Old Fashion Split Wishbones

Those look nice Jay. My bones came with with bungs already installed so for now I am going with them.

One thing I did on the last car was to turn the bungs down a bit on the lathe and cut the bone as long as possible. They look thinner and less sore bought that way.

 

My Model A used a larger tie rod end and sleeve. My Dad had said it was common to use a heavy Ford truck tie rod end than the standard car/pick-up tie rod end. I don't know what year of tie rod end it is. As for using 35 and up wish bones on a spring over top aplication. after cutting the front spring perches off, I cut the top horizontally (where the perch will go in)so it was the same thickness as a Model A and recut the taper so a regular stock spring perch could be used.

 

here's some done in the early sixtys i have definitely back yard build

 

Kevin Lee and Tman both I have seen your posts many many times, and thoroughly respect both your tallents, but I have to agree to disagree. I'm not saying that if you use a tie rod to split wishbone your going to die tomorrow. Just done incorrectly, there can be some bad consequenses. The easiest way to prove my point is to keep your eyes open next timeyou are at a large swap where there are lots of split wishbones for sale. Take note of the condition of the end inserted from tie rods. you will find lots of them that are bent, and sometimes some that are torn. My intention was never to say that my method is the only way to do this, just present a different way of achieving the goal. As a side note, when I presented this question to a couple of my mentors this morning, (hot rodders, not street rodders!) a couple said, "why bother trying to dig up tie rods when you can turn a chunk of dom?" I would much rather over engineer than under on critical suspension stuff. Thanks, Chip Quinn

 

Hey, I agreed and agree with what you said before and are saying now. I have always used bungs, either ones I made or the ready bought ones in the few sets of bones and rods I have made.

But as to digging up old parts, many of us have some pretty good stashes of these goodies, in good shape I might add. Datinman also showed using NEW tierod sleeves and ends just the same as Fab32 with the CE system he mentioned.

By no means are any of us condoning using junk, trashed parts. Building hotrods takes skill AND common sense. That is why you see many of us get fired up and call out the scary shit, ratrod or otherwise.

I view many of these threads as overviews. It is hard to set down and hit ALL the details and ALL the variables EVERY time. Just in this thread we are discussing 3 different ways to terminate the ends of your bones!

 

May be hard to see ,,but in these 1959 Chassis Research TE440 instructions ,when making your bones they say drill a hole in the bone to pin the one end and then weld around the end..

and this is for a Dragster ...

 

I used the tie rod method back in the day, got tie rods etc. from a large truck, much stronger.

 

OK, Kevin ruined me. I cut the bungs off my bones last night to do th early style ends like he is is using.

I did not notice it til the other night but I DO HAVE the same tie rod ends as Kevin. I also pulled the ends of a draglink on the same frame. While the actual tie rod ends have a bigger shank the "heads" where the ball seats measure out the same on both.

And for the record I did some research in The First 12 Issues of HOT ROD, numerous little pages and HOT RODS of the DRY LAKES. By far the most common method is using the tie rod sleeve and a rod end like Little Wing originally asked about.

Sorry for our sorta high jack.

 

Bass did the same as Kevin, about 3/4 down page one. Just welded the ends to the bones, no threaded sleeves.

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=263380

 

Thanks for the refresh on that thread. I subscribed.

It is funny how you can start to relate to other cars and ideas. I have some details that prob came from Ionia and other places the same as Bass. I wouldn't say anyone is COPYING anything but if you pay attention you can find your influences creeping out. For example, I dug out an old Sports car magazine from the 80s that was given to me as a kid. There is a Delahaye in there that kinda hit me back then. Some of the details from that long lost photo are coming out in the planning of my A.

Thanks for starting a fun thread LW.

 

Thanks to everyone for contributing ,,I'm glad for all the good info and that it still keeps coming ,,going to start laying out mine later today and see which way is gonna work best,,or if im real lucky maybe come up with a new way

 

Was reading and had'nt noticed,,but is there anything wrong with tapping and threading the end casting ?? seems it has as much meat as the aftermarket bungs

 

I think it was Andy that posted that. Sounds like a plan if you have the correct drill and tap.

 

Any one got a link or pics? I just picked up some balls that there use to rebiuld the streering arms. The guy didnt wont to sell them to me but in the end I went home with 6
thanks Bill

 

I think holding the drill to put the hole on center would be the hard part. With the oval shape of the wishbone, I can't think of a way that you could chuck it into a lathe to drill and tap either. No matter how you do this the tough part is getting the end in straight. I usually slide a tapped piece in and tack in a couple of locations, thread the end in, check for straight, adjust, remove the end weld it up. You'll be suprised how difficult it is to get it right. Oh, make sure both sides match too!

 

I have a old copy splitting wish bones by Leroi Tex smith/Ron Ceridono I can fax to you I dont know how clear they will come out but you can try it.

 

Here is a pair of old A bones I scored at Pomona Swapmeet last year for $50 bucks. I don't know when they were split but they are done old school style.

 

those are pretty cool looking ,,

 

Here's a pair that I have... Old mopar (?) rod ends...

 

Are you guys using the 11/16-18 Ford passenger car tie rod ends or their 3/4-16 truck tie rod ends?

A touch more strength with the 3/4" ends as well as taps are easy to find locally.


I like tabs or bungs equally well. but a sloppily done tab with lack of corner rounding ruins what can be a quality and well-done setup.

I built my own radius rods and am using poly bushings on all three corners.
That makes setting caster easy as well as being able to raise or lower the radius rod end to facilitate installation.

 

got a picture or could you explain that a bit more ?? Are the radius rods or hairpins ?

 

Not tryin' to highjack the thread by arguing about poly.
Just happens to be my choice.

I've always heard these called radius rods.
Seems like the term, "hairpins" is somewhat recent . . . or maybe it's just new to me.

5/8-NF threads fwiw.
7/8" x .156 wall DOM.







Deuce Factory stainless batwings.

 

ok,,I was wondering how you made adjustable radius rods as that would have been pretty cool,,,,yeah i have always heard of these as hair pins,,nice work

 

Make sure that the length threaded into the metal in length is at a minimum of the diameter of the bolt/tie rod. I try to keep it as a minimum of double as a saftey factor.

 

Another question

IS there any reason Ford tie Rod ends seem to be used most often ? ( likely guess was its a ford car so you had them ) but on teh overall ,,does it really matter what make teh ends are ?

 

No, it's just that most hot rodders hot rodded Fords, and probably had a pile of parts from the 418 Fords they had ripped apart. It was mostly a case of "we've already got these tie rod ends, so we'll use them".

 

Hey, that's a good idea!

 

Cool ,,that's what I was assuming

 

Right...
?