Technical Spring hitting dropped axle 2 weeks with no progress help

Start over with unmolested parts and assemble with tried and true building methods. Nothing on the axle looks like it will survive a pot hole hit, and the front crossmember also needs a redo. Never cut into the vertical sides of a crossmember channel, that is where the strength is. Before doing anything else, read up on how this early suspension design works and why they are put together the way they are. Novice suspension redesigns are a recipe for chaos.

 

Well the first step is to take some decent photos with enough resolution with a real camera and decent light so that folks can actually see what is going on and have more of an answer than just throw the whole mess in the scrap pile.
I'm not seeing the bottom end of the spring perch and the nut that should go on it with that style of axle and if the bat wings and spring perch are welded to the axle that is suspect in it's self.

You for sure need to take some pieces off and toss them in the scrap load and put on correct pieces but outside of spring perches the question now is how many pieces do you actually need to change to have a safe car to drive?

Good high quality photos get good high quality answers when you ask a question.

 

This guys probably a newbie or he wouldn't have bought this money pit. The guys that come in here with stuff like this typically have about 10 bucks and want the whole car done for that., (not everybody). Anybody who's followed any of my builds on here knows my stuff it pretty good, usually creative, but I'm not about to recommend anything totally stupid. This front end is a POS and the rest of the car probably is too. A fellow who bought this probably doesn't have or doesn't want to spend the $2,500 or so the parts will cost to fix just the front end. Probably not worth it if he has to pay labor on top of that. Let's face it, whoever patched this mess together either was more clueless than the owner who at least had the good sense to ask, or was one of those guys just looking to make a quick buck out of his junk parts stash. There are a lot of them around here and they can leave a real bad taste in a new rodders opinion of this obsession of ours.

We routinely weld forgings to carbon steel parts such as shock mounts etc. There is a set of plans floating around for a T bucket that elaborates on this. I've seen many old race cars that have welded axles so there is some merit there. I do not think that is ideal but workable solution if necessary. I have welded a couple of early Franklin axles along with some unobtainium rocker arms for the Great American Race that have stood the test of time. However, I trust my welding. As I mentioned this is not something you would do with a HF 110 welder or should it be a place to learn how to weld.

My point is we are just pricing ourselves out of existence and stuff like this makes it bad for everybody. I have chosen to close my shop for reasons just like this. The amount of stuff that I get like this is staggering and unfortunately it costs way too much to fix it.

 

They welded the perch so close to the axle, the shackle can't ever articulate into the correct position... i.e. facing downward as it goes from the pin (upward) to the spring (downward). It will NOT work that way.
Where are you located?

 

ALL HOPE IS NOT LOST!

The cheap bastard in me says that front axle set-up could be easily and cheaply saved IF he could drill out those original spring perch holes in the axle. All he would need is new perches, batwings and a steering arm (and cut off the old crap).

 

They would need to be opened back up and machined to the diameter of .680", you don't want to use a drill for that since the perch bolts need to be snug in the bore and pointing in the right direction. Really depends on how far the OP is willing to go to make it right and safe.

 

Wow, seeing those pictures I totally agree with everyone. For the sake of safety get rid of the whole front axle mess, and do some hard looking at the rest of the chassis and suspension. If your not sure find someone who knows and let them advise you.

 

That is correct, it can not work the way it is supposed to be assembled.

I'm guessing the Meth Head who came up with this nightmare, intended the shackles to be installed
upside down. Instead of down toward the middle at 45 degrees, like basically every other transverse
leaf car ever, they actually would clear if the were upside down and angled 45 degrees to the outside.
With a longer spring. If you wanted an undriveable Clown Car.

Completely dumb idea, but this is consistent with the front cross member "design".
Clearly they were going for the high center of gravity "Meth Gasser" look.

Waiting for someone to come out with a couple new print magazines:
"Meth Gassers Monthly" and "Crack Head Rodzzzz".
www.methgassersandcrackheadrodzzzz.com
There seems to be a market.

