heres what I did on my 57. There is a plate welded to the bottom of the axle, and there are sections of 1/2 bolt welded between the plate and the flange on the axle. I didnt want to put all the downward force from the ubolts on the flanges with nothing supporting them. I also didnt want the axle to rotate if a ubolt failed for some reason.
I Admit... That One Looks Like It Was Done Well ... But I Still Wouldnt Do It....... How Often Do The U~bolts Bang Up On The Frame Rails ????????
Hey Desoto: I understand your concern for the safety of this guy and the others on the road, but I think it's been pretty well established that his initial plan wasn't the best, good alternatives were offered and he now knows how to correct it. You've made some good points that everyone should take into consideration. If done correctly, however, an axle over spring can be run safely on the street. I was just thumbing through the HOT ROD issue with all the gassers in it (the one with Groucho's Vette) and at least two of the cars featured had this setup. It's been around. There are better ways but this is a cheap alternative. So, it can be done safely.
i feel quite safe with the way i did my setup..i havent added any extra pressuse to the u-bolts under braking, in order to do that i would have to increse the distance from the spring pad to the king pin..as is the case in a droped axle..in a car with ball joints you only have 1 nut holding up your front end and i`m sure we have all seen them fail and leave people stranded beside the road..this winter i am planing to drop the extra axle i have now but only because its just a neater looking setup. i think the real weak point in any axle setup is the center bolt..1 tiny little 1/4" bolt has to shear off under braking and your axle takes a trip.
only when I hit a bump Actually I'm not driving the truck right now. I bolted the front end together, took it around the block, and its sat in the driveway for a few months now as I had just bought a house. I do plan on notching the frame to get a little more that 2 inches of travel I have now. I knew this wasnt the most approved of method to lower the front, but it was free and reversable as of right now.
On the bright side, if you bolt it in now you'll see if it will even clear the frame that way. No sense welding it up if it won't fit.
Look closely at how Kerry did his, I did the same thing on a 37 Chevy coupe over 20 years ago. IT worked fine for many miles. The frame did need to be c-notched though for clearance.
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