Technical Another Dead Perch Thread

"Semi rhetorical thought-blabbing"
. ....must use that in future conversation....

 

Break this down and it translates to say the left side is the controlling side of a panhard arm because it is stationary just like the steering box is stationary to the frame. Now look at it like this. What would happen if a panhard was mounted in the reverse ?

 

Finished my avatar (31 Model A) in 2014, the cross steering (40 Ford) seemed to work OK, went around a sharp rt. curve with my foot in it, hit a bump and the car went 4' into the left lane, luckily no one coming. Made a dead perch for the right side (photo), and have never had that problem since, put 11,000 miles on it in 2 years, I notice no difference in the ride, I like the dead perch and it doesn't clutter up the front end, underneath. In the photo, the dead perch I made is on the left, after powder coat.

 

Very nice. May I ask how you came up with the angle of the shackles before welding. Was it that you used the angle that it sat at while static on the car with the full weight of it on it ? I bring this up everyone because a store bought dead perch is "fixed" and the manufacture really has no idea what your shackle angle is. What Gram did here (if I'm correct about where Gram welded his shackle) is eliminate any preload on that one side of his spring. The side with the dead perch, very important. The whole purpose of this thread is not to say a dead perch is right. But rather get to understand it's dynamics and it's affect's when certain things are either not understood or not knowing even what to look for to find the problem.

 

I put dead perch in loose, let the jack down so the heavy Buick engine settled in, drilled and pinned the perch where it positioned itself, removed and welded it up. I bought a factory perch and it was way off, I thought, how can they sell these things, most would not fit. The perch might not be the answer for everyone, but it sure was for me.

 

^^^^^ 1927graham Thank you for that bit of factual information.

 

I've been making and putting dead perches on the drivers side since the early '70's. They flat work and handle great.

 

1927graham- That's a damn nice looking piece!

 

Ok guys then which is s it...left or right?

 

Right..

 

What he said. I did a '40 with a '36 dropped axle and split bones. GM 525 box, panhard rod equal to drag link (within 1/2 in.) and parallel; panhard mounted to frame on the drivers side and to wishbone on the right. The car was solid as a rock even above triple digits.

 

Nothing like good old American ingenuity !

 

Right for left hand drive cars.
Left for right hand drive cars.

 

I can't help but wonder how much preloading/pretensioning the spring would have an effect on handling. - with out panhard rod or dead perch.
By this I mean that the spring is fractionally shorter than what most do, and the shackles are at 30 degrees loaded.
Which leads to another question, - should the spring be pre-tensioned ?
Interested in any comments.