 

The average person, would be better off sending that garbage to recycling.
If you had to pay someone to try and fix this, it would be cheaper to buy another axle.

 

I was thinking about that too, but I think he'd only have to get the bore "close" and he could weld the perch bolts in (top & bottom) if he bought adjustable perches

 

Sounds like the "perches" are at least 2" wide ? Is that correct ?

This is the industry standard width, probably because that is what Ford used.

If you set the spring aside, and just install the shackles,
it should be obvious, that this Shit is NOT going to work.

 

Punt

 

To machine an unmolested forging isn't bad, for the right person.
The axle forging, is probably 4130 or similar. I forget exactly what Ford used.
After all that welding, guaranteed there will be hard spots, which makes it "fun" to machine.

If the axle was not pre heated, before welding, there is a risk of cracks.
Dye Penetrant will tell you. Of course, that is after the "perches" are machined off.


An actual old school machine shop that can do this sort of rework,
is NOT going to want the liability involved in repairing this abortion.
Anyone brave enough, should charge more than Socal wants for a new one.

Zero chance that OP can do this himself.

 

@Henslee Well, we know the whole front setup is a shit show. Show us how the rear end is set up.

If this front end mess is indicative of the entire build (which it likely is) then it's just a rolling deathtrap IF it ever sees the road.

Your inability to figure out what is wrong with the front end makes me think you should just sell the whole deal to someone with a history of building safe hot rods, because it needs significant modifications.

 

Yeow, that’s harsh. Give the guy a chance. We can help him through it.

 

We're not talking about drilling a forged axle blank. Those perch hole are ALREADY THERE, just filled with something, and just need to be cleaned/drilled out.

 

My gut feeling is that what is left of the perch pin is what is filling the hole in the axle. Beat hell out of the threads trying to get it out, wouldn't move. Then hack sawed or torched the perch off flush. Bye-bye wishbone. Welded the ends of the perch pin to make it look solid. Cut off the perch at the taper for the wishbone and welded the remains to the axle. Couldn't make anything work, sent it down the road. "Hard part done, just needs finished".

 

We all started somewhere.

 

.....................

 

You are great I ordered the perches. Im going to put them on and new shackle and new spring. All the guys saying start over are buying and replacing parts. Heck the old rod rode for 50 years this way. I say weld it run it and thanks again

 

Imagine

 

I came to the here for help. I got a few guys with good ideas and advice. The ones that have to bad mouth some thing that someone is trying to correct does not help the board or anyone. Those that make all the assumptions don't know the car. It was built in 1957. It wasn't built through a catalog store. So I know what you are saying. Buy a 15k chassis and you will be great. That kinda defeats what hod Rodgers started out doing. I'm making all the corrections and will make it right. I just needed some advice. Thanks to all the guys that gave good points. I mow know what I need to do.

 

Thanks for all the help

 

Time for popcorn!

 

Yeah , cause the average person , with useful help from here could never figure it out , this ain't that hard !

 

Actually, it is too hard for some.

 

Spring rate is 400-450 lbs.

 

How would you know that has worked this way since 1957? Probably parked for most of that time.

 

Is your intent to re-use the existing axle? Your statement "I say weld it run it" leads me to believe you intend to weld the new perches to the axle. True?

 

Was it built in 1957 or 50 years ago?

I saw your posts on at least 2 Facebook Model A pages that were a duplicate of this one and, lucky me, as a result saw photos from previous posts you made of the car and modifications you had already made. Before you seemed to have blocked me because I said that based on what I saw the whole car should be gone through .

Clearly you've made some modifications to the front end (that red "spacer" above the spring), but those saying to start over aren't saying so for kicks. My dad has a 33 Dodge hot rod that was done in the states in the late 60's. It needed a significant amount of work to get it to drive and handle safely on the highway, 13 years ago when he got it. Your car is no different.

"Weld it and run it" is fine until it fails on the road and kills someone's innocent child or parent. Playing fast and loose with safety isn't cool, smart, or heroic.

We're not trying to spend your money or just bolt on new parts. We're trying to help you get your car safe for your own sake and that of other road users.