guys, before ya type here is what i have : a 1938 ford pickup (pic's on my albums) with a 1950 ford car front suspension grafted in, old hotrod from arizona and the stuff is worn out even the steering box. i have owned stock suspended ones and aftermarket M2 is not a option. S10 wont work as steering box interferes with front sheetmetal, i have S10 clip already so i know it won't work because of front steer so i need some options with rear steer or R&P steering. if the suggestion you have is from a off topic vehicle pm me so we don't start a ******* match! guess the truck is gonna be for taking the grandkids fishing with their dad even if i have to narrow something up i will so throw out any thoughts but be ready to back up your ideas. thanks!
I looked at your pictures. Are you hoping to use the frame as it is and try to adapt a suspension to it or were you thinking of a replacement frame?
I guess you don,t want to rebuild that frontend. Next is get another frame, Fatman sells a stub to fix but its sold to MII setup. Next is splice the front half of a rotted orginal frame, most of the time the fronts are good.
I had to splice the right front of mine from about the middle of the cab forward. It wasn't too bad to do. The back half of the donor frame I found had sat in the mud for what looked like a very long time, it was mostly gone. You should be able to find something like that cheap. Then maybe a dropped axle and split wishbone? Vega steering box? The cost of the parts would add up pretty quick. What about rebuilding what you have? Was it put in well?
we recently pulled an old big gm sub that had been narrowed (and drove like ****) out of a 35. we found a donor ch***is and replace the front section that had been cut out then used a $200 MII unit to finish the job. also have just finished a 40 ford that had the original suspension built by dirt track racers in the late 70's. the essentially stubbed the front with rectangle tubing and built their own version of MII. worked and rode good. decided not to change it. had to re-fab some mount point for sheet metal, and a new sytem to swap from steering box to rack. so I guess the "build your own" approach is doable too.
i could rebuild what i have but having upgraded brakes and steering appeal to me. just thought i could find some options that were better than 50' ford stuff, i mean even those guys are upgrading the stock "fred flintstone" suspension in their shoeboxes!
I've put a Series 3 Jaguar XJ6 front end into my '36 coupe. Welded plates in appropriate places & bolted it in (horizontally & vertically). We left the stock '36 crossmember there as the Jag one tucks up inside it. Big disc brakes with 4-piston calipers, power rack & pinion. As I'm running an 8BA flattie, there isn't much room to mount a power steering pump, so I've blocked off the rack ports & drive without power connected. Steers well & not too heavy. Lowered the front by spacing down the bottom spring plates. The only downside is that I've had to use 4 1/2 inch front wheels to keep the tyres inside the fenders.
Forgot to say that part of the "fitting" involves cutting off all the brackets from the Jag crossmember so only the rack mounting brackets remain.
i have and they tell me "junk it" i have owned a handful of 49'-51' ford cars so i do know how they handle and "don't stop"
Not so sure I would call them overpriced, you can get a complete all new components TCI 35-40 MII kit that is hub to hub, Crossmember and shock towers, 11" vented rotors, calipers, new manual rack, tubular upper and lower control arms and sway bar. Everything you need hub to hub for less than $1400. To me that is not overpriced for a well laid out totally complete and new front end. The best riding and handling 35-40 fords I have driven or ridden in have been TCI MII equipped, or had a full TCI ch***is under them.
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