Ran across these the other night- Here's a pic of the intended use of the superbell suicide steering arms- I wonder if they would be too long sticking out in front if flipped around?? Because i'm running split wishbone with the tie rod in front. Only other option is to buy a set of their cross steer arms and cut one hole off of the arm and smooth it out.
I have built hot rods for over 35 years, what the hell is "suicide steering"? I hadn't heard the term before last week when someone else used it here on the board. Could you mean side linkage steering? What in hell would make it "suicide"? And yes, Super Bell has always been good stuff.
Superbell lists them for suicide front ends, my thread title should read= Superbell's steering arms for suicide fronts. They are longer than regular arms supposedly to extend past the spring behind the axle.
Yes standard state of the art hotrod steering products that have been around for 30 years or so. Yes we need to nip this suicide shit in the bud before it takes over like the RR term.
I have a set. I bought them because of the extra length. I'm using a four bar style batwing with Curtis hairpins and needed extra clearance for the tie rod during extream left or right turns. They worked well, and on my streached wheel base the Ackerman point worked out to be about 4" to the rear of the center of the rear axle housing.
Just for reference i didnt call it suicide steer. I was talking about a suicide front end steering arm, just worded it badly.
What you describe is what I would think of as a suicide front end, but the photo shows a regular set-up with the tie rod behind the axle. I would have expected the "suicide" steering arms to be tweaked outward further at the ends - the tie-rod end holes would be nearer in line with the spindle mounting face?
Suicide front end, suicide clutch, always been called that where I'm from. Big deal! He asked a simple question. Suicide steering would be with a blind drunk guy driving.
It would be a better idea to figure out how to run your tie rod behind the axle where it belongs. Geometry would be correct and it would look right.
With the wheels straight ahead you should be able to draw a line from the kingpin through the tie rod end to the center of the rear axle for the tow out in turns to be right. If you flip the steering arms to the front it really screw up this angle. Expect major tire scrub in turns.
Pay attention to what Sunbeam is saying although what he is referring to is ackerman when he says tow out. Flipping arms to the front seems like an easy cure till it handles lke sh**. It can be done right but you have to bend the arms outward and your brakes might prevent them from going out far enough.
I understand that the correct placement of steering is behind the axle, but lots of people build cars with the steering in front of the axle and it handles fine. I guess i will find out. And the pic i posted is of a spring behind/suicide front end.
If you are putting the tie rod out front, search Ackerman principal......It isnt the best for handeling
those aren't front steer steering arms. those are really long rear steer steering arms. they're really long to get the tie rod behind your spring that's mounted behind the axle like you would have on a suicide rear front end. that "suicide" front end that's pictured isn't even suicide because the shocks and mounts are ahead of the axle. if they're ahead of the axle that means there must be frame above the axle (otherwise what would the shock mounts mount to?). a suicide front end is when there's nothing above the axle. that suspension could best be described as a spring-behind-axle setup. front steering works fine if you setup the ackerman right. lots of cars came with front steering from the factory and they didn't scrub or handle poorly. just don't think that you can flip rear steer arms to the front and it'll work right cause it won't.
Bought my '35 when I was twelve with my paper route money... 35 years ago next month! Had it running by 15 with the aid of the front plate off my moms El Camino went all over north Scottsdale before I held a license. Guess I won't count the first ten years in my dad's race car shop passing tools. We have known each other for almost thirty in some form or another...
Dude, I'm standing by my original sentiment. I don't know anyone my age that's been building hot rods for 35 years. Facts may be facts but this makes me feel too fookin' OLD! So... Sorry mang, you've been building 20, 25 years tops!
I know this is an old thread, but I don't see why there is a need to flip the tie rod to the front. My brother bought a 40 International bobber project. They had the tie rod in front. I wouldn't say that it's a huge safety issue, but it just didn't handle well driving around town. It took 40 acres to turn that thing around. On the hiway it drove fine, but we decided to flip the tie rod to the rear. It is a stock 46-48 Ford car front end with split wishbones and Corvair steering box. Suicide mounted with spring behind the axle. I built mounts for the spring directly to the wishbones. The tie rod setup is stock. I set the axle at 9 degrees. I found no reason to change anything from how Ford designed it. There's room for the spring behind and it doesn't interfere with the tie rod. Just think about it a minute and it'll all work fine. The pickup drives soooo much nicer now. It turns like it's supposed to. Drives straight as a string down the hiway. It's run 10s of thousands of miles like this and is nice to drive. I don't see the need to put the tie rod in front
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