Hot Rods Big Daddy's 55 2 door wagon gasser

My ‘57 Chevy PU the front axle has them in the front as well, the rear axle has them in the rear.
Wonder why it’s like that?

 

Early Ford Econolines have the shackles on the rear of front springs.

 

I look at it that as the car goes forward, the stable point should be in the front, and as the tires contact something, say a speed bump, it pushes the axle toward the rear of the car, and the shackles, but I'm not a suspension engineer, just a hack lol. I've done 2 with the shackles at the rear, and they both drove and rode great. I did one with a transverse leaf from a 47 Ford and hairpins. I like the parallel leaf setup better. I wonder if shackle position makes a difference with front or rear steer....????? Hmm...

 

My reply was messed up. I did note "front" when I meant "rear" to show where manufacturers had different ideas on what was best but they all seemed to have worked.

 

Straight Axle looks killer...

 

There was a bottle of eagle rare store pick involved, and a bottle of pappy 23 at $50 a shot and another bottle of Weller's.... it was a bad night man.

 

NEWSFLASH!!! rear tires are mounted. That's all for now..

 

I put mine to the front (I have cross steering) but if you look where the rear lands on the kick up the swingy shackle wouldn't work there anyhow, just something else to think about.

 

I honestly don't think it matters. Because my experience is that the springs don't give much anyway. It would be interesting to me to see how much the shackle moves going down the road.

 

Class 6, 7, and 8 trucks have the shackles to the rear on the steer axles. I believe by doing it this way, it adds stability to the front end. I know there have been a few Ford Trucks that mounted the shackles to the front. The ones that come to mind are the 1980s-90’s Ford light duty 4x4’s. I’m sure there are reasons for both, I’m just not sure what they are.

 

I've read that if your cross steering is in front, the shackles should be in the back. This is to minimize side loading the shackles. I needed front steer and front shackles (like swade41) so I also have a panhard bar.

Gary

 

That makes sense. There is a lot of force acting on the springs. When I put the axle under the front of my El Camino, there was a pop when I'd turn the steering wheel, one of my buddies was standing there once and he asked what the hell popped, I told him I don't know what it is, he looked under the car while I cut the wheel and it was the springs moving, I hadn't put straps on them.

 

During mockup I used the main leaf and a block of wood to simulate that height of the full stack of leafs. I would have to look back through my build thread but I believe the axle pushed forward 3/4 of an inch when the spring was compressed.
My pitman arm points to the rear so theoretically if you hit a good dip in the road and the axle moves forward it could twist the steering wheel to the left. How much on a 3/4 inch movement I have no idea but I haven't noticed it while driving the car.

 

@Lloyd's paint & glass I've read through this thread, I too was very amused how many pages were written before the car made it home, the banter was funny & the car will be awesome, better to sort those choices out before you start turning spanners, I will definitely subscribe & follow along with interest, looking forward to seeing what you do with it

 

Got tired of block sanding so I did a couple little things to my car before I went home today...

 

2 hours and 10 minutes. I think it's my new record lol... still some welding to do, and I've gotta go get a piece of tubing to make my drag link, it's rigged at the moment so I can steer it lol

 

You are the designated HAMB straight axle installer!

 

-you've now made it look like we should have the squirrel and lloyd show--but diff than 'home improvement'...

 

Nice

 

Go Straight ( Axle that is ) to the head of the class....looking good...got a nose bleed looking at the front shot...

 

Kinda wanna see whitewall cheater slicks on the S10 wheels now.

 

Love it. “Got tired “ and then decide, “WTH, lemme get the front end placed”.

 

I'm in the process of blocking a 71 Pontiac grandville that's going black, that's a lot of blocking lmao! My elbows hurt

 

No mine is open, my thought that it was a posi must've been in my head. I even asked Jerel, he said it's open because he's replaced the spider gears.

 

Do you need a Captain’s license to work on a car that big??

 

Sitting proud !