Axles and A-Bones

Building a (somewhat) traditional rod: 1930 2-door Model A sedan.
My plan is to use a 32 Ford drilled axle (swap meet special) up front.

Question is: can I get away with splitting the Model A wishbone and using them with the 32 axle, or should I go with something else?

Also, while I'm on the subject, how much torque can the Model A rear bones handle? We're planning to use a 9-inch rear from a '67 Ford pickup. Haven't quite settled on an engine yet. Was thinking about an inline-6 from a 57 Chevy, or a 56 272 Ford Y-block. No "street killer" engine, but something torquey enough to burn rubber and pull strong up hills. If the old rear bones are too weak, I have some old g***er-style ladder bars around here somewhere -- or maybe something else?

 

The stock A radius rods are paper thin and have a unwelded seam on the bottom. They were only used in tension to keep the axle pointed straight. The driver and brake torque was absorbed by the torque tube. They would fold up under the duty you describe.

View my pic #3 in the thread Mystery project. Youll see how I reworked them to be traction bars. Even this is good for limited torque and I'll be supplimenting them with a center-mounted torque arm. MIZ

 

Later bones are stronger and longer. If you use 37 to 48 bones you'll need shims to make up the perch boss difference, since 32 -36 axles have 2 inch bosses , and 37 -48 wishbones are 2 1/4 ( 2.3 actually )

 

Sounds like I should be on the lookout for the 37-48 bones, since I really want to keep a traditional look in front (never cared for the look of hairpins, anyway).

 

Interesting pick, the way you beefed up those rear bars.

I didn't think about the torque tube funtioning in that way...

Honestly, I probably won't use the straight six -- that engine is so long -- but that 272 will scorch the rear tires on the F100 it's in at the moment. I also have a 302 available -- or know knows what I'll find between then and now.

Sounds like we'll be best served with a much beefier setup. I'm not worried about how the body looks, but I really want this suspension/ch***is to be rock solid. I don't want it folding in half in the middle of a road trip.

 

Pretty well any ford radius rods (wishbones) that were originally used on the front axle will be strong enough for the front axle on a modern hotrod. They were built with a much thicker wall, to act in compression. The rear radius rods were only used to keep the rear axle setting "square" to the ch***is, and were designed for loading in tension only. The torque moment created by early Ford rearends was taken up totally by the torque tube.

 

Model A 'bones are FINE for use on the front.....but are 2 1/4" at the perch whereas a '32 axle is 2"..........

 

I was thinking I could shim the difference with washers.

 

You can buy the spacers through Speedway motors.

 

I had those once, but they come as two per side ( 1/16th each ) and look like...well you know. A fellow hamber made mine on a lathe. Also, the Speedway ones were loose , as the 39 bones I used (37-41) are actually 2.3 inches. I had mine done as single pieces at .30 thickness and had the outside diameter wider so it blended as one.

 

I'm sure I can come up with something that works and looks OK.

The thing I'm thinking about now are those rear arms... I swear that I can remember, as a kid, seeing hot rods at the drag strip with what looked to me then like the rear trailing arms mounted on 9-inch or Chevy rears and fixed to the frame with a tie rod end. I guess I really didn't understand what I was looking at, at the time. I'm much more experienced with '50s & '60s cars. I guess my question is, back "in the day," before ladder bars, what were people using on rear suspensions to handle the torque?