Whats the best way to mount a front spring to wishbones..?

Hello friends, i have a stock 1930 front end and a 31 chasis stepped up in the rear, I was looking for info on the best way to mount the spring on the bones to have a clean look in the front, Is there any kind of weld on kit, should the spring still sit under the front crossmember?

 

I think you want the spring mounted to the axle, not the wishbones...

 

He's talking spring behind I believe. This is one of those threads that will ensue an engineer's pissing contest.

 

just mount it like it should be with a reversed eye leaf and dropped axle

 

To lower the front a lot, kick the axle out in front of the cross member with longer than stock split radius arms and mount the stock spring perch bolts in the arms with a welded in bung.

 

I agree with the others, keep it on top of the axle. If you must have it attached to the bones, keep it as close to the axle as you can and build brackets that suround the them. I think the surround mounts as oposed to the tube welded in with the shackel bolt passing through is stronger and looks beter...jmo. The model A bones are not nearly as strong as the 35 and up ones, if you do it i would use the later ones.

Here is a very nice example of spring to bones, i would have used abit thicker brackets but there is a plate welded in between the brackets, bone and shackel sleeve....nice work.

 

Oh yeah, this one is going to degrade into a pissing contest. But since you asked the best way to mount them, I have cut a 3/8 plate and welded it to the bottom of the wishbone and mounted an aftermarket perch through that plate. We extended the plate to not only weld onto the bone but also the forged front portion, tying the two together even better than the stock factory welds.

Here is how we cut the plate.



And how it looks all buttoned up.





Don

 

I love a good front suspension thread...
So, all you guys with springs on the wishbones - How well does the car drive? Did it change anything about suspension or steering dynamics compared to a more traditional spring on axle setup?

 

Don, that is probably one of the better examples of the spring into radius rods I have seen. Nice work, and that will do a better job of minimizing the problems with realtively thin radius rod wall thickness.

 

The rods I used were 36, they had .156 wall. The rears were much thinner.

 

Great Reply's thanks for the info, Don thats a really nice setup, looks clean and well built, Once again guys thanks

 

Thanks guys. To answer your question about handling, the car rode great. It was to Daytona Turkey Run 3 times (250 miles each way) to Billetproof twice (225 miles each way) and I drove it almost daily and hard for 3 years. Even the steering arms in front, where they had to be for clearance, wasn't an issue and the only scrub was when turning hard into a parking spot.

On the rpu I am currently building I am using a set of new wishbones from Speedway (if anyone asks, they are really nice and very close to originals, I'm glad I bought them) and they come with pretapped holes to screw in perches for the springs. I didn't like the 1/2 inch size so I retapped for 5/8 threads which allowed me to use angled ones from Pete and Jakes. They are angled 5 degrees to allow the spring shackle to ride straight.

I realize a lot of people would prefer to see the spring over the axle for safety reasons, and I understand that, but if you use new components, weld everything good, and keep an eye on things you will minimize the risks involved. Hot rods by their very nature are never going to be like a Lexus in the area of safety, we just do the best we can and hope for the best.

Don

 

Here's a set that I made. 1/4" and 1" DOM tubing

 

Dan, that looks clean and simlpe, didnt realize i had that many options,thanks for the pics<SCRIPT type=text/javascript> vbmenu_register("postmenu_7102052", true); </SCRIPT>

 

Dan, did you make a custom perch mount for the spring to bolt to the frame?

 

Hey Don, you always manage to have a cat in the picture. haahaaaa.

 

I use original perch pins, pass them through the wishbone directly behind the forged yoke, use a piece of tubing as a spacer and thread the nut on the end, once you have the weight of the engine and transmission on the chassis and the perch is at the proper angle, tack them in place, take the spacer and nut off, weld them up on both sides and cut off the excess. Looks KLEEN, super strong, and uses old ford parts to get the job done.

 

Thunderbirdesq, That looks pretty good, is that an olsd trick or what? Have you had any clearance probs?

 

If you want some more picture ideas do a search for the Doane Spencer 32 roadster,and the rolling bones styled front end.

 

Yup, made my own spring perch. There's pics in my build thread here -----> http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=626289

 

A lot depends on what bones you use, i use the model 'a' and like to tie the forged axle bracket and the bone together - cut one of them apart to see how ford welded them together and you will see why i do this. I'd take a pic of mine but there isn't a spring on it at the moment, i try to make to make the bracket disappear. If i were to make it obvious i'd do it like ClutchDumpin did, that is very clean.

 

Im ging to post some pics when i get into town this week, its easy to get lost in the pages of all this great info and pics, Thanks oj for the post

 

Here is pictures of how I did it...





Welding isn't finished...

 

Here's how I did mine.

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=282490&page=2

And as far as how it handles / drives. Like an arrow. Only thing that I had an issue with was heavy steering due to too much caster. I'm currently addressing that.

 

CheatersPete, are those just the purches welded to the bones? looks real clean man, thanks for the reply

 

Striper, Thats some heavy workl and great skill, thanks for the info, looks classy with the bones on those hangers, nice job

 

The perches are welded both sides of the wisbone arm. ;-)