willson welding finned backing plates and steering arms

I bought willson weldings finned backing plates but i seem to be having problems fitting any type of steering arm with the big recess in the plates. Ive tried the dropped arms from speed way and the nice dropped arms from chassis engineering inc. both with different problems. I saw one car a show last year with the fins ground away. I have a 29 tudor sedan with a dropped front axle and 40 ford round spindles. Is that the only way to make them fit? any ideas or pictures from anyone who came across the same problem?
Thanks

 

What did Mr. Wilson say?

 

39-41 round back spindles work. There are pictures of the install on Wilson's website, and you can make 1 phonecall and be done.

 

I've seen those backing plates used with stock arms.

 

bob is really hard to get a hold of. I know a lot of people have used them so i figured id ask here first everyone has had this issue. if you use the stock arms you have to heat them an bend them out to clear the finns. but they arent long enough to clear a dropped axle.

 

Heating the arms and bending them to clear changes the Ackerman geometry.

 

I'm aware of the problem that you are having. What I did to make aftermarket steering arms work was to add a spacer approx 3/8" deep between the steering arm's 2 mounting points and the backing plate. Just be sure to use heavy wall tubing for the spacers and that both ends are square.

 

I am using Wilson backing plates with SoCal spindles and steering arms and just ground down the fins for clearance

 

I did that also but spacing the arms out to clear the fins made the arms hit the axle when turning the wheel.

 

WW finned plates require grinding the fins to clear the arms. I did not have to grind them much but the stock 40 spindles had interference issues with two of the fins. Once fitted you could not tell they were cut unless you really looked. Mr. Wilson will tell you that if you get a hold of him. Get out your grinder and go slowly.

 

please post a pic if you can..

 

worked on it today. here are some pictures. I ground the finns as needed and spaced it out just enough to clear. the arm fits a little bit better but still hits the axle.

 

Looks like Wilson Welding needs to develop their own forged steering arms to go with these brakes.

 

Or just modify the casting mold.

 

Yep

 

Strange, I had So Cal and they cleared. I don't have that car anymore or I would go double check them. I may have spaced them but I don't remember doing it because I was more focused on the rear end spacing issues at the time.

Edit: yeah, he says to grind away....

 

The CE steering arms don't clear even on a stock set up. The angled arm is wrong and I have talked to them but they still keep coming the same way. SO-CAL's do clear and here is a photo. The arms are pricey but work.

 

Her is a pic of my setup with the SoCal arms I had to grind quite a bit but I didn't want to use spacers I can go lock to lock with no interference

 

My eyeballs need calibration - are those the dropped GT2 arms that you're running with minimal clearancing?

 

Looks good!
JMO, I would replace those grade 5 bolts and install grade 8 for safety reasons.

 

I have the Wilson finned backing plates, Superbell arms, and a 4" dropped '32 heavy axle. Not using any spacers on the arms due to clearance with the axle. I had to do some very minor grinding on the backing plates to get the arms to clear. If the axle fit was not so tight a decent washer would have fixed the issue without grinding.

 

Obviously, the Hollywood Accessory backing plates are not as deep as Wilson’s. Used a modified Speedway hair pin steering arm

 

Ain't hotroddin' fun?!

 

Why grind on the steering arm and chance weakening it?
Why not grind on the finned backing plate?

Phil

 

I did a Model A several years ago for a customer using the WW finned backing plates and used the Magnum arms. As I recall, I had to grind on the fins a little but nothing major.