Being a welder since 1951, that pix of a guy heating with a cutting torch might work on smaller jobs,---But you should always use a large tip for even heating, like a rose bud tip. I did the same thing with my arms back in 1962, still going strong at 300,000 happy miles now.----Don
F&J, The arms stayed within 1/2" of the original legnth. I didn't feel the need to install the axel stops, I just dropped in the king pins so I could quickly pop them back out. The axel stops go in "hard" and would have to be tapped out each time that i wanted to remove the king pins. I deamed it not nessary to have them in at this time to heat & bend the arms. The spindles will turn fully to where I am certain that they will contact the stops. I am going to glass bead the arms tomorrow & will fully assemble the spindles & check that tomorrow night. The tie rod is on the 36 which is still out in the barn, and a real pain to gain access to. The arms were brought to the same distance from the wishbones as measured from stock.. With the spindles lined up straight the eyes on the arms are about 3/8" above the bones. In a full turn which ever arm is turned to the outside raises up about another 3/8" & the inside turned arm lowers to just below the bones. The fat part of the tie rod ends sit up about 1/2" inch above the flat of the steering arm when installed. You are right about whether or not the tie rod will clear the wishbones from lock to lock. Eye balling it I think that it will, but now I'm gonna have to crawl under the car & pull the tie rod off or build one from scratch. But remember this is just temporary, so I can pull the axel assembly thats under the car now. It will be about 5 or so years till I will be in the position to build this car. At that time I will be doing a body off build & will go thru everything. Thank you for your insght. If you think of anything else please let me know. Sincerly. Bill
Not sure if anyone mentioned it, have you maintained the correct Ackerman angle. I have changed steering arms in the past, making sure not to over or under heat any particular area, once bent I then normalise the entire part by heating to cherry red and then putting the part in an oven pre heated to 450 deg and let it cool down in the oven, with the oven now off, this can be done in sand to allow the heat to dissipate slowly but I find the a little easier.
after I posted yesterday, I then guessed that you did not have a spare tie rod. If it's too hard to take the one off in the cold barn, can you measure it to see where the fat tube is, measured from the flat spot at the spindle arm hole? Then some sort of home made pipe thing with a spacer at each end, to hold the tube away from the arm, like the stock one. Make the tube from spare pipe, or even 1" x 1' wood stick... then drill a hole down through both ends for a pivot bolt, but use a spacer to hold the tie-rod up away from each arm, like a tie rod end does. those stops; they are internal threaded hole. When you do get a fake tie rod, just use a wooden stick or dowel to hold that stop into the axle. It only needs to hold it tight enough while checking lock to lock. It would be better than guessing by eyeball, on how far to turn the spindles. It is deceiving.
I won't know on the angle until I install the axel under the car & check it. That really won't matter in this case as I will do that in the future when I pull the body & work on the bare frame. Bill
There are two ways to check the angle before install, if you are willing and have time. One requires a way to measure the turning angle of each spindle. That is called "measuring toe-out at turns". That spec will be listed in Motors or Chiltons, under wheel alignment data, for the year and make of the car. This method needs a good tie rod, set to correct toe: It is checked, by turning one spindle "inwards" exactly 20 degrees. Now go measure the turned angle of the other side. It should be turned outwards more that 20. The spec might show somewhere between 21.5 to perhaps 23. Then you must check the angles again with the other side turned to that 20 degree. By checking in both directions, you should see about the same "extra" degrees, and that will tell if one arm is bent a little different than the other. The other way can be done sort of by eyeball, without having a good tie rod. You need to look up the wheelbase of the car, or go measure it in the barn. Now set both spindles pointing directly straight ahead. Then two perfectly equal length of strings tied to each tie rod "hole" in each arm, and have those strings intersect exactly at where the rear axle would be. You can use your floor jack with handle back there to mimic the true center of the rear axle at your wheelbase. Now sight from the jack handle end of the strings, forward to the tie rod hole, and see if that string points to the king pin. This is no where near as accurate as checking with alignment equipment, but it can show if it is WAY off.
Thank you. When I get the axel under the car I will try to do both of these checks. The car will be pushed outside at that time & I will have the space to try these. Thanks again. Bill
I don't think this is true. There are some questionable cast axles out there, but super bells are not among them. They are cast steel and have pretty rigid quality control...
If you take a closer look you'll see that in my picture it's not a cutting tip in the torch. The guy that did it, has been a hot rodder himself for about 45 - 50 years and has owned his own shop building hot rods himself for at least 30.. and they all have passed certification with flying colours. He knows what he was doing.
Had the tech at work run mine through the mag bench today. No cracks, no inclusions. And I used a cutting torch. Controlled the heat and have a clue. This is not rocket science.
Did the same thing myself with the same results. This forum gave me the confidence to try. Also, I made sure that I had an extra steering arm because it seems that 57-60 F100 arms are hard to come by.
