Ever use "clamp on" brackets on a rear end?

I was thumbing through a supply catalog for dirt track/drag racing and noticed several kinds of brackets that clamp around a rear end and would eliminate the need to weld to the tubes risking warpage. Make it easy to adjust pinion angle later.

 

You can't just bolt 'em on and they will stay put. The rear & axle tubes WILL turn in the mounts. Clamp on brackets are still welded if they are steel, just not fully. You have a design similar to a connecting rod and you tack the steel upper half ( cap )of the mount to the axle tube. On the Aluminum versions, you drill and tap the axle tube and cap to install bolts that hold it in place.

If you don't have access to a welder, bolt the steel.

The bolt on brackets are designed for removal of the brackets, facilitating easier removal of the rear ends in underslung ch***is cars, and are VERY weak links as they are designed to break away to save axle tubes.

 

Those clamp-on deals are fine if all they do is attach a component such as a leaf spring, radius rod, or shock absorber if you have a torque-arm or a similar device to cancel the axle torque reaction from accelleration and/or braking.

I wouldn't use them in a design where the weight of the vehicle is carried by a spring (transverse leaf, coil, or coil-over) that's mounted anywhere except directly over the axle. The sprung weight would be trying to rotate that clamped bracket at all times....not good.

 

Don't dirt track cars all or mostly all still run torque tubes?
A clamp on could be located by a rivet that went into both the clamp and the axle tube.

 

You better weld them. Bolting is never better on a rearend. If you weld it rite you wont warp it at all

 

Very very common in stock cars. However, almost all of them are welded with an inch or so of weld once they are bolted in place. It's hande for keeping heat down as your only welding a very small area.

 

I think I know what you're talking about--they're "floaters." The way I understand them, the rear end is mounted to the leaf spring with them. The rear end then has upper bars, like a 4-bar set-up, that holds the rear end (pinion angle) constant in relation to the car. As the rear suspension compresses, it goes through an arc. That arc would rotate the pinion angle. With these floating housing mounts, the rear end can rotate in the mount as the rear suspension goes thru its range of motion. It keeps the rear end from binding.
I have something similar on the rear of my '57 Chevy. Clamped leaf springs on the bottom (a bolt-on clamp at the end of each leaf that clamps all the leaves together, from the axle forward to the front leaf spring eye. Four-leaf springs--four clamps), and no clamps on the back of the leaf spring. This makes the front portion of the springs a solid link, while the back half of the springs is soft and does all the up/down work a spring does.
Then, on top of the house there are two bars, like the top bars of a 4-link rear end. These run from the housing to a point on each side of the ch***is, above the leaf springs. The link has Heim joints at both ends, and bolts to brackets on top of the housing and at the frame. As the rear suspension goes up and down (compress and rebound over bumps), the upper links are going through one arc, and the leaf springs are going through another arc. The top bars pivot on their heim joint/bolt fasteners. If the bottom of the housing is solidly mounted to the leaf springs, the rear suspension will bind. The floating housing will allow the top links and bottom links to pivot through their arcs, with the rear end "floating" between them.
Long ladder bars make use of these floating mounts too.

Hope that all made sense--it's late, and I'm tired.

The Mopar Performance CH***IS Manual is an excellent reference for material like this.

-Brad

 

I'm always open to trying new stuff but, would p*** on these unless.....

1. They were such a good deal I could save fabricating my mounts, but I'd still weld them.
2. You had a way to Index them, so as they couldn't twist the pinion up or down, or jog the axle left or right.


Wasn't there a truck at Hunnert with bolted rear brackets? Seems like I recall alot about this in the past. Maybe a truck with Gas bottles (welding) for gas tanks (Petrol).