Rolling Bones front end on a Model A

If i thought it was dangerous i wouldnt ride in it! Cruzr drives his car almost every day. I have been on several road trips with him and it rides nice and to my knowledge he has never had a problem.

 

I believe it to be a "tried and true" method of lowering a car. There's just been a number of threads about how the wishbone isn't built to take that type of load. The Rolling Bones and these others shown are proof that it works and it works well.

 

Though slightly off topic because it is a '32. I believe Doane Spencer was the first if not one of the first to run the spring behind the axle, with the bobbed frame horns on his roadster.

Here are some good detailed shots of his '32 frame and could be applied to a Model A frame.

 

I'm just guessing...but I'd bet money something similar was done on early T speedsters long before Doane Spencer did it.
Those early(ist?) "Hot Rodders" were a crafty bunch too!

 

Yeah...I know....
I was being sarcastic.....

 

If you look closely at those threads you will see that usually the builder has the spring hung WAAY too far back on the bones or with some ****py bracket. If done right there is nothing wrong with this style of suspension.

 

go to bobhull introduction, bones front end or Robby;s 27 T

 

So most of us agree that doing that setup on the bones, up the near the front is A.OK. to do.

What do you guys think about using batwings/hairpins...and having the spring hung on the batwings? Like in the pics from Elpalakco?

I think if was going to do it that way...I'd run one bar....like a 4 link bar with heavy duty rod ends...from batwing to batwing to give that set up strength side to side...taking some twisting force off the clevis'.

I've seen alot of similar looking set ups in magazine cars and cars on the HAMB, but no feedback on how parts ware/etc.

Oh, and when it comes to early spring behind axle set ups....you can't forget about the Grabowski cars "Kookie" and the "Lightnin' Bug". Suicide style spring in front of the grillshells...but some really cool ideas and inspiration to be had from staring at those front ends...

-Steve

 

In response to my own thread...maybe you could also weld the batwings right to the axle, as well as using perch bolts. Might help with that twisting force that I'm talking about.

Drag cars using tube axles up front will just have a heavy duty spring hanger tab...same concept as aftermarker rear hangers...welded right to the tube and gusseted. Something similar could be done with an I beam or early tube axle...just makes for tricky welding for most avg. guys.

I'm interested to see what guys think about this.

 

Not too much "twisting force" to deal with. Doane's car has hair pins and clevises and has survived just fine.

I took this picture after someone mentioned that the SoCal wishbones were constructed improperly and would fail because of the load on them. Just so you note, this has a full Oldsmobile engine and Tremec trans and is sitting on it's wheels. It takes less than 15 pounds of effort to pick up the end and place it back in the frame.l



The stress of holding the car up is between the bat wing and the axle. The spring is pulling the batwing down and in in relation to the axle. I don't see any advantage to going any further than what I have done to this type of setup.

 

Yeah the "twisting force" that I was thinking of was exactly what you're describing. I can see that the weight of the car on that suspension makes the spring want to pull those batwings together....towards the middle of the car. And with the batwings being free to rotate on the axle perches (it's only a bit because of the perch bolt holding it in there pretty tight) wouldn't some of that inward force get transfered back to the clevis'?

I know what you're saying Elpalacko...you wouldn't want to hang your spring somewhere on the hairpins, because the hairpins wouldn't be strong enough to hold the weight of the car....but by doing it up on the batwings, the axle still takes the majority of the load.

I guess I'm just splitting hairs! lol. If you're using that setup and it works with lots of miles on it...then it must be fine.

It's a really nice looking setup and you have great fabrication skills! rock on!

-Steve

 

Properly torqued, the perch pin holds the bat wings pretty secure to the axle. They are not free to move. The reality is we are not talking about that much rotational force on the batwing here. Fretting over little things, you'll be fine.

 

here's my setup

 

Yup....I drove mine out from Denver....not near as far as NY, but it worked very well....

some peoples kids...............sheesh

 

This is the set up on my truck. Not an exact of the Rolling Bones but still the axle is out front and the horns are off.

 

I rode in both coupes and also watched them p*** me a couple of times a day rolling out to Bonneville. Rode well and went like hell.

 

That truck has a killer stance, I took a mess of pictures at Syracuse last year of it!

 

Any chance you could post some of your pics? Would love to see some different angles of it...

 

Best looking coupe yet!

 

Is that a stock model a axle? That is looking good..

 

Very NICE!

 

Here you go, sorry it took so long for me to get them up. I have a few more with the front and rear details I can post later.

 

Sweet! I dig it..

 

bttt for a good idea for "A" bodies on a "A" frame.