I'm looking at a rebuild for my 33 willys and one of the things is a new axle. When I built it in 1980 I dearched the front springs some so the car sat lower in the front,but now I want it back up there. The front leafs are chromed so I would like to reuse them so I beleive the axle would be straight with no drop what so ever. So what is a good choice for spindles, Furd or Chebby? I was reading something in street rodder that Chevy had better king pin angle. Anyone care to coment?
I put a '48 chevy 1/2 ton axle under the '56 Ford I'm building. Has a blown 331 Hemi in it so......because of the weight and horsepower I opped to use Speedways FORGED and MODIFIED spindles.....a deal for $219 and all the Wilwood stuff was a simple bolt on.......give them a call, they are very knowlegable in tech
I am partial to the early ford stuff for aesthetic reasons alone. The time when you could find a 54 chevy in the junkyard and take the brake off, rebuild them and run them has long passed us. Back when you could do that, the chevy stuff made sense because they had better brakes, was a little easier to find and was newer. (we'll ignore the ball bearings they used when everyone else had gone to tapered rollers 30 years prior). Really, they are both fine choices and there are a number of aftermarket brake options for both.
I'm leanin' towards speedway but haven't called them as of yet. I will go with all new stuff, but not sure bout going with something like wilwood brakes cause I want to be able to go to a auto parts and get what I need it something would happen on the road,no frickin trailers here,only the one that I drag behind me. Da Willys hasn't been on the road since the late 80's and when it was I wasn't very kind to it,something like 80mph on cruse from Mi. to Ok. and whatever holes and bumps were in da road I think I got'em, enough to bust the body mounts of at the cowl!
Call Jim Tinsmith in PA. 215-453-7999. He will make an axle for you. He is a long time racer and hot rodder. He owns a 33 Willys drag truck. Have him use the early Ford spindle ends. Like other said, buy a good pair of FORGED aftermarket spindles and the brake options are many.
what does a set up from him run? i'm on some what of a budget so if this is way up there i don't want to take up his time
are you talking about a stock Willys axle or aftermarket axle? if it is an aftermarket you'll need to know what size king-pins where used. that will determine what you can use for spindles. if can use a Ford Econoline Van spindle, Speedway Motors can supply them and they also have some disc brake kits. speedwaymotors.com
i was just wondering around speedwaymotors but was a bit lost on what i needed other than the $1200 gasser kit they sell. tomorrow i'm going to take some measurements on my truck and look at a few things so i can decide what i'm going to need
I have biult three of my own now. It is not a hard job. I have used GM handi van spindles, 56 Ford truck spindles and hand made spindles. Material cost is about $35 plus whatever you had to pay for spindles. I had the above two given to me in both cases. I used heavy wall tubing. Probably heavier than necessary but I feel safe that way. The frst axle I made is straight and you can see it in my Avatar on the left. It s .250 wall tubing, mild steel. The next was .180 wall as is the last i made . Make a jig to hold everthing in position while you tack it together . I make my jigs ot of 2x6s spruce. Spend time here getting the angles right and know there will often be some warping from welding so allow for it . The dragster to the left runs easily even with no hands on the wheel when i am busy shifting braking etc . It tracks absolutley perfectly straight. If you take the time and time is an excellant substitue for $$$$$$ it is not a difficult project. If your welding skillls are not pretty tack it and get a pro to finish weld it. My last axle I have a friend who spent 32 years welding piping in an oil refinerery. He offered to weld it up. I took him up on it and it turned out beautiful. While I am good enough welder it wont fall apart he is on an entrely different level where I will never be so it was a no brainer when he offered. Adapting brakes especially discs is a fairly easy deal. I use often mopar FWD brake setups and make a bracket to fit. Last time i used wildwood vented rotors and was amazed at how well it worked out . Cost was just over $100 by the time we were done for the brakes . I got the rotors in a deal so i dont know exactly what they are worth but i do know they must not be unreasonable because the deal was not a big trade and he had bought them new not long before. Buy the rotors first to match your bolt pattern the fab the bracket to fit and mount the calipher so it is centered over the rotor. Brakes used up about a day total in time although that was spead over a couple of days. I make the king pin bosses from solid steel shaft in my shop on my lathe. Any machine shop can also make them for you and it is not an expensive or long job. A little thought, a little planning a lot of care and a few bucks and you are done. If you are patient and can think calmly this is a very doable job. Don
I'm not sure what he gets these days, but keep in mind that he uses chromoly which is going to more expensive than the Speedway stuff. He only makes axles. Everything else you will have to buy on your own.
