TECH 36 to A style front spring conversion

Last saturday I needed to get my front axle ready for the rails that a friend is fabbing up for my 34 pu. This is how it started as a nice complete 36 front axle with mechanical brakes that was holding up yard art in front of the shop...

 

I stripped the backing plates/brakes, brake rods, spring, etc off of the axle. Everything came apart without incident almost as though I was tearing a '96 ford axle apart.

 

If you'll notice in the last photo that the R side perch pin has popped up, I had an afternoon appointment with a local backyard machine shop to press the pins out but when I set the axle down on the shop floor I noticed one had popped up voluntarily. At this point my father decided that he'd get involved, we covered the other perch pin with a piece of alulminum and tapped on it with a hammer to see if it would let go. Sure enough with a little persuation it to popped out. I was AMAZED at how easily this thing came apart and happy that I would not have to spend $30 having them pressed out...

 

The axle easily parted from the wishbone with a little tap, tap here and there. Then I got out the sawzall and cut the spring provisions off the front of the wishbone, but not before running to the store and spending $10 "ouch" on two new sawzall blades.

 

After using a cut off wheel on the grinder to cut the extra meat off the front of the bones where the old spring perches used to live I then ground them round and I was ready to start putting it all back together. I had previously bought new spring perches, shackles and a reversed eye spring. I inseted the perches, installed the bushings and shackles and found out quickly that I would have to build a device to compress the spring and stretch it out to meet the shackle studs. I rummaged around in the backyard and found some tube then threw together this compressor...

 

This piece of tube ran between the spring eyes acting as a spine for the compressing device to draw the main leaf of the spring downward...

 

After the main leaf was installed I replaced the rest of the springs and turned my attention to the ends of the wishbone... I used the sawzall to cut around the factory weld that holds the yolk into the bones. Once the welds where gone the old cast yolk slipped out using heavy pliers to wiggle it...

 

I trimmed the rod ends back about 1/2in until the id was 1 1/8 and used a hammer to tap these 3/4 in speedway bungs into the ends of the now split bones. I decided to hold off welding anything until I was content with a mock up of the chassis...

 

I then put the drums and wheels back on the 36 spindle, sat back and smiled enjoying my coverted axle, I'd had a GREAT afternoon.
I plan to use the 36 spindles for the mock up as they where on the axle and I had wheels/tires to fit. Later I will install 39 spindles and a 60 buick drum/brake set up...

 

That's pretty cool.

 

Jeez you were lucky getting all that apart, I had a 46 axle that took me nearly two days to get the bones off without destroying the axle or the bones...and that was working in a forging shop with every tool you could want!
had to cut the perch pins thru with an oxy set,then drill the pin section in the axle, an blow the pin out with a cutting tip. it was as though it was all one piece of metal. fukken aggravating!!