reading the rules for jalopy roadster races, i came up with a couple questions. Q: what does a rear wheel "safety disc" look like? evidently it kept the [right rear] wheel from pulling off the lightweight roadster during a circle track event. my search got me everything but. Q: what does a safety hub look like? the component which keeps the wheel attached to the car even if the rear axle breaks EDIT: in the same list of regulations there is mention of reinforced or truck tie rod. Q: how would the tie rod be reinforced? i understand a truck unit would probably be larger diameter & then ends adapter to fit the spindle arms. thanks
Idont remember what the plate looked like but if the inspector saw a longer bolt set of threads showing on one of your 4 brake backing bolts he knew you had an axle retainer. The SCTA dry lakes inspector wanted to see them on both sides. A safety hub is like whats on a 9” Ford. After you pressed on a bearing to the axle you pressed on a ring. C clip rear eliminated that on stock street cars.
Floater rear hub, axle tube / spindle has nut , some 2 nuts. The axle that has press or slip on axle bearing has / use's a wedding band , at least that's what I call it. ? Same if you convert from C clip eliminator like @jimmy six said, ""All below"" just thoughts Maybe a way To work , I think it would , Not weight saving at all , If you can understand my wording & thinking .... I have see a kind of a Double " L" shape bracket that bolted to rear tube then went over Drum / Disc to catch , but there has to be space /Clarence between wheel & drum/ disc When mounted flush / wheel tight . The double L bracket /catch To catch wheel / axle from coming out. 1 or 2 pice , 2 pice better ,180 deg from each other , Or could there be like a big Washer Between wheel & drum / rotor that a cage over lapped went around the bolted to 4 bolts where backing plate mounting bolts,???? Maybe there a dirt track part ? I am thinking most of them are Floater or C clip illuminators,
Here are "safety hubs" as used on a Ford banjo rear. The body was slipped over the inside of the hub and then the ring was welded to the hub. Bolts threaded into the hubs replaced two of the backing plate bolts (studs in the picture were to be used as pilots during assy). In case of axle failure the welded ring prevented the hub and wheel from departing the car
Also curious to learn what a "wheel safety disc" is. Wonder if does the same thing as the second center my old neighbor used to weld into the wheels on his dirt track jalopy '40 coupe for side load extra strength.
that would make sense to me. i forget where i got this list from. questions raised by items mention in requirements #14, 35, & 39.
It’s the disc on the right rear wheel that I believe was bolted to the end of the axle with the nut holding the hub on the taper, and kept the wheel on if the center failed
That would be #35 Safety desk. Make sense like a giant washer. Now & Pic of #39 Safety hub= Axle What year is the Rule /Tec paper above
maybe 1948 https://www.hotrod.com/features/this-is-the-c-r-a-982-912-16-1/photos maybe 1945 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Roadster_Association maybe 1946 https://www.jalopyjournal.com/?p=61178
The figure-8 guys all used beefed up tie rods. Cut the rod, splice in a piece of black pipe and weld it up. The toe-out was excessive, some i saw had no adjustment. Toe was anywhere from 1/2" to 1".
Safety Hubs were required on the right front of many stock car too. Safety hubs on the front, and done is adding bolt on 3/4 truck style spindle to the stock front spindles sometimes people made them using 4 wheel drive often Jeep hubs. Many track/sectioning bodies required it for the right front, in the conners the weight is transferred to the right front, left front gets light as the car corners. This was also why a smaller left front tire was used. They started with stock 3/4 Ford iron wide 5 hubs some 8 lug, by the mid 50s Safety Racing introduced aluminum hubs/for stock Ford backing plates Very early on aftermarket companies started manufacturing bolt on spindles. The set up I am running on my Model A stock car- They also convert the Ford Banjo rears to floater using this technique and an aftermarket spool. Which is what I did on the axle tube on my car- Kerzon "Moose" Carye 34 Ford with V-8 or 6 splines as we oval tracker call it. Owned by Dick and Jeff Ackerman Gene Cole 43 replica note the stock banjo center section and 3/4 ton hubs Built and owned by Dick and Jeff Ackerman Photo found on the H.A.M.B. of this set up.
I get to kill two birds with out stone... This the reinforce my draglink which would be similar to a tie rod reinforcement, I have seen built with rebar, solid stock, pipe etc... I had to reinforce mine because the longest piece of steel tie rod material Speedway sells was too short and I had to splice a couple together. I beveled the tie rod material, threaded a bolt in (sleeved) to tie them together T.I.G. welded them and cut and T.I.G.ed a piece of 2" angle to the outside.
I understand all these except for this safety disc. If it’s held onto the axle using the thread at the end of the taper, how does the hub stay with the housing if the axle fails? Or is this to be used in conjunction with the bracket/ring retainer setup? Thanks to everyone providing the answers, really enjoy reading about all this stuff.
I don’t have any pictures of what we did with those bolt on spindle adapters. We never welded them to the spindle, because it seemed that they never failed if we used Safety Racing parts. They were billet not 2 parts welded together to make the spindle adapter. Getting those slugs and a nut down inside was/is a pita, so I came up with a solution. A slug of steel machined to fit in the end, but with a shoulder that pushed on the end of the spindle adapter. Drilled through and threaded to screw onto the end of the spindle. A couple of holes drilled in the face to match a face pin spanner wrench, and easy way to get it all together. We found that the typical failure was the steering arms. They would get bent and in that era, it was just easier to scrounge up another set of spindles. Yeah, I know, what a shame and waste. But they were just old Ford parts then. We’re talking 46-48 Ford parts, in 1974-79. 30 years old, who cared then.
From my copy of the Nov. 1959 issue of Car Craft, this ones is hurt some one cut part of the article out for the photo of the 56 Ford custom on the next page, DAMN KIDS! Cooks Machine (Cyclone) did a conversion similar to mine but with (custom) double spline axles, drive flanges, and threading the end of the stock Ford bearing race. This is very similar to what modern oval track including NASCAR Cup car do. Red box double spline axle vs Ford Yellow boxes drive flanges Pink Box (enough giggling) threading the end of the stock Ford bearing race Modern 9" Grand National Floater Note double spline axle & drive flanges Modern Short Track G.N style Quick Change Modern Short Track Wide 5 Quick Change, yes still the same Wide 5 as 36-39 Ford! Here in the Northeast D.I.R.T. Modifieds they are allowed to use aluminum axle tubes.
you guys are blowing me away with all the photos and detailed explanations; thanks so much. i need some time to digest all this. probably second nature to you, but i basically have to do a search and then an image search to get through each caption & photo. thanks again - i just go a little slower. sid
Welding probably wasn't necessary but I don't have enough self-control not to T.I.G. weld everything!
We all started somewhere, my dad (76) enough jokes that I (43) am much older than him because of the cars I am into and the early speed equipment/techniques I have made a study of. He is a wealth of knowledge on the 60s-1990s stuff but tells people he has learned much about the early days of racing/hot rodding though myself and my friends.
The Jalopy Journal
