4" dropped tube axle with hairpins (think speedway/MAS).... will the steering arms/tie rod bang into something using stock 37-48 ford spindles in their proper orientation?? am i going to need 'dropped' steering arms or what?? how do you guys have yours set up??
i kinda figgered that was the idea... i have the spindles but i need to order the axle and i dont completely trust the salesguys/techs at some of the parts places...i like real world experience... i just dont want to have to put in a second order or go looking for something else because my steering arms were banging the tube axle... thanks.
yeah - I did what your are trying to avoid - you need to know what kind of brakes you're using. I used one of speedway's kits that you could not use the cast type steering arms. The ones I ended up with are flat steel. They mount to the bottom two brake mount bolts and protrude down - this ends up through a miracle to go inbetween the hair pin bars. If you are using drums etc I think you will need dropped arms. Sorry my answer was so short before I was at work and meant to close the window and respond later. I will email you some pictures of what I ended up with.
Hey AP, when I got a 3 inch dropped axle with 42-48 spindles and the stock steering arms the drag link would have hit the top of my hairpins, the tube axle I replaced it with has no drop and the drag link will now hit the bottom of the hair pin, so a couple of days ago I sawed the damn things off and am going to get some dropped arms from speedway. By the way, when I got the original axle the spindles were swapped end for end and it had been run with the drag link in front of the axle. Theres some crazy geometry for ya !
Hey alteredP - Here is what i ended up with, the disk brakes I used dictated the flat type steering arms.
Boy speedway has some winners over there i have a 4 inch drop i beam with wish bones and they sent me the wrong drop arms so they hit the bones too i callled them up and i have to 1 take some measurements and bend the arms (mine are forged i dont know if you can bent the plate arms) 2 swap them out 3 reverse the tie rods hope that helps
The Chassis Engineering axle won't work with stock steering arms but the Magnum 4" dropped axle will. I tried the CE axle first but had the mentioned problem. Sold it and bought a Magnum, it works fine. Some original dropped axles were also stretched so they will work as well.
tudor, thanks for the pics! thats what i needed to see. yeah, i definately think that the 'street rod techs' at speedway dont spend too much time with their hands on the product.
I find that as well, but every once and awhile I ask some questions they admit they can't answer and forward me off to some guy who seems to know his stuff. I wish I could remember the guys name cuz I would just ask for him everytime.
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