hit a bump the impact causes the springs to compress. Whatever side the shackle is on is the direction the spring will lengthen towards as it compresses. It doesn't matter which end the shackles are on for compression as compression is straight up and down not back because the bump is ahead of the car as you hit it.
It does matter how long your shackles are as that allows the shackles to lean if they're too long. And it does matter if you turn the steering wheel and it's pushing against the shackles and deflecting to cause steering to be less precise. Especially as components age and wear, which results in more play, thus more deflection.
It's not rocket science to look at what the pressure of the drag link against the axle does when steering, and note that it's putting pressure on either the shackle end or the fixed end of the springs.

 

New rotors!!!

 

I work on vehicles everyday that have leaf springs on the steer axle. I have for 35 years. I align them, I repair them, I drive them. With very few exceptions, none in the last 20 years, they all have the shackles at the rear of the steer axle springs. You know what? All of these vehicles also have the tie rod located behind the steer axle. It would be my educated guess that the engineers who design these suspension/steering systems know what they are doing. Between that and Lloyd’s experience, this is why we are building his car this way.

 

First hub is fully assembled

 

AND Cross Steering.

 

Nice lettering!

 

Thank you!!

 

gotta say when i met you at lloydfest you were cool as hell, glad to see another bright yellow more-door will attend lloydfest next year!

 

T

Thanks man you were super cool as well

 

Great progress, young man! Yes indeed, I too am looking forward to seeing this machine in person.

 

Its now sitting on the front axle

 

looks good Chandler. nice front wheels BTW

 

Thank you

 

You know if you started with a Ford 429/460 you could start off mild and build 1000 hp in the same reliable two bolt block. A running 460 can be had for $500 or less top loaders are strong and a C6 can be built damn near bulletproof plus an overdrive can be added behind it. A mild big inch big block can be quicker and more reliable than a hot off brand small block.

 

I want a ford big block Ford but the reason I'm going with the small block is because im doing kind of a budget build right now and I already have a small block, I appreciate the advice though, maybe in the future I can

 

Looks like your making good progress. I have a few things to fix on the NSS car then hope I can get back on my gasser project.

 

Here is a look at how I am doing my front shocks

 

Lookin' good,keep up the good work.Following!