i am starting to lay out my holes in my bones. I was wondering how many holes are two many holes. I am not drilling all the way through just the front side. Pics and info would be great
If you drill them you really ought to go all the way through and then sleeve them with tubing for strength......looks would be just a bonus.
I cant under stand the point of drilling them out for weight then welding in more material then you cut out?????
I wouldnt trust them if they werent sleeved......they arent exactly made from the thickest stock and if one snaps your day would go down hill quickly. I understand about the weight saving issue but this car will be driven on real streets with real potholes/traintracks/dips/bumps and not a smooth dragstrip only. Drill them if you want for looks not to save a few ounces.
I absolutely agree with Muttley...I have an old A axle I paid 10 bucks for from a junkyard, brought it to work and layed out some holes, drilled em all out and even though I stepped down the size the farther I got from center I soon realized that axle will never EVER see the street...dragstrip maybe, but never the shitty highways we have in MN...sure it might be safe enough, but I just don't trust it personally...
I'm all for drilling, but you have to look at the safety records of the guys who started doing it. There was a reason everyone thought hot rods were dangerous, THEY WERE! If you still want to drill your bones, that's cool, but sleeve them. Cool is cool, but unsafe isn't.
I'm not absolutely sure I understand. They say they'll drill any axle up to 11/8" but recommend that you don't drill past 1" for saftey reasons. How can a reputable company make something that is out of their recomendations. Back to the bones. Back when folks first started drilling bones they hadn't spent 75 years out in the weather. The bones we are working with are usually at the very least slightly pitted and have not only been work hardened but have a slightly thinner wall thickness than they had back in the day. Most of us aren't drilling for lightness but for looks. Face it even on the 1320 a few ounces would only mean 1000ths difference. If you drill 'em you need to heal 'em for strength and it also keeps 'em from filling up with crap ( i said mud once and somebody didn't understand) which will not only add weight but eat them away even more than they already are. As for axles the strength is not in the web but in the flanges. I'm absolutly sure I don't know why I know that I guess some old geeser must have told me that at one time or another.
On a typical split wishbone or harpin setup - with the spring over the axle - I wonder how much stress are they really under? There is a local Model A coupe that has the scariest split and drilled wishbones I've ever seen. The holes at the front of them are so big they actually start to encroach on the radius on the top of the tubing. They are sleeved, but even with that there is not much material left. I've seen the car at several shows over the past few years and no failure yet. I sure wouldn't drive it though. The only picture of a wishbone failure I've seen was on roadsters.com - it was from grinding the weld down and it broke at the weld.
I Think You Would Be Fine With Drilling Them Corey But I Would Tokeep The Shit Out . Just Drill Clear Through And Sleeve Um It Won't Take That Long. Big Jake
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