TECH: Z-ing wishbones, my way

Sinister you are correct, we build large commercial buildings and I see guys welling all the time with Mig welders, adn you kno wthat stuff has to be srong. Zach made a VERY good point. Not a lot of stress with torque tube.

 

I think that's the biggest concern with MIG. It is (in my limited experience) the easiest to get a good looking weld. It is also the easiest to get a good looking weld that won't hold worth a damn, so for me I would have to say X2 on the operator being the more important part of the equasion (as they are likely to do the fitup/prep as well).

It's why we paid a liscenced and bonded professional to weld in the new front X member in our Anglia (that and concern over ending up with a pretzel).

 

i'm toss in with operator error on most failures and well as some one useing the wrong (underpowered) welder as aposed to the type of welder used. that beeing said we did 440 stick weld the kicks in the frame of my mod but the crossmembers were 220 mig

 

Everything on my chassis is stick welded with 7014. And I agree...it's the operator using the correct amperage, etc. that matters...MIG, TIG, or stick. Penetration matters.

Neal

 

NealinCA hit the nail on the head. What do you think they used before mig and tig, it was gas or stick. nice job the wishbones. NealinCa that chassis is a work of art can't wait to see the rest of the truck.

 

looks great! you have one hell of a skill!

 

looks great chris!

 

Nice work Chris.

DeSoto,
I can certainly appreciate a tig welder, but I am pretty sure everyone in the US has staked their lives on MIG welded cars every day for the last 50 years. Last I checked, every mass produced car and truck chassis or sub-frame in use was MIG welded.

 

Wow, very nice thread, great end result! I want your press by the way. The whole chassis really looks great. The tough things about projects like that is making a second one exactly the same as the first.

Nice job

 

what he said...

 

This is true, And maybe i opened my mouth before i saw that He was still using a Torque Tube.

So my next Dumb ass Question ... And im not talkin shit to 'Ol Dreadman........

But if you are still useing a Torque Tube..... What is the reason of a "Zed" Bone ??

I cant see an advantage so School me on what this Mod is for ...

 

to clear the frame rails i believe.

 

...because he c-notched the frame. When you go that low, 36 bones will hit the frame before the rear axle bottoms out...whether its got a torque tube or not.

Neal

 

Nice post Dreadman. Dito Neal. Here is another solution to the problem using Ford parts. 48 Mercury front bones. They had to be extended to reach the t-tube and whittled where they mate up to the forging as the tube was wider. These are heavy wall tubes, almost twice as thick as the 36 tubes. Not good pictures.

 

I see ... Wasent for sure but its the same thing i ran into with the '40 Rear axle in my daughters "T" Roadster.

I used '39 Lincoln rods, They are shorter & shoot in a sharper angle & clear the Kicked up rails Perfectally.

Same thing only Different .... And alot less cutting, welding, and major fab work.

 

I looked at using the 42-48 front wishbones. They didn't have enough drop for what I needed, so I fabricated the "dropped" I beam section. I did like the heavy wall tube Ford used on the front bones, so I used 40 front tubes to make up my rear bones...they are 3/16" wall. Plus I ran the web of the I beam about 6 inches into the tube, so the joint is very strong...stronger than stock Ford bones. This was an issue since I am running open drive.

My brother found a pair of 36 Lincoln Zephyr rear bones, they mount like 36 Ford, but are way shorter like Desoto's 39's...so he didn't have the clearance issue either. I didn't know about them when I modified mine. Now they are something I keep an eye out for.

These are all neat solutions to the same problem....that's what's cool about hot rodding.

Neal

 

There is always an easier way out, I could have just called Speedway and ordered ladderbars, but where is the fun in that.

 

Yeah, But then you would just have ladder bars

Not knockin yer idea, I would rather see people do innovative stuff to old Ford parts like you did.

I was just offering up another Stock Ford part to do the same thing while staying true to form.

There are way to many people who do the 1-800-SEND-PARTS.

 

Desoto can you go back and delete or edit out your diatribe on mig welding, it takes away from the tech.

I've butted heads with you way to much in the past to even for a minute believe you have any idea what is required and acceptable for laying a bead.
Take it as a knock thats how it was intended.

Dreadman, good work. I've had to do the port-a-band cutting to bend and get a radius before, then the grinding. I hate it, but the end results always look good. What do you think about the overall weakening of the area due the way you cut and bent the piece, i.e spread the cuts to be wider as you bent? Vs. flipping the piece and crushing the cuts together to make the bend?

I just always feel better with more basemetal vs. gapped weld.

Or maybe thats how you did it. I can't tell from the pic. Damned shadow.

 

Kool Homie I Like

 

real men NEVER taked the easy road
thats what define us

 

I think I need a better/newer monitor, my vintage one doesnt show the bend well at all.
If the cuts are to the inside then forget my question, thats how I would have preferred doing it, if I haddone it myself. I know you cant always get away with what you want when working with this stuff. Then end product is beautiful, and curvacious.

 

Indashop, I just relief cut all the pieces on the inside, like Kevin Lee said. I did it on the cut-off saw not the bandsaw. The trick is, the closer together the cuts, the tighter the radius is going to be. Ideally, you would cut out wedge shapes so there is no gap. I have done this on frame rails and other structural parts, and as long your doing a good job with the welding, tig, mig or stick, it will hold.
Your most important weld is the bead you lay on the inside of the radius, the rest is just filler (not really) but you hear what I'm saying.

Wow, it's exhausting just reading about the tig/mig/stick contoversy.

 

wow! this is very neato! great job! im going to have to keep this one in mind if/when i run into this problem. keep it up!

 

Nice

 

what about using 40 rear wishbones,would that make any diff? i would use JB WELD