Technical Ladder bar mount

I'm building my first Hot Rod, a 30 5 window with 32 chassis. I have learned a lot here on HAMB, but now I'm stuck on what to do next.
I'm mocking up my rear, 40 rear spring and ladder bars but with the tranny crossmember moved back for my 4l80e the ladder bar mounting point is in the same spot. Is there anyway these will work with what i got? How much side clearance do I need for the ladder bars to the crossmember and how wide do my ladder bars have to be at the rearend?

Thanks

 

In a perfect world the front mount of the ladder bar is going to run close to parallel with the front U joint on the drive shaft. Most of the time that makes the ladder bar too short so they just land where they land.

 

Hmmmm....u got space problems there....in ur case, i would move them outside all that tubing u got going in there, more parallel w the frame. Tie another tube frome frame to that cage ladder, and build mounts....

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Ladder bars are typically at a 90 degree to the rear end and a panhard is used to locate center. That is not enough bars for a triangulated setup if that is what you are going for.

 

I'd be getting the trans in there and working from there. The ladder bars could do with the forward ends being closer together, which could help your potential interference issue. You could possibly have the front mounts under the trans crossmember. They look like Pete and Jakes stuff so you should be able to get some better install ideas by searching that. Or maybe modify the trans mount to mimic the smile in the P&J crossmember (that you've presumably not got?
Chris

 

Couple things. If you subscribe to the theory that the bottom bar of the ladders should be parallel to the ground, you need to DROP the pivots putting them under the mount. That would help you if you welded the mount in permanently but you wouldn't have the tailshaft mount drop out. Weld the pivot mounts onto the tube you're using for the tailshaft mount and you're done. You can tuck them in tighter, and have a better instant center. Just wouldn't have a drop out mount.

 

P&J website will have downloadable instructions with dimensions. I would mock up the engine & trans, then build a combo trans mount/ladder bar mount. I would cut and move in those side tubes to allow some side clearance.

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To use what you have, (not my first choice) I'd toss the crossmember you have there now...mock up the engine and trans to correct height and position, and then fabricate a new drop out that will serve both purposes.
With everything mocked in place you will see the path the new crossmember will have to take to do the job.

 

Guys, it is a P & J style package as noted by a couple of the other posters.
mohead1, if he puts them parallel to the frame he will kill the ability for the frame to roll laterally. I know plenty of cars have split wishbones on the rear but the P & J package is much better for a street driver.
bonzo-1--the same applies to your comments--he is not trying to build a triangulated four bar package--just get what he has located correctly.

The problem as it stands now apart from the fact that the bars foul the crossmember is that even if they did not it is not possible to place the front mounts as close together as is ideal because that would put the brackets on the drop out section and that is not secured well enough to handle the loads involved. Happydaze and 31Apickup are on the right track--look up the P & J stuff.

Roo

 

Don't know how much it'll help you, but here's how I set up my ladders.

 

Agreed.
The whole drop out section and how its attached to the crossmember will need to be redesigned to handle suspension stresses.
I'm not a big fan of those tubular X frames but they CAN be made to work of course.
It just seems like many times whoever designed them was mostly concerned with them looking somehow...cool...more than having them structurally effective.
I like the Ford X frames or fabricated clones of that style with a very strong center junction.
Just personal preference really...which doesn't add up to that much...LoL

 

Nice clean job there!

 

Thanks for the help guys! I have set motor and tranny location already and this is the next problem. They are So Cal ladder bar but basically same as P&J stuff. The P&J instructions are pretty straight forward just as some have explained, once rear is set work forward to locate front. I will have to measure for width of rear mount but tubular center brings it's own issues. I will get the engine/tranny in with the bars and see what it looks like.

 

I don't think that bolt in crossmember is strong enough for a ladder bar mount . For what it worth I always make my lower ladder bar parallel to the chassis .not the ground.

 

I found this article helpful.

http://www.hotrod.com/articles/install-ladder-bars-ford-9-inch/

 

There are 2 lengths in the So Cal ladder bars, if you have the long you may be able to swap for the shorter ones. Then maybe even see how much thread in the tubes and you might be able to shorten them a little more by cutting the ends off a bit.Then mount them behind the tranny member and as close together at the front as you can you might get there.