i'm still kinda new so is there anything i'm missing on the 5min blueprint i made? it is just a quick drawing
Put a wheel on you spindles and set it up so you have at least a 1/2 degree tilt out at the top vrs the bottom. By doing it that way the KPI will take care of itself and will be right for your spindles. Tack the bosses in plaso they can still move a bit then adjust it till you get the above suggested figure and the weld it stronger so it can move. Since you want to build a straight nondropped axle that is best, If you are going to put a mild drop in it you can weld them in at exactly 90 and then bend the tube to get the angle you want and get some drop too. I tried thew last method on my last dragster frame which i posted here as i work on it. It worked a lot better than i would have guessed. Otherwise set the angle when you weld it. don
when you say to make a jig, what exactly does it hold? like 2 jack stands for the axle and then something to hold the part where the king pins mount threw so it can be welded in the correct position?
Just buy a setup. The life you save might be mine. Seriously, spindles have degrees of tilt and you have to match the axle to that kingpin angle, plus all of your vehicle is riding on those two welds. If you are asking what a jig is, I would be leary of you having the skills to SAFELY build one. I'm not meaning that as an insult, but rather a reality check. Call Tin, call Speedway, get some prices.
well that was the one with the upgraded wildwood breaks which i would probably go with as i like to be able to stop fast as well as go fast. that's my first major goal, make my truck stop when i want it to and in a straight line.... last i drove it it was uhh... well didn't work to well.
Willwood are cool and all, but why wont the regular disc brake kits work that use GM calipers and rotors. Can't be worrying about cost when wanting to buy the most high dollar out there, ya know?
i'm still researching and figuring out a build cost so i just use the more expensive parts so i over estimate the cost so when i make a budget i have extra money in it to either have left over or use on unexpected parts. i'm looking into building an axle myself. i have a d-100 with a disc conversion that uses cheavy 2500 calipers and discs so i think i can use those parts on the new axle, just need the van spindles i think.
i'm also going to do a coil over rear with ladder bars, do i want them as level with the ground as i can or does that not matter? this is the front axle i have, i was also thinking of cleaning this one up and getting some different leafs and shackles to raise it as well as move it forward a few inches
Seriously, spindles have degrees of tilt and you have to match the axle to that kingpin angle, plus all of your vehicle is riding on those two welds. If you are asking what a jig is, I would be leary of you having the skills to SAFELY build one. I'm not meaning that as an insult, but rather a reality check. Call Tin, call Speedway, get some prices. I already explained a very practical way to do that . i did teach this stuff at the provincial institute of trades for some 7 years. I have no probelm with the fact that some dont want to do it and would rather have someone else do it for them but it is not rocket science. Nor is it an exacting deal as a look at alignment specs will tell you . Most are plus or minus a fair amount with a desired spec in some manuals. That is old school when we actually figured out what it was and why. The new alignment machines just move it till the picture turns green. i am sure in fact i know Mr Tinsmith does a great job but sometimes it is interesting and educational to do it yourself. Some of us enjoy that. It is not fair to always wave the safety flag. No one not anyone anywhere cares more about your safety than you I would hope. Don
The guy that builds speedways axles lives in wichita ks about 50 miles north of me, goes by the nickname "jelly" i'll have to find his card to get you a phone number but he is who i have build my axles and it saves me about $50-$70 over buying them from speedway. I went with chevy spindles on mine but wish i had gone with ford after i did because of the machine work i had to do on the spindles for a brake kit. I tried to order forged spindles but after over 6 months of backorder i went ahead and used my stock spindles. The i've used fords in the past with no machine work! If you go with a straight axle and the chevy or ford spindles you'll want to double check what width you want because the hubs will stick out farther than the willys hubs do from the stock axle. I went with a 41-1/2" kingpin center with the chevy spindles and it puts the tires right where i want them width wise on my "33.
Here you go: Performance Engineering Warren Wilhelm 2237 S Mead Wichita KS, 67211 316-263-1819 I stumbled upon Warren about two weeks after asking Speedway to make a custom width axle for me. The response I got was to just cut the brand new axle in half and install a plug in it and weld it back together. I said to the tech guy " you have to be kidding". Warren made one to my specs and was great to deal with. I would buy another one from him in a heartbeat. I posted what happened to me on another website and Speedy Bill got wind of it and called Warren. He told Speedy what Speedways tech dept told me and the very next catalog had custom width axles available. Ha Ha
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