Hot Rods Model A tie rod interference solution?

Hi everyone

Here's my problem:

Super bell 4" dropped axle
F1 spindles
Split bones
I flipped the tyrod because it was interfereing with the bones, now it's trying to occupy the same space as the lower engine pulley.

What are my options?
Tyrod with a bend in the middle.
Bend the pitman arms down (it would have to go down 1 1/2")and un flip the tyrod.
Or???

Thanks Phil

 

You’ll most likely have to heat and bend your steering arms down. How much room between the bottom of frame and the top of your tie rod, don’t want that to hit the frame on suspension travel.



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Move the motor back?

 

Stick the rod end into the arms from below (taper the hole half way), then bend the arms the rest of the way til they clear.

 

Under the 'bone's like so; other than the F-1 left arm is different: but they bend down in a similar fashion. I see you already re-cut the taper to put the tie rod ends on top; hopefully you didn't go to deep and can still move it back to the bottom of the arms.

 

I only cut the taper 1/2 way through so I can do top or bottom . The drivers side arm seems fairly short and stout I wasn't sure I could get enough bend out of it.

Phil

 

The arm is the same length as the r/h side; but since you have to start the bend further from the kingpin center; you may be right about enough length for the drop, the axle I did the l/h F-1 arm on was a dropped original axle and not as deep as your aftermarket axle. Suppose you could use a regular square back spindle on that side as an alternative.

 

What about the dropped tie rod ends the speedway sell? Could they get you out of trouble?


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Put them back underneath and put a small "C" in the bottom of the wishbones....

 

Do you mean notch the wishbone were the tie rod is.
Phil

 

You can run it thru the radius Rod

 

My tie rod is on top of the wish bones like you have yours. My engine is set back further than you have yours and a little higher than you have yours and it clears the front balancer pulley buy about an inch. The tops of my wish bones have a 1/2" notch cut out and it was filled in with a strip of metal. I f I remember right, I actually used 1/4" plate for the filler and set it inside the wishbone tube.

You could do the same thing but on the bottom side of the wishbones. Just make sure you don't have to take out too much material of the wishbone and fill it in with steel at least the same thickness as the tube of the wishbone. Just like you would have to do a "C" notch for a rear end. Because the tie rod swings in an arc, you'll need to make a notch about 2 1/2 to 3 inches long.

 

Thanks that's what I thought you meant.
Phil

 

Just a thought... You might have already done this, but if you haven't, before you cut the notch in either the bottom or the top of your wish bones, I suggest that you put your radiator in, put on BOTH Radiator hoses, then bolt up your alternator, fan, and grill shell. From what I see, I think you're going to need to raise that engine about an inch or two anyway. Where you have it now, you're might need a Zips water pump riser, or you will chop your lower radiator outlet into shreds with your fan.

You can change the location of the engine to basically set the fan in alignment to the radiator (move the motor mounts higher and further back) way easier than you can manipulate the grill to cowl alignment and screw up how your hood and fenders fit.

Keep in mind that I'm basing this only off the knowledge of my 34, and it appears that you're working on a Model A, so you might be ok. But a couple of hours mocking things up now might save you many-many hours of fixing things later.

 

Yes Phil P

 

Another Model A front end I put together, "pruned" F-1 spindle with bolt on arm to get the tie rod under the split bones. Maybe it is just me; but while I don't necessarily like bolt-on arms; cut-up and notched wishbones seem like the wrong way to go about solving an issue.

 

When you pruned your F1 spindle were did the grease fitting end up.

Thanks Phil

 

This is another set of modified F-1 spindles from the past. I tapped the hole that was left thru the kingpin after the eye was trimmed off, grease fitting came out just under the unknown brand steering arms that I had acquired somewhere.

 

Zerks come in different angles too in case you need to point them a different direction to fit the grease gun on them.

 

Would a 5.4" diameter crank pulley help?

 

Thanks to everyone who responded.

At first I liked the tie rod through the bones idea but because the arms are so short the hole would be partially in the forged end.
I went with heating and bending down the arms knowing that I could get bolt on arms if necessary, I put the tie rod back under the arms.

Phil