Anyone ever run a suicide front end with hairpins?

Hi. I've been lookin to find out if anyone has ever run a suicide front end with the axle in front of the grill and with the spring behind the grill on hairpins. I've seen tons with split bones but none woth the hairpins. If anyone has any pics or tech on this could you post them here.

 

This chevy has it.... it's done quite often. Just cheaper with stock bones.

 

Nothing to it, here's my pickup and my Dads A tub.

 

i`m doing it, i dont have a pic of my setup as i`m still mocking it up, i`m running my spring out infront of my frame and the spring pearchs are on the batwings. i think i got it all from total performance.

 

this is exactly what im planning on my A sedan, i think its stronger and safer than doing the same on split 'bones.

a couple of questions for you guys though, what length hairpins did you use? where they off the shelf items?
my current ones are 30-3/4" from axle centreline to rear mount(3-1/2" batwing and 27-1/4" hairpin itself) which is a pretty standard length, but i plan to run cowl steer, and to get my hairpin and draglink the same lenth, my new hairpins will have to be 38-3/4". my spring will be mounted to the end of the hairpin on a gusset, 6" behind the axle centreline.

do any of you see any problems with such a long hairpin on this setup??

 

i dunno about stronger and safer at all . . . henry was pretty fussy about what he used and how it was put on the car when he built em.

for my money and reasoning it makes more sense to me that a set of split bones with a bolt goin right through it and the axle would be much stronger than a batwing and clevis ends . . . seriously, consider that with the batwing you have 3 mechanical attatchment points to the axle (hairpin bolt and two clevis' or heims) AND add to that most clevis' and heims add a bit of play inherant to the design of the swivels... and lets not even talk about lubrication on them things.

with the split bones only ONE mechanical attatchment point to the axle, a one piece FORGED radius rod end. less to bust and fall off... things busting and falling off happen. but on a suicide front end thinking about things fallin off makes my pucker slam shut

now dont get me wrong, i am NOT saying that hairpins/batwings are unsafe, im arguing the point of STRENGTH here, hairpins/batwings have been used for a long time quite safely but i feel the bones would be stronger than the hairpins.

JM2C

 

i based my opinion on the spring mount itself, i was thinking a brand new peice of 3/8" plate (the gusset the spring perch bolt would go through) would be stronger than 70 year old fatigued, corroded wishbone tubing. that is then welded to 2 thickwall 7/8" tubes with about 16" of weld. admittedly the weakpoint is the batwing as its thinner plate, but the heims/clevises are WAY strong enough to be loaded like that.

i simply cant use a split wishbone anyway, because as far as i know, there isnt one long enough.

i have always intended to set up the shocks as a failsafe anyway, so they bottom out before it hits the deck.

 

The suicide front end using hairpin-style radius rods ahs been around forever. About, oh say, 90% of all T Bucket roadsters, track cars and lakesters use them.

 

I worry a little about having side loading on the clevis threads.
They were designed to handle tension and compression loading but side loads seem like they would turn the threads into a stress riser.
Personally, I wouldn't do it.
Now if the spring hanger were on the thick Clevis plate itself and the plate were welded directly to the axle I'd feel better. THATS whats on 90% of the T Buckets etc...

I just see too much moveable "stuff" when you use the Hairpins/clevis brackets/axle perch bolts etc. Makes me nervous.

 

Look at Jimmy Shines truck, it has that style of set up.

 

I've used clevises and home made hairpins without any problems. Both front and rear. However. when looking at a typical clevis from the top, if you look at the area at the end of the 3/8" wide slot, you will see that the crossectional area at that point is really quite thin. I think in a T Bucket with light weight and engine setback, side loading the clevis might be ok. But in any kind of heavier rod that area could be a problem. My preference would be to mount the spring pivots on the wishbone/axle bracket. As I remember most T Buckets have the spring mounted on the wishbone/axle bracket, not the wishbones. I throw my vote to FiddyFour. I just looked in my Speedway Motors catalog and they have a spring behind the axle hairpin bracket. It has a spring pivot mounting hole 3 or 4 inches behind the axle. It is for a tube axle. That type of spring mounting should be stronger that a span plate on the wishbones that side loads the clevises.