Yeah and you thought youd get to see some free***** huh? Im building a 27 roadster - Ive made a chassis along the lines of model A - 4x2 RHS which tapers in towards the front. I have a late model Ford 8"diff which will have coilovers and triangle 4 bars. Not so trad I know. Question is, how do I ensure the diff sits straight and the car will track straight. Dumb question - the Tardel Bible only shows a buggy spring rear and I d like to hear from anyone who can give me a step by step - pics 'd be great. Thanks Steve
Square the rear like you squared the frame. Measure from each side on the rear to the front of the frame on the same side (Should be equal....right?) Then measure from same point on each side on rear to the point on the front of frame on opposite side. Simple right? I was going to include a diagram but the spaces get deleted by the forum software.
Your fellow countryman - Larry O'Toole - explained it quite well in the Graffiti book, "Engineering Street Rods." Starting on pg. 52. Several options shown and the one I think you'd be interested in utilizes Ford, Holden and Nissan components. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Someone here on the HAMB was looking for information a few days back on installing the Jag independent rear suspension. There's a couple of pages in the book with good, clear photos and well written text with illustrations that should tell you what you want to know. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ When you get right down to it, for the folks who do the great majority of their own work and eschew purchasing commercial components when they can, you'll find the answers to a lot of building problems in this book. Recommended highly. You shouldn't have any trouble figuring a way around the right hand steering stuff. But do be careful with the frame side panhard mounts and where you place them....
A shadetree point of advice.....while mocking it up- after you have it all bolted up and tack welded. You should try this with out the spring/suspension hooked up- move one side up and down thru its arc of travel to check for binding and or excessive pinion angle changes. tHEN LIFT THE WHOLE REAR SUSPENSION straight up as well.... this simple test will tell you how much trouble youre in....OR NOT! A simple way to check if the rear suspension GEOMETRY is working as you intended it to.
The way the we set our three and four ling rears is to string the rear end. First thing that you do is set your toe in to zero and get your front wheels pointed perfectly forward (this can be checked closer when you have the strings up. Next stretch a length of string along the length of one side of the car. I normally tie the strings to some heavy jack stands, because of they are heavy enough but yet easily moveable. Align the string to the rear tire(will be more difficult if you have body work in the way. Idealy when streatched the string will be just a hair off the front and rear half of the rear tire. If this is not possible stretch it so that it is perfectly parallel to the rear tire, this is critical because a small descrepency will be a large descrepancy when you measure at the front tire. When the string is perfectly parallel to the rear tire measure the distance between the string and the front and back half of the front tire. Make adjustments to the rear and start the process all over again. When square the string will be the same distance to the front and rear half of the front tire. To detemine if the front wheels are perfectly straight, string the front tires and square off of the frame rails. To center the rear in the car, string both rear wheels and adjust until the strings are equal distance from the front wheels. When the rear is centered double check that it is square. One note when aligning the string to rear wheel, set it as close as possible to the rear tire, without touching the tire. even slightly touching will skew your results.
FlattieSteve, I'm doing almost the same thing!! 27 Roadster, and I'm replacing the banjo that was in it (3 teeth missing from ring gear and $250 to replace...) with an 8 inch. I think my deals a little easier than yours cause I'm setting this axle up the same way the other came out. I do want to get it STRAIGHT and I've never done it before. I also want to know what driveshaft angle is best. Got any pictures of your setup? Good luck!
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