I have a 30 mode la with a 4" drop axle and split wishbone, and reversed eye spring. the drag link sits roughly 2" from the bottom of the frame and only an inch or so from hitting my harmonic balancer on my motor. I was going to put a standard eye spring in it to gain frame clearance wondering if can I put a spacer between the cross member and spring. if I jump on the frame horns the balancer hits my drag link. I have tried all the variations of steering arms and my best clearance is with flat arms. also how much caster do I set the front axle at. I was told 7 degrees but that puts my wishbone to frame mounts extremely close to the ground. I had no idea this combo would be so low. any pictures of balancer and wishbone as well as frame clearances on severely dropped model a's would help. I am running a riley frame that has 2" of rake on the front as well. any help would be appreciated.
Can you drop the arms more to put the tierod below the wishbones? Sometimes the wishbone needs to be cut at the joint and a sliver removed to kick them back up to the frame rail. Then you can get the 5 to 7 degrees you need.
i wouldnt go more than 1/4 thick spacer between the spring and the crossmember. this is an open wheel car? how about flopping the spindles side for side and running the tierod in front of the axle like they used to do. just a suggestion.
thanks for the replies. I will cut the bones to achieve more ground clearance. I have seen that done on here in the past but forgot about it entirely. I can't run the steering arms in the front cause it has vega box cross steering so the steering/grag link wouldn't work.
Tierod in front is a poor choice as most guys don't fix the ackerman angles when they do it. Plus it looks goofy.
I used a Adjustable Tie-Rod Adapter Stud to Heim Adapter P/N 91636055 From Speedway. It gave me another inch or so of clearance. Hope this helps.
that may work if I get the 3 3/4 drop arms and try to go below my bones. but that would result in tie rod being extremely close to the ground and I wonder if my drag link would clear the bone as well. thanks, I'll look into it. do you have any pictures. it appears your below your bones.
Go below the bones you'll be fine. I did and don't have any issues. I run a 4" drop axle plus my front tires are only 23". Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
Here's what I did: (Sorry for the poor photos.) I bent the steering arms up a bit. Reamed out the top of the steering arms for the tie rod (speedway sells a tapered reamer for this). Made a tie rod out of 11/16 steel and threaded the ends. Bent a v in the middle and welded in a gusset then brought the ends up to horizontal. Cut Right hand threads on each end of the tie rod. Put a Ford threaded connector (from '40 something ford cross steering arm) on each end so toe can be adjusted without spinning the tie rod. Used Left hand threaded tie rod ends. Hope this helps Pete