One rodding craze Back in the 70s was IRS on T buckets and other rods. I always thought an independent rear suspension on a solid front axle car was kind of odd. Looked great but??? I always wondered how they rode and handled. Was there any real practical improvement to the car after the installation?
I'm on my 3rd Jag rear on a rod and i love them. They ride nice and look killer. All of mine have handled excellent and never had any problems with them. It is nice to have 4 wheel disc and 4 wheel independent suspension. They can be a bit tricky to setup but once you have it right you will love it. Here is my latest Jag project in the mock up phase.
A properly installed Jag IRS in an early car can make a world of difference in the way the car handles, all positive. The key to good ride and handling is the shocks and springing. My friend Burl and I are working on a SJ-Jag suspended T roadster and are going with only 2 coil overs rather than 4 due to the light weight of the car. The install is easy with a couple pieces from Speedway. They are good-looking and relatively cheap at $300-400 or less at a swapmeet, actually less than the E-type rears were selling for years ago.
My Dad has a '32 tudor with an uncaged Jag rear. It's a very pretty IRS, all chromed and many one-off parts. It rides nice, except when the car hits the rubber bumpers because it is so low. The Super Bell axle on the front end gives him more problems (also because the car is so low).
Verrrry interesting. Changes my view of them...I always wondered about the practicality. They do look good.
This A sedan we built has a Jag rear and an axle in front. The BEST riding early ford I have ever driven. we mini tubed the rear to give the top of the tires clearance, so that the suspension has more travel. 4 good shocks (Romic mfg.) and the right spring rate for the car. It helps to use good shocks (bilsteins) and a well set up spring in the front also.
It was a Fad T thing at first but I have installed one in a 29 highboy roadster, a 37 Chevy coupe and a full fendered 34 4 dr sedan. I installed the Jag front suspension also on the 34 sedan. Total performance had all of the parts to eliminate the cage and made it pretty simple to install. I fabricated my own spring compressor for the coil over shocks out of s**** iron that was hanging around the shop. That was over 30 years ago and they dropped out of favor for lots of years. I had a Jag sedan left at my shop in the late 90s and it ended up going to the s**** yard because nobody was interested in the rear or the front suspension. My friend loved how the 34 rode so much that he had me put one under his 37 Chevy just for the ride.
We put '86 Jag front and rear under a '51 Chevy in an afternoon, after the body was pulled off the frame. Some minor fab work and it uses the stock bolt in mounts.
On the Jag rear...for light cars, like Model A's and especially T-buckets, the biggest benefit is likely in reducing unsprung weight. High unsprung weight on a light car is a disaster for both ride and handling as the suspension cannot properly control weight that is a large percentage of car weight...imagine the sprung/unsprung weight ratio of something like an 1800 pound T-bucket with a 9" Ford and a '32 front axle...then think abput the benefits of moving most of the rearend to the sprung side of the equation.
I just recently installed a Jag rear end in a 1931 fordoor Model A. It was from an XJ6. Had to narrow it 7 5/8". Also had to fabricate mini-tubs. The picture w/it on the ground is with the suspension topped out. There's no weight in the car. Once everything is weighed I'll get the right spring rate on it.
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