Hello, As the tittle suggests I am planning on running '37 Ford cut and bent front 'bones with a '37 front axle on a '25 Dodge frame ('27 Dodge Coupe Body). I picked up a new model A front cross member at the Pomona swap meet this morning. As you can see from the pictures the cross member is a little narrow, well a good bit narrow. Now would just pulling the frame rails together cause a bind somewhere? I am open to suggestions. Also since I am going to run a spring forward set up I would suspect that I would want the front cross member as far forward as possible. or should i shoot for keeping the wheelbase as close to stock as possible? Remember that these Dodge's ran parallel leafs front and rear. It will be fenderless and still sit on top of the frame. I am going to keep the gas tank and the "cover" in back (Not going to use the tank, just to keep it for looks). I picked up a pair of, i believe, F-100 spindles some time ago I was told that i can run them on my front axle, but upon looking at it there is an obvious gap. And talking with someone else they said that i can't use it because of that gap (Who could have figured) and that the camber is way off. is this true? does someone sell a spacer to fill that gap? I have a Corvair steering box as well as a '53 Jeep steering assembly. I was planning on boxing the frame and building an k/x member to tie the frame together. Any recommendations and suggestions are highly appreciated. Thanks, Jay Cataldo
The spindles should work when you buy a king pin set they have a thrust bearing and spacers to fill the gap. As to the cross member and front spring mount you are talking about two different types of suspension. If you want to use the model a cross member, you can put it any place in the frame that you want to. If it is to narrow box the frame and fit the cross member in, do not forget to put 5 to 9 degrees of rear tilt in it. The suicide is another type of front cross member, usually a 2.5 inch to 3 inch thick walled pipe with a fabricated spring perch bracket. You still have to put the tilt in the perch.
Standard mounting angles for the ford cross-member will set it at 7 degrees of caster (leaning back). That is based on the idea that most cars will have about 2* nose down rake at ride height, leaving 4-5* of caster for normal street use. Look carefully at where you place it fore & aft. Having the right wheelbase will make or break the appearance. Also consider if you want to run the spring behind the axle to get it lower. Where will the motor be placed? The front pulley is usually very close to the cross-member. Don't remove the original until the new one is finish welded. Another trick for lowering is know around here as the Bleed Sweep. Pie cuts in the top of the frame at the firewall allow you to raise the frame horns, lowering the ride height. This needs to be done before setting the caster in the cross-member. Just a few ideas.... Post up some pics of the whole deal.
I am not looking to get this thing down super low. I am not going to kick up the frame or anything. One of the biggest things is keeping the spring forward set up. I have a R&C mag that has alot of the alignment specs, they said the same thing as you. I guess i am afraid that boxing the frame and just welding the cross member to that wouldn't be strong enough. thinking about it, i could gusset it as well. Is that 7* measured perpendicual (sp) to the ground or the frame? Edit- i won't be able to get more pictures until after work. what do you need to see? Oh I also have a '54 Olds 324 for it.
The 3 sides of the crossmember are plenty strong when properly welded to the inside of boxed rails. Don't sweat that, just make sure the boxing plates are properly welded 6" in eith direction from the crossmember. Beyond that, they won't be under any stress. The 7* is on a level frame. When the frame gets a little rake in it from the wheels and tires, there should still be 3-5* of caster in the wheels. This is for a spring over install. If you want to keep the spring forward set up, the caster should match that of the perces on the front of the bones. Install the bones so that the axle has 7*, measure the perch angles at ride height and install the spring perch to match. You can heat and bend the perch on the bones for final tweaking.
That works, Thanks. Should i get the king pin set for the spindles? Those are F-100 right? I'll snap another picture.
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