35-36 Ford rear wishbones...strengthened, drilled and polished!

Seriously! I look at the work that Harv does, as well as Bass and others and shake my head in awe. Amazing craftsmanship.

 

Great job!! Thanks for the post.

 

The 7/8" bar inside added about 4 1/2 pounds each. I think this is acceptable to make them stronger so they can do something that they weren't intended to do.

WOW, having my work mentioned in the same sentence with Bass is truly a major compliment, thanks! Thanks also to all the others for your kind words

 

Are those running on a open drive rear, and with or without a torque arm if so?

 

Yes open drive, and as far as i know, no torque arm.

 

Harv great job!! good talking to ya i want mine to look just like those. Thanks

 

I don't know how I missed this one but Harv's work is fantastic. I believe these will hold up as well as the P&J ladder bars. Have these been tested with a heavy right foot? Now to find some 35/36 bones.

You have to love the tech on the H.A.M.B.
Thanks!

 

^^^ Thanks, I always enjoy a great tech thread too. Currently working on another one now

 

x 2. Simply outstanding. The passion for the hobby is evident in his work.

 

Beautiful work as always Harvey. Youre attention to detail is unmatched...

 

I have some more fab tech. on 35 - 36 rear bones so I thought I would just add it to this thread.

I was sent some parts from another HAMB member to get some mods, a cleanup, and polish. Here are the bones as I recieved them, they are going under a car with a QC and the owner wanted a nice clean view from the rear, so the spring was moved in front of the rear end. The owner welded in some heavy wall tubing to mount the spring perches.

More parts with heavy pitting, are there any smooth rust free hot rod parts on the east coast The pitting looks like that hammerite paint, note the nice smooth metal where the washers were.

 

...

 

I removed the tubes so it's easier to modify the ends, and re-enforce the joint since the weight of the car is now hanging off the tubes. Since the original spring mounts are no longer needed they will be removed. I have seen 35-36 bones with this mod before and they usually cut them off just past the recess. While there is nothing wrong with doing that, as seen in the pic above, one side has a recess about an inch longer, so to keep each side looking uniform you have to cut the ends at an angle...I have a different idea. After studying them for awhile, I drew what I thought would look good, the dark curved Sharpie line. After looking at it it reminded me of a runner on a sled, so I cut them off square.

After cutting them off, I cut out a pie shaped piece so I could bend the rear edge in to keep the natural taper. Also I used a cut-off wheel to remove the little web in the recess as they really aren't needed now with the weight of the car not hanging out back. I started polishing the recess, it will be fully detailed before I move on the finishing the ends...I have a special detail that these will be getting, it's not holes...stay tuned.

 

...

 

Nice work and a good idea.

 

I think your radius rods are beautiful and appreciate the hard work and effort. I did a pair similar to yours. Its a shame that when they are on the car and out of sight most people who do see them do not really get it.

 

Thanks guys for the kind words.

I snuck in a little more work today between other jobs, here is what I got done. I changed my mind again on the ends, I cut them off at an angle so that they would be square to the recess. I knew before I started that I wanted the ends to slope up to mimic the other end of the recess at the tube connection, here is what I did.

I stuck a piece of cold rolled bar stock in the mill and cut the sides curved with a hole saw, these will make the ramps at the end. I made cuts at the edge of the forgings with a cut-off wheel and then drilled some holes and removed the piece. I had to grind and do some clean up with a carbide tip on the die grinder to get the piece to fit. Also I made a nice ledge at the rear of the rear bolt hole for the cap to sit on, it came out looking pretty good. The ends will be detailed before I weld them in, I will need to add some heavy welds into the corners to make a nice transition, not looking forward to polishing/blending them...more to come.

 

...

 

I used a carbide bit to remove all the factory slag/weld and rust from inside the ends. I picked up a rusty piece of cold rolled bar bar stock and spend some time grinding and getting a nice tight fit into the ends of the forgings and tube. Since the weight of the car is now hanging from the tubes, I made them longer on top to spread the load out. The tubes will have some rosette welds at the top and bottom when I weld them on later after all is polished and welded.

 

...

 

At the factory they used a big cutter to make a nice machine finish between the mounts. They cut into the area between them as well, since that area is flat there is no way to prevent it. I have done several sets of these bones and some don't have much of an over cut, while others are deep, these are pretty deep.

I start with a barrel shaped carbide cutter to do the majority of removal/smoothing, making sure to move around in a criss cross pattern to help prevent high and low spots, kind of like finishing concrete. As much polishing as I have done I can tell as I go if I can get the results i'm after without having to fill/weld in the low areas, these didn't need any filling. After the bit I use to two different diameter flap wheels and then discs, they are roughed in and looking much better.

Also, the top where the tube starts always needs filling, I filled these areas as well as some thin/low areas along the edges, ground all down, still needs more work but looking much better.

 

...

 

Polishing the inside edge eats up the flap wheels in quick order. When the recess is as nice as I can get with the wheels, I switch to a chunk of bar stock and emory cloth, standing up for the ends, and laying flat in the long area. I left the end caps off untill I finished the sanding as it made it easier. Also I haven't rolled/detailed the edges yet, more on that in the next post.

 

...

 

The member who sent these also sent a torque tube and a 32 axle to be polished, the axle will get a peak job like the other one I did the thread on. Since the front would have that detail, he thought we could carry on to the back and do it to the forgings. The forgings just dont have enough material to do it, welding it up would turn the ends into molten metal and take hours, here is what I came up with.

I ground the bottom side flat as it has a slight dome from the factory. I then ran down to a local shop that I go to often for material or fab that I can't do and had them run a piece of 1/4" X 1 1/4" cold strap through the slip roll until it matched the curve of the ends. After some minor adjustments/fitting I drilled three holes in each for rosette welds and gave them a heavy champher. I clamped them, tack welded each, including the ends, and welded them up. Both pieces had a good size champher, I did that so the weld would be deep as as the edges would be ground thin once the peak was finished.

 

...

 

They are fully welded, you can see how deep the weld is along the edge, 80 % of that will be lost when the bevel is ground. A little refreshment and some serious work with the grinder...stay tuned.

 

...

 

The tubes were shortened about 3 inches and the ends welded back on by the owner, as they are going on an earlier car. He started detailing them and then decided to send them to me for the full treatment. There are lots of low areas as well as nicks and gouges, I tigged in filler where needed. The bottoms of the ends I filled in as it makes detailing easier, the tops I will leave as is, they have a nice rounded taper and will look great when detailed. I ground down the factory seam/weld as I do for rear or front bones. I sprinkle some metal grinding dust on the area, (poor mans magna flux) and then mark the line with a sharpie. I cut down it with a cut off wheel making a groove, and then weld and grind.

They are roughed in and looking good...more to come.

 

...