Yep sure does,..... I just had a fellow call me about the last one today, looks like it will be going to California. (where Franks roadster is). It hung on the wall for a very long time, But I really wanted to see it get used on the "right" car,.. looks like that's exactly what is going to happen. I have several fixtures and jig's from Frank that he used when he built the Roadster,... they are crude and not pretty, but made to preform a job, and that they did flawlessly,... I recently realized I was never going to use that last axle,... and decided it needed to fill its purpose. Soooooo,...... what are the plans for old #3 ?
originally I bought it to build a kookie type T bucket they are beautiful axles. with the old chrome on this one I wonder if it ever served time under franks T?
I personally love these V8-60 tube axles! They look very cool and unique with such a "tighter" looking front end. The only downside to these, however, is when using Schroeder steering with 5.00-16 ribbed Firestones, the tires rub on a hard left hand U turn, but on 4.50-16 Firestones they don't. It is kinda funny that you guys are concerned with the integrity and strength of these axles, when we actually drilled ours out!! I can think of about 50 other places of integral concern on these old Fords, and these axles are NOT one of them. Kind of like anything else, you just gotta find a good one...
maybe if they were cast with some sort of lighter then metallighter then steel cores in them? or maybe they cast the ends and bone mounts and then welded on the pre cut tubes and then metal finished them. or some sort of centrifuge casting(all the metal goes to the outside) if theres a hole in the bone/spring perch mounts, maybe it was sand casted and after the casting was dry they knocked the sand out of it through the hole.
How rare could they really be? I have one! This sounds like someone has found a dozen and is pumping for EBay fish...........
Model A with yoke ends machined from 4130 plate. Right side yoke is welded solid to the wishbone, the bolt is actually lathe turned and threaded from bar stock and has a ball head for the shock link socket to mount. Left side yoke pivots on greaseable bolt similar to right.
Did some re-reading of previous posts of Kevin Lee and Harms Way and discussed with old (two years younger than I) knowlegeable tool and die maker/rodder. Our conclusion is, they are as Kevin suggests, an all, one piece forging. The ends would be "headed" much the same as a bolt is cold headed to upset the steel bar stock from which it is made and form the hex, except this would have been done hot out of the forge in die sets. There were probably subsequent forming and piercing dies. The slight flattening of the tube and the curvature and perhaps final shaping of the ends could have been done in a final press hit/die set. Maybe Henry had a wet dream after seeing how Bugatti made his axles (one piece forgings with square holes pierced through the axle for the semi-elliptical springs to pass through) and was trying to be creative.
here is a picture of my early bell narrowed axle.when i bought it i was told it was ordered for an anglia gasser.It`s NOS.also a scan of 50+ year old speedway catalog.it shows the V8-60 dropped replacement.
Did Bell offer the stock V8 60 perch pin width on thier dropped axles? I always assumed it was A thru 34 with only
I'd question the supposed age on that Speedway catalog; the type seems a little too modern for a catalog from 1960 (or earlier). The slogan "get it in the weeds" seems a little too modern, too. Does it have a date listed anywhere on it (cover, title page, etc)?
sorry about that!my mistake;it`s a 1986 speedway catalog.(26 year old ?)Too many brain cells got destroyed over the years!
I am fairly certain that your Super Bell is 1979 or newer,.. from 1975 to 1978 they only welded the mating surface between the tube and the ends, some of these welds were having cracking problems, so in 1979 they started to do a stake or button weld about 2" in from the weld on the top, and about 1" in from the weld on the bottom ,.... I think I see that button weld on your axle,..... they are still cool,... but I have always liked "I" Beams.
I just aquired this earlier in the week 49 thru 54 Chevy Spindle based Center to Center KINGPIN = 36.5 inches Center to Center PERCH = 24 inches KINGPIN Boss = 2.125 inches How much distance would vintage 1962 Corvette drum brakes add per side in terms of: Outside Hub contact patch surface to the KINGPIN center? Anglia/Austin Gasser based? Thank You.
