I am working on a 1934 ford Tudor. Setting up the chassis with a stock 50 flathead, 48 open drive 3 speed, open drive conversion on a 36 rear end with a model a spring and crossmember with the intention of adding a quickie rear end one day. The 36 radius rods pivot on a jonnie joint with a torque radius rod to the top of one of the bells. I need to put it all together so I do not have pictures. Here is a picture of the Jonnie joint I welded a nut into a bit of pipe and added a jam nut (rear end will have some adjustment) that will be welded into a driveshaft loop (below the drive shaft). Jonnie Joints are super heavy duty ball joints made by Currie, they are made for rock crawlers and heavy abuse, there is no concern that the unit is not strong enough. I have never done this set up before and was hoping to avoid some pitfalls by calling on the wisdom of a HAMBER that has. If you have a picture of a rear suspension set up with a model a spring I would like to see them. I will post pictures as it comes together, I am not really fast at this. Thank you, Millrat
I had seen a post where someone reinforced one of the 36 radius rods by cutting it open button welding a solid rod inside and welding tabs on the outside. Was thinking about doing the same with the top torque rod attaching to one of the 36 radius rods.
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/reinforcing-rear-radius-rods.379739/ Here is one of the links for reinforcing the stock radius rods
The joint itself is fine of course, but I'm not liking the internally pitted bit of scrap pipe and simply welding a nut into it at all. Thats a small bit of mismatched welding (thick to thin) to be putting so much faith in. Also we can't see the finished design of crossmember and tube attachment you are aiming for. A few pics would be great....
Scott, I'm doing about the same as you for the rear in my roadster. I am using an open drive 47 truck rear (hope to use a quick change in the future), an open drive 3-sp, 35/36 radius rods, added 1" DOM tube torque arms, homemade brackets, Johnny Joint, and model A or T rear spring. The rear crossmember is Model A on my homemade frame (Dadgum frame). I'm using a coupling nut which will be welded on both sides of my center crossmember with the jamb nut. I still need to complete all the welding but here are some pictures so far. Bob
It was just pointed out to me by someone with an eye for detail a higher cranial capacity than I possess. JOHNNY JOINT not JONNIE and that is why a search of the HAMB found nothing.
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