Who's running I-beam front axles?

I have been told that straight axle frontend cars tend to be squirrely. Is this true? If so, is it due to the front end being so high, as in gasser style, or some kind of suspension issue? Trucks ran 'em for many years, and still do in HD applications.

 

Most of the cars at Bonneville run straight front axles, and they do get squirely, above about 220. When all is in good condition, and set up correctly, they are just fine.

 

I beam front axles, what, on this forum? They're great, handle fine, ride fine...but there's always someone who sets something up all wrong and says it's no good. They should be taken out and flogged.

 

My car rides and drives great. 4" drop superbell I beam.

 

You've been told wrong,.......... Just make sure you understand "Caster" and "Ackerman"

 

Get a new guru. Your present guru is squirrelly.

Seriously I would not trust anything else that he said after such an ignorant blanket statement like that.

 

We dont need to flog those who dont understand, we need to teach them. If they wish to learn.

 

My pops has 60,000+ miles on his roadster with a dropped I beam and bias-plys. He's driving to LA from VT next month.
He is a picky mofo, has been tuning & tweaking his setup all along. He cruises 70mph plus on the hwy all day long.
As stated above, it's all about setup, Caster, Ackerman,Toe,Tire pressure, Shocks, etc,etc.
There is some really good info in most of the major suspension manufacturors catalogs.
It wont drive like a new car, but with modern tech and understanding it wont drive like they did back in the day either.

 

^^^ ibeams mmmmmmmmmm, he might get squirly in a sec

 

Don't think that's a flog on BigMikeC, he even said big trucks used'em with no problem.

The flog is toward the mental midget moron that gave him the BAD technical information.

As they say, "Ya' can't fix stupid". Big Mike's suspension guru falls into that category.

 

Check this out...most hotrods since the beginning of HR time have had straight axles under them and most racecars until the 60s had straight axles under them and on and on. Some handled like European Sports Cars, some handled like garbage trucks. It's all in the set up, spring rate , shocks(real ones, hydraulic not fiction), caster, Ackerman, toe in, radius rod length, steering configuration.
The only squirrel here is your pal who has opinions on staright axles.

 

I wouldn't take a gasser to a road race. Maybe that's the style Big Mike is referring to.

 

I should have mention that I was talking about modifying an independent front 60's car to a gasser style straight axle. My '32 has an I-beam that works just fine, but it was engineered for it. My '65 Comet aint got one... yet Thanks for your input. - Mike