Although at 73, I'm definitely not a new guy but I am at last building a "Banger". I've been studying front suspensions and I see some split the wishbone and some do not. I always assumed splitting was to give room for a larger engine and/or when going super low. I'm keeping the 4 cylinder and looking at a 4" drop so I don't think I will need the room. Is there any other advantage to splitting the wishbones? Thanks, robj
Robj, If everything clears, you’re good to go not splitting. Actually according to V. Tardel, you’re better off not splitting. His thought was that Henry knew what he was doing.
It is usually a trade off, isn't it? Wishbones are split for clearance reasons when making certain modifications, like different engines/trans/drivelines and lowering with an OEM axle. But it does introduce some level of bind into the system. Virtually perfect articulation if left unsplit. Smart guy that Henry Ford fellow....... (or at least the people he had working for him).
If you run headers on the banger , you may need to split them, and if you use some of the aftermarket dropped axles, you will need to narrow it to if the perch pin centers (cut it 1/2 way thru at the welds at the rear of the wishbones , line it up with the axle and rewelded it) later kb
I'm probably going with a cast iron single outlet header that exits in more or less the stock location. Right now I'm researching axles, [4" drop] and reverse eye springs. I'm thinking about keeping the mechanical brakes and upgrading mine to cast drums and flat head Ted's floater kit. To be honest my head is swimming with how to achieve this...
Keeping mechanical brakes with that drop is going to be difficult. There are other options using a mix early ford parts that will give you what you want. Also if you dont need to split the wishbone then dont do it. You are creating more issues you will need to resolve. Keep it simple. This may help.. https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/lowered-a-with-stock-brakes.971652/#post-10946029
In the early days of hot rodding, splitting the wishbone was a necessity. When you changed out the engine and trans with something different, the ball socket where the wishbone mounted went away. Your only choice was to alter the front suspension. Splitting the bones was one of them.
Thanks Gizmo.. That's very helpful. [still learning my way around HAMB] My goal is a stance similar to what's pictured above. Any idea what the front and rear drop on this could be? It was on BAT a few years ago. I tried to find the eBay listing where it eventually sold but couldn't find it. I was hoping that would have some additional information. Thanks, robj
Here's my 4" dropped A Axle with A spindles and juice brakes. Take close notice to what I did for the tierod and draglink program. Mega simple and worked just like a stock Model A. Up-grades are not really necessary when doing Old School treatments.
The Jalopy Journal
