I’m building a traditional hot rod and have the opportunity to pick up a 41 banjo rear complete with torque tube and rods. My question is, is anyone using one of these converted to open drive and still using the factory radius rods as trailing arms?
"Traditional hot rod" and "converted to open drive" don't usually go together. Maybe if you are building a traditional-ish hot rod.
Still learning as I go here, but wanting to run a Y block and corresponding transmission that was open drive. Wasn’t sure what my options are to convert the trans to torque tube or what transmissions will go behind the y block that were originally torque tube.
If your engine is from the 50's, there's no reason to not use a rearend from the 50's too. Don't you think a hotrodder back then might have robbed the whole shebang from a single car? Find a nice early 9" from a '57 Ford and it will be perfect in your A. Probably lots cheaper and easier to rebuild too.
Going that route what would be the best suspension setup if wanting to stay with the original style over axle leaf?
Search the old threads of @Chris for making spring hangers from the original A axle housings. If you need to use a banjo rear, his mounts will make if easy to put a later banjo into an A.
It's wide. The '41radius rods are not suitable to use as trailing arms alone (to do the work of the torque tube.)
Check out my 41 pickup build. If you scroll down this page you'll see my open drive conversion. I did this to use a F150 O/D transmission. https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum...it-home-and-pictures-pictures.1069927/page-11. X 38 is correct; the rear radius rods will need some extra support. The 41 rear from a car is wider than a '40 but not much ( about 1 1/2 in.).
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