Lmao! It sure is. And a little 3 valve toy combo unit "taboot" Crocodile Dundee- That's not a cutting torch. Now this, this is a Cutting torch.
Okay I will admit it's been a long time since I've used an oxy and at the late night time of posting I did forget about the handle not just the tip, however it did the job fine so no need to be super specific in what you use.
Why in Hell would anyone EVER buy steering components, springs, or other very important parts from Speedway when safety is the first order of business? Most all the stuff from Speedy Bill is made in China, Taiwan, or some other 3rd world country. The shit costs less because it is more cheaply made. Avoid all foreign-made crap. Remember, kids' toys are painted with lead paint, and I bet a set of '58 Buick drums that the metallurgy in the Orient is just as questionable.
"DON'T SCREW WITH THE BIG DADDY, Y'ALL ! He was building streetrods/hotrods when they still had wooden axles.
This is an awesome thread- "thank you" to all the guys that are contributing. If there were still a "Tech Archive", this would definitely need to be added.
Ok, I have been busy but here is a update on what has transpired. There was a lot of trial & error in getting this to work. I didn't have a spare tie rod to check my distances between my steering arms, so I went and bought new components to make one up. Moog still has the tie rod ends. They are part #'s ES416L, & ES416R respectivly. They are listed to fit 1935 thru 1941 Fords, but I think that they also are the same for 1932 thru 1934. The catalog only went back to 1935 though. The problem was finding the tie rod itself. My Spicer catalog at work has a chart that lists tie rod tubes by thread & legnth. The longest one that fits the thread diameter for these ends was 40". The only place here that had one was Carquest. The Carquest # is RDS924S. When I put everything together & installed it there was less than 1/2" of thread engaged in each side of the tie rod tube. I wasn't comfortable with this so, I had to reheat & rebend the steering arms. To keep them from bending inward & so I could "stretch" them rearward I clamped a 1/4" plate against the axel. I rebent both arms so that I now had about 1 1/8" of threads engaged in the tie rod tube on each side. Before I started this I measured the distance from the wishbones to the center of the mounting hole for the tie rod ends at aproximatly 4 3/4". After bending the measured distance was aproximatly 5". With the toe in/toe out set straight on even at 49 1/2" the spindle flanges in a full turn will not contact the longer nuts that I found for the stops on the king pin locks. As a note So-Cal offers special king pin retainers with stops that are longer. They are avaliable in either 1.38" or 1.63" legnth, and in regular steel or stainless. I will most likely end up ordering some of them.. As for the ackerman angle, the wheel base for a 36 ford is 112". I stepped back 9'1/2" from the axel & taped rearward from each king pin & stood center to the axel & held the tape measure at center of my chest. The tape lined up with the the tie rod centers for both sides. I know that this isn't the perfect way to do this, but I think that it will be close & will do until I get the body off the chassis & can set it up properly. If anyone has any further coments or suggestions, I would look forward to hearing them. This has been my first attempt at doing this. Now the last problem that I found was that my right wishbone leg has a "dip" in it. It appears that at sometime in its past the car it had been on hit something hard enough to cause the right wishbone to be tweaked. I would love to hear any suggestions that anyone might have as to the proper way to straighten this. I have a 100 ton press at work. but I'm not sure that that would be the best way. I am thinking on heating & pressing the "dip", but I don't want to kink or collapse the wishbone. The left wishbone side is perfect. Thank you for viewing this thread & your comments & suggestions. Bill
Pretty easy to hit the cutting lever, while rotating the torch, when using the cutting torch to heat a item.
Two things: -Using longer steering stops can make a car feel "wrong" when you need tight turns during parking or getting in cramped areas. Use your judgment and common sense when dealing with longer stops. -Might not be a problem, but the top mounted tie rod...can it clear the frame and everything in the car? I'd at least head to the barn to eyeball across the tops of the existing bone in that car. You might be able to tell if it will clear, if you can view it. Straightening the bone with a very long minor bow, takes extra time and patience. It sounds like your press might have a very wide bed, so that will help a LOT. Just me, I'd try light pushes without heat, but put 2 wood blocks spaced apart at the underside, then on more wood block at the push point. You will be constantly changing all 3 block locations, as you make many small corrections to this type of long bend. 117harv should have some good advice on fixing this bow. .
There is no motor or trans in the car. Lots of room between the frame & bones, for now anyway. I was hopeing that 117harv would have some advise on straightning the wishbone. Bill
Thanks for the mention guys. Don't use heat to straighten a bent bone it just makes that small area weak and you will end up with a snake shaped tube as well as deformation of the oval. The shape on edge is very strong but is no match for a press. I have a large tube to place the bone on I use spacers at one or both ends as needed. Obviously the larger end is stronger but it can still be straightened. You have to go past straight as it/they have alot of spring back. It may take a couple tries to get it right, but it will go, and don't worry about crushing the oval shape it's very strong.
Harv, Thank you for the post. The hard part will be that the wishbone is un split. I will have to block the other end so that all stays level. Bill
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