So I'm going to pick up a really nice 46-48 front axle from DirtyTace tonight. It's got the "bent" wishbone on it already with the spring in front of the axle setup. I don't like the way it shortens the wheelbase so I'm ditching the bones in favor of an unsplit 32-36 wishbone. I want to run the spring on top of the axle, not out front. The question is, Will that wishbone fit the axle and it's 42" spacing, and what spring mounts do I use to bolt it all together? Model A, 32-36, does it matter or won't it work at all?
The 32-36(?) wishbones are 2 inches at the wishbone boss while the Model A and 38-48 axles are 2-1/4 inches at the boss. I found this out when I did the same thing you want to do so what I did to make it fit was grind the wishbones bosses down an 1/8 of inch on top and bottom. It took some time but it seems to work okay, I had to do the same thing when I switched to a Model A dropped axle. Others may cringe at doing it but I don't think it compromises the integrity of the axle any. As far as spring perches are concerned any of them will work up through 48 as all wishbone holes are the same size. I ***ume you are going to split the wishbones? I hope this helps!
Do a search on "wishbone" and look for early ford wishbone lengths. There is a chart in there that give all the dimentions.
35 and 36 have the spring in front of the axle like a 37-48 does.what you are looking for is 32-34 wish bone.just use a 32-36 axle with a 32-34 wishbone,and you are set. -danny
32 to 36 wishbone has 36 ½ bolt centers accepts 2 perch boss axle. 42 to 48 axle has about 40 ½ bolt centers and has 2 ¼ perch bosss Plus a custom or try and find one main leaf to do a spring over. Your looking at several problems.
I believe those bones are bent to give wheel clearance when turning. Your wheels may rub with straight bones. Flatman
Don't do it! '32-'34 wishbones are too nice to hack up in order to fit the right axle. Send me a PM. If you already have a '32-'34 axle you and I can make a trade for a wibone that will work properly for you with out having to ruin anything.
Thanks for the link Richard, so what you guys are saying is; I'm going to have trouble with a 46-48 axle in my model A? The axle is stock and I'm not going to drop it at all. I'm going over to fab32's place after work and I think he has an unsplit 36 wishbone we were going to adapt to the 46-48 axle. This setup won't work without the tires rubbing on the wishbone?
The Jalopy Journal
