So once again I may be victim of too much research. I have a stock '32 chassis and a '32 roadster body I'm going to put on it and run with full fenders. I have come up with an open drive 42-47 truck banjo and have 35/36 bones to hang on it. Now, in my research I've read the 36 bones will place the rearend 1/2 to 3/4 off of center in the wheel well. Not sure if this is right but it's what I've read. I've read about guys grinding springs, using front springs and swapping cross members. Since this frame is original and the rear cross member has never been out of the frame I kinda want to leave it there. What's the recommendation of the masses who have done this before? I'm sure I'm over thinking this but I'm trying to figure out the best way to do this. Thanks again guys, you've always been great with sorting out my confusion.
not likely to mix and match without some kind of "adapting". this will probably have to be your cross member and spring.
Any later spring into the stock crossmember will need to be ground. This is common though and has been done a million times. But not by me. Hopefully somebody who has done it can give you an idea of how much. If I was going to try it I'd just hold it up there, eyeball it, grind a little, see if it fits, and keep whittling away until it does. Once the spring fits, you could see how your tires fit in the wheelwells. If you need to adjust fore or aft a little you could cut some off the end of the hanger and weld it on the other end. I'm talking a half inch or so here.
I ground mine . it was simple. I think the discrepancy in the fender well comes from the stock curved spring and replacing with a straight.
Okay, so it sounds like grinding a later spring and playing with the rear shackle mount might be a sound option. For what it's worth I found this picture on FordBarn and figured I'd share it here.
Also another thing to consider is the spring perches on the 36 bones are a bit longer than 32s. Which in turn would cause the rear wheels not to center on the wheel well Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.
Are you going to use the 36 bells? It is nice to put an adapter between the bones and the bells. It is to move the bones down because that reduces the stress applied to them. You can set your ride height by the mount of drop. Another consideration is that the bones often hit the frame if not lowered. It is just a plate that will bolt to the bells and also the bones. The truck open drive rear ends do not use passenger car gears. You are stuck with whatever is installed now. They do not interchange. I suggest an open conversion to the 36 rear to get a better ratio if desired.
100% agree. You need to lower the bones or in other words, have the axle tube higher above the bones to lower the car and like said, take stress off the 35/36 trailing arms that are running without a tourque tube. You will be making plates anyways to use on that truck rear, so perfect time to lower the back of the car. Also, the stock 32 has the wheel too far forward in the rear fender, it looks like crap when we lower the car, "if" we don't move the rear axle towards the rear of car...about 5/8 to 3/4". Best done in mockup with the fenders in place, and at final ride height to get that wheel centered. my 32 runs 35 arms, homemade plates welded to the 1955 Olds rear axle tubes, no torque arm, and I centered the wheels in the fenders. My rear spring is a rear from a later 40s Ford car, not much grinding on the longest leaves, the shorter ones did not need any or very little, but I also did a bit of grinding up inside the 32 rear crossmember...as I recall, it was just two spots to smooth out a bit. also, my 35 arms are now a true wishbone, I welded on a 32 Front wishbone yoke, and my center X is part of a 35 X turned backwards to use the old ball mount socket for the new rear wishbone...LOL.. Fits sweet. I beat the livin crap out of mine, standard shift with a Olds Rocket motor....I launch real hard, a LOT, but the bias rears that are simply never enough traction to worry about cracking or bending the arms. So, I will never need a torque arm IMO.
Searching the HