Does the spring pack fit tight in the'C' channel? no side play and is the xmember deep enough for the springpack?
No C channel...just a flat plate...spring pulled tight to the flat plate with ubolts or 4 bolts with clamp plates
thanks for being a*****. seems like there's an element here that doesn't care to help at all and lives for their post count. thanks for all the actually helpful advice from everyone else.
You never know it might have been the words that got you motivated. Also he did help a couple of times before that. But in all honesty your over thinking this. I think that if you used a curved spacer on that flat of a spring youd end up damaging it by work hardening the spring where it touches the ends of the curved spacer. If his sister cant get it tight enough i bet mine can, she works in a junk yard.
upon further discussion with a local hotrod guy, it seems that the '40 rear crossmember DID have a curved pocket for the spring. i guess i was overthinking it. how a couple of u-bolts could pull the spring up flat to a flat crossmember is beyond me. ain't gonna happen.
Your welcome !!! They must make them soft up there. You couldn't last 10 mins around here. Somebody would tell you to hit it with your purse or to pull your skirt up and you'd be off in the bathroom crying. Go ahead and check my post history and you'll see plenty of help. Most recently on your thread right here.
Modified 39 See how he kept the important parts of the spring securing areas. The ubolts are secured by the shape and (very important) the secondary holes in the lip. The bolts won't try to follow the arc, they resist bending and I don't see an arched spacer or pocket. I know I'm being a***** right? Henry knew what he was doing and henry didnt do anything that didnt have a purpose. I suppose if you want to use Henry's parts and some of your own you'll need to redesign plenty of stuff. Nothing wrong with that at all but one needs to have an understanding of what's being change and what now needs to be added to satisfy the requirement of Henry parts.
On tightness...which is very important...try to get real forged U-bolts*. I think most aftermarket u-bolts (and not just early Ford ones) are too soft, really just pieces of mild steel bent and threaded. I do not think they ever really get or stay tight in some cases... they feel like you could go on turning the nut forever. Forged U's, tighten hard, retighten a couple times as car breaks in. This has nothing to do with roll...the car is supported out at the ends of the spring geometrically, and any significant movement is out thataway. Any movement near center means your car is effectively coming apart. on a flat plate mount, I would think adding some welded in walls to make the spring area a sort of channel would be good. You want that area to stay planted no matter what the wheels hit, and a pure open clamped mount is going to be pretty highly stressed. * I once had to chisel cut a '32 U-bolt that had rusted half away and become one with its rusted lumps of nuts...that chassis had been buried in fertilizer or something at a farm. Obliterated two good quality chisels on the job...and what I was cutting was only about half thickness it had rusted so much.
Don't know what kinda '40 your local hotrod guy was talking about, check my Ford frame and the rear spring seat area in the crossmember is pretty much flat when you lay a straight edge on it. As a matter of fact so is seat area on the front crossmember and on an original "A" front crossmember I had sitting on the pile. Over the years I have put '40, '32, and "A" rear springs on flat plate spring mounts with no problem bolting them down tight and keeping them tight. I know the "A" springs sit into a curved crossmember originally; but they have also worked OK on a flat mount for many people on many hot rods for many years. I can't see why yours won't tighten down. Are you using the right size bolts, are your clamping bars or lower plate substantial enough to pull tight without bending. I've seen repop Ford bars made out of such soft metal they bent instead of clamping the spring tight, also seen some brittle ones on a hamb post that broke when tightening. I also don't get the reply about uneven spring tension, if the spring brought up tight at the u-bolts, the spring tension should be equal on either side, as long as the spring is made right.
Factory set-up, flat in the middle. Notice how much less arc the spring has when under load, the top, even if not bolted, would be flat.
Watch out harv, he probably won't call you a***** but I bet there'd be some***** hurt feelings im sure. Mr neighborhood hot rod is wrong and the spring getting bolted flat just ain't gonna happen. Is that*****ish ? Probably a little but I think it's fitting
^^^ lol. As mentioned earlier in the thread, Henry got it right, well in most cases. It seems the ride and roof height needed adjusting on most early cars As far as the suspension design and set-up, well it's a thing of beauty in looks and function, sure it gets tweaked here and there, but it is well designed and works great, then and now. To the OP, I can see where you are coming from by wanting it to be right, or better in your opinion, but it is right as Ford made it. It seems you have an idea for an area of inprovement and you want us to agree with you As I mentioned earlier, you are over thinking it, you are good to go with what you have...get building.
That's what I did on my AV8 with a '40 spring but I didn't use a channel. A 2'X1/4'' tube was used with a bottom 3/8" plate incorporating four 1/2" holes for bolts from the top of the spring to 3/8" plates on the bottom to secure the spring. There is a hole for the spring pack bolt in the bottom plate. I DID cut into the bottom of the tube to create a curve for the spring but not the same arc as the small top leaf from the stock spring pack. After they're bolted together that arc changes, never thought it would, but it did. I think using just the flat channel you have now with leave your frame sitting on the rear axle, 2"s too low.
How will you know for sure what radius curve to make your "stabilizer" insert piece? How long will you make it? The curve of the spring will change under load and end up loading up the spring at the insert ends - effectively shortening your sprung length - a change in ride softness for sure. Ol' Henry kinda knew what he was doing and had already made 1 or 2 of these set ups by 1940. U-bolts under these old Ford transverse setups were never intended to clamp up the spring so tight to the cross-member at the U-bolts - just a pre-load if you will. While the nuts should be pretty tight there should still be something left to "come 'n go" with the U-bolt and clamp so there can be some pre-load adjustment to the left or right side if required. Check out the old Ford service bulletins on levelling up saggy suspensions and you'll see why this is as it is. The spring won't go anywhere if the centre bolt is locating it all tightly. Old Fords can sag to one side from having a fat-ass in the driver seat for years and re-tensioning U-bolts can adjust this away.
So with this type of X-member the spring doesn't sit in a channel,so should the bolts be tightened so that the spring actually flattens out between the bolts? Seems like the 4 bolts would be under a lot of pressure all the time???
A lot of pressure is wanted there. If spring is not tighterthanhell there, it will squirm around and for sure will crack the crossmember and wallow out the locating center hole. It might even start introducing odd suspension movements... All significant movement should be out beyond the U bolts.
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