Hot Rods Please post detailed pictures of "Failed, 35-36 rear Wishbones"

Alright guys,.. I have used 1935-36 rear bones on a number of cars over the years to mount a late model axle. And several friends have done the same thing,.. I for one have spanked these puppy's pretty hard, and never suffered a failure.

And for all the times I have used this set up, and have seen it used by others, I have never even heard of a failure. I'm not saying it never happened. But I read a lot about people saying the 35/36 bones aren't strong enough, and have to be beefed up. when this in not my personal experience.

Now with all the reports of these bones failing, there should be a number of pictures out there,.. Remember I am talking about the 1935 or 1936 rear wishbones with the spring hangers built right onto them ,..... NOT the 1937 and up wishbones.

If you have pictures of the 35/36 rear bones that failed,.. please tell us the circumstances that they failed under ,.... Please no stories or tails of failures,.... but actual pictures of the actual failed parts. Cause seeing is believing. And I am willing to be proven wrong.

 

I ll have to agree with Harms Way, I've used them about a dozen times with no problems.

 

Split? I thought the problem was with later bones not 35/36.

 

I cannot imagine a failure with 35-36 bones. They have a wall thickness of more than
.130" and are very strong. I'd have to see a picture before I'd believe it. The later bones are probably less than 1/2 the thickness of the 35-36, almost like heavy sheet metal
Jim

 

I've seen a tig weld on the axle bracket to housing fail with no damage to the 36 bones on a high 12 low 13 sec 34 coupe.

 

Used them for years with out any problems however am not running big slicks or tires that would really "hook up" to cause problems. I always inspect them closely and make sure they are good UNRUSTED/UNPITTED bones and the welds are good. On the average well built Hot Rod they shouldn't be a problem.

 

Thank god Im running them also,I was under the impression they broke right above the cast end Thats why they gusset over that spot..........

 

note to self...buy up all '35-'36 wishbones on ebay...

 

I assume youse guys are running them with a torque arm? Or in a ladder bar configuration?

 

Nope !,... Never have over the last 40 years,... Nor anyone else I know that was running this set up.

 

Cool! I over-built the snot outta mine, then.

 

Wow! that looks impressive,... well if they are prone to failure,... you have all the basis covered.

 

Can you post a pic of your set-up? What running gear?

 

I opened this thread with trepidation.... nervous because this is what I'm building.

Glad to hear no basic strength issues, but I do have one question:

What spacing are you guys placing these on the axle? I'm running a '48 truck banjo and a model A rear spring. Any proven spacing to mount these at? THANKS!

 

I agree 100% with making sure there in good condition. But with the hard braking issue,... the overwhelming percentage of braking is done on the front and not the rear brakes, And as a rule the fronts of these cars are far more front heavy,.. and fairly light in the rear.

With that said, A lot of guys are running split front wishbones with disc brakes,.... Front bones are not only thinner wall tapered oval tube than 35/36 rear bones,.. but the spud of the forged ends don't go in as deep.

Just a observation.

 

Excellent work!

 

I do mine in a very similar way.... No 10" tire is gonna break them. If you are determined to break something, you will.

 

These two are all I can find at the moment.

This one is a 392 / TH-350 / 9" Bronco


My sons old T project, 302/C-4/8"





I can look to see if I can find any more pictures,... but these will have to do at this time. I am actually still looking for "Failure pictures of these bones"

As in all suspension set ups,... spend a lot of time setting up your geometry, before you do any finish welding.

 

48 inches apart using a 40 Ford rear spring.
This is the set up me and Koz made for my 32 chassis.

 

Yes the 42-48 front bones are the heaviest for front bones,.. however if memory serves me right, the wall thickness of the tube is thinner than the wall thickness of the tube on the 35/36 rear bones.

As far as the 42-48 rear bones,... I would never try to use them, as they are thin,.... That is why I am looking for pictures of failed 35/36 Rear bones specifically,... and the conditions in which they failed.

 

My buddy Eli twisted a pair up in the back of his roadster pickup a few years ago going around the track at the Jalopy Showdown. He was running a SCoT blown Merc Flatty, 39 tranny, and quickchange rear. It was pretty bad actually. He took them out..put another pair in an braced the heck out of them. No problems.

 

interestingly enough I was about to do a search on this topic, as I'm in the middle of deciding whether I'd go parallel leaves or 35/6 rear radius rods thinking about how to go about it.

Sorry I'm no help,

Glenn

 

No offense,.. And I am not saying I don't believe you,... But I asked for pictures of failed bones at the start of this thread,... Not just first or second hand stories. Again,.. This is not to offend you or anybody else. But I just want to see the failures and the conditions in which they failed. Considering where this happened,.. Somebody should surely have some pictures.

 

I have a friend who's been building hot rods for years, is very well known from building and racing sprint cars over the years and set's up all his hot rod rear suspensions very similar to homemadehardtop57's set up.
Of all the car's he's done i have never heard of one failure..and he's done a LOT..
I'm setting up my 32 the exact same way..
So, sorry Harms Way, no failed pics just positive input

Tony

 

yup..no sweat, I understand. I have some pics, will dig em up and post. He didn't wreck the car or anything..so I doubt if anyone took notice.

 

Wait a Minute !,...

This guy was running a Merc Flathead, a 39 ford Transmission & a Hallibrand Q.C., Mounted with 35/ 36 bones ?,.... Did he have a torque tube in this set up, or a open drive shaft setup on the 39 Trans and Q.C. rear end?

 

I'd like to see proof of this also. I've seen the later ones bend with no torque tube,but not the '35-'36. Always concerns me though....as it is a single tube without the triangulation of a ladder bar.

I did this to the last one I built with a Hemi and 5-speed.

 

I SAW pictures of a failed 36 setup somewhere...so I figured I'd do a search here.

In the following thread, second post, Unkl Ian HAD a pic or two.
Unfortunately they are gone.
However, Ian has been a HAMBer of substance for quite a while, so I'll take his word even with the pics now on the missing list.
Perhaps a PM to him could get the pics back up?
Pics are important because its possible they might not have broken in the expected way or location....

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=22539&highlight=36+radius+rods

 

a few years back i had a 35 truck built sometime in the 60's with a 283/th350 and 10 bolt, the rear bones were split to the outside of the frame rails and the passenger side broke off at the weld from the forging to the tube. the truck probably had 100k + miles on this setup before the failure and i think the only reason it happened was because they were spread all the ways to the rails. no pictures as it wasn't a big deal, it snapped about a mile from a friends place, i strapped the sagging bone up and drove to his place slowly with one bone and the spring holding the rear in place. cleaned everything up , beveled the brake, tigged it up, put a gusset on both bones and put another 15-20k miles on the truck before selling it. i thought about moving the front mounting point inward just never got around to it.

 

Only problem I had was clearance between the bottom of the 32 rails and the top of the wishbone as it crossed under the rail. Notching the inside bottom of the rail helped. A better solution would probably be using a 40 housing and perch and locating the wishbones just inside of the rails with the cast perch removed and ground off. Never had any bending problems behind a blown 275 CI flathead.