Mine also had some punch mark dimpling on one side when I first got it. I almost didn't buy it for that reason. Thought it might have been an attempt to straighten it. I guess the chrome shop got them out. The Grabowski tribute car below I think is the one von Dyck is talking about. I also saw it at the Back to the '50 show in Minn. a few years ago. The axle looked so good I didn't question it. The owner had to point it out to me. Then I saw it wasn't oval but round. Wish now I had taken more pictures of it. Wondering if anyone else noticed the king pin bolt holes were smaller than Ford I beam axle holes.
A lot of parts that could kill you were given one of the dimple type tests...you will find the dimples (2, on most) on 100% of Ford pitman arms.
Hey Bruce...Could you expound a little on the "dimple type tests" you speak of. Never realized such. I need to go look at a pitman arm. Thank you...DD
I have no idea what test I am talking about, but someone on here clarified it for me in an earlier post. If you look closely at a pitman arm you will find at least one dimple that looks like the impact of a BB in size. This is from one of the standard surface tests in which a ball bearing is driven into a piece of metal at a known pressure to indicate hardness by depth of resulting dent...100% of pitman arms were tested to ensure they were properly heat treated. I have not looked around yet but I plan to look over spindles and see what I find... Ford suspension/steering forgings were made from proprietary Ford developed steels and heat treated, often with different heat treatments fo different areas of the part. Rear axles, for instance, had I think 3 different ones, presumably spider gear, shaft area, and tip/bearing area.
Hi Bruce: The test is refer to as a "Rockwell Hardness" test. The other method of Hardness test is refered to as a "Brinell Hardness"
Bruce...I thought I knew a little bit, but YOU never cease to amaze...YOU sir, "know some stuff". Some of the lengths Ford went-to, behind the scenes, are amazing in retrospect. Just as amazingly, WE all take rosebuds to these pitman arms and spindle arms now-a-days to bend them in pretzel shapes, probably NOT doing those heat-treats ANY good...CARNAGE & BLASPHEMY! Thanks again, Bruce. DD
One of my recent finds was a Ford 1930's metallurgy text...not an advanced one, but one used in an apprentice program. Look at the four end pockets of an axle...one will likely say "EE-#" or "AA-#"...those are two Ford steel formulas. I was able to find the main recipe ingredients for those in the book, and one of the elaborate heat treatments used for that EE grade in the book...lots of cool stuff going on at Ford. They were leaders in casting, forging, and metals in general, and the book shows that they used mostly their own steels, very few of the types were standard SAE formulae. Their are reasons that so many Fords survived compared to Chevies, and reasons they survived insane mistreatment by rodders! Next, go to Google advanced patents and research Ford assigned patents of the thirties and '40's...Holy Crap!! I've posted some of this stuff, like patents associate with the A and the deuce...
They were made one year to try and save money. They would be easy to repop and one could actually be made a little heavier wall to make them a little more durable.
Easy?? Two forgings, with some parts on the boss so light that you couldn't possibly substitute casting, and a shaped oval tube...these are not at all like most aftermarket axles made of a bent round tube welded to two short stubs of tubing. Not simple, and requires serious forging ability.
And they were made/used over at least three years in limited production, with another 2 versions run on the Model 62 overseas. This was a serious low-volume test of an alternate way of manufacturing axles...the production ruins of a hundred or so at a time makes them real damn scarce, and I think most were found and used up by sprint car builders long ago.
Quote: Originally Posted by pasadenahotrod The Ford tubular axle perch/axle bolt holes had the mounting seats welded to the axle body on top and bottom. A friend of mine has one which has one of the upper perch hole bosses popped loose. They were obviously welded to the tube but not stick-welded, something along the lines of fusion welding Ford loved so much. OK, since this thread came back up I need to apologize to Pasadena. I recently purchased one of the tube axles with the separate perch bosses. And it looks as if one of mine came loose at one time and was rewelded on as well. There is no even bead all around the boss, just a fine line where the two parts meet. .
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