Hi guys, Recently purchased some bits for a project and this front end came with. It has spring in front of axle and so I'm thinking 1940. But the wishbone to spring 'arm' looks to be bent a weird way from what I have been able to find original. Its a superbell axel and GM callipers so maybe its all from a kit? Any pointers will be much appreciated as I am looking to use this for a full fendered 40s pickup.
looks to be lates 30's to early 40's ford stuff. Spring, split bones, and the rest is aftermarket. Nice find.
That's pretty much what a spring in front axle set up will look like. The spring mounts may be altered to keep the spring from binding when the wishbones are split like that.
I think it is 35-36 because of the bent spring hangers. It should be a 2" boss spring. Be careful when mounting the bones. You need to keep the hangers parallel. Bend the hangers, not the tubes if you must adjust the mounting points.
Thanks for explaining the spring hangers guys. I'm not full bottle on all the differences of these I beam front ends so it made me stop and wonder. I've dummied it up on the frame and the hangers do need to be heated and moved to allow for where the joints will be mounted on the x frame. This pic is from the CE frontend upgrade:
I would not just bend the hangers. You are ending up with a changed mounting span for the spring. The hangers move in as the tubes move out. It is better to bend the tubes.