When did the 4 bar suspension first appear on hot rods? Thank you, Guy P.S. Is it possible to put 5 x 5.5 smoothy 16" 40 Ford wheels over a disc brake system?
The first hot rod 4 bar setup I have pictures of is a purple flathead powered '32 roadster in a 1951 "Hot Rods" magazine. Disc brakes are possible with most wheels, depending on the size/style of the brake.
Oldest I know of is Grabowski's T. He used four tie rods shortened up a bit. If you wanted to make your fourbar look old, make sure you aren't using urethane bushings and Pete & Jakes batwings.
4-bars became popular in the 1970s and were widely publicized by Pete & Jakes who sold them as a preferred alternative to hairpins which they criticized as unsafe. Some felt their criticism was self serving and was intended to promote sales of their 4-bars. They published a flyer detailing hairpin risks and their arguments seemed sound. Whether hairpins are indeed unsafe has been a hot button here for some time so we probably don't want to start that up again. I'm just trying to add to 4-bar history. Just my $.02
There have been variations of the 4 bar back as far as the early 50's,when Pete & Jake teemed up and really started the 1-800 ready made parts the 4 bar became extremely popular and it is still widely used today with the street rod crowd. The 4 bar was mainly designed for tube axles that do not flex like the forged I beams. HRP
It was self serving, they were selling the alternative. One thing that anyone who is researching a product or service should understand, never take the word of the man selling it to you. That said, four bars are a neat setup and logically they are a better setup. Safer? Set up correctly they articulate better and could be considered safer, but I doubt that is an real empirical data to make a real study from. Anyway the 4 link has been around a long time, never really "popular" until probably the '70s. But it is not a new invention.
I was a Pete and Jake's dealer way back when they first started getting known. The big deal back then that they (we) pushed was tube axles were real popular, repop I beams weren't around yet. A tube axle will resist twisting like an I beam so when you hit a bump it would stress the hairpin pivot point. Made sense to me, I still follow that to a point, I beam, hairpins ok, tube should have 4 bars. Kinda a mute point now days, hardly anyone except t-bucket guys run tube axles on their hot rods and they are light enough on the front not to be a big deal. I'm sure 4 bars have been around since at least the 50's, like someone above posted with the urathane ends from the 70's.
You may be correct. I think I have seen the setup on LSR cars in that time period, but it was probably used to a greater extent in the bull ring.
I like the geometry setup of the 4 bar plus the safety of 4 points of mounting when it comes to the front axle being held in the car. The hairpin is easier to set up so I guess it's preference. But as stated above they have been around along time. I 've seen some old movies and every once in a great while you can see an old hotrod with them.
I got an idea that hairpins had as much to do with looks as anything else. They were just a different look than a radius rod. The 4 bar can be elegant in its own right, and it has the added caveat of producing good frame geometry and being more adjustable than other setups. I am not sure that the discussion is about safety as much as history.
Hairpins will give a certain amount of roll stiffness, which you do not get with 4-bars. There used to be a lot of dirt track cars set up as 3 bar. (4-bar on one side, hairpin or split wishbone on the other side)
You're correct, 4 bars were used on race cars many years before they were seen on street cars. The op wanted to know when they first appeared on hot rods, not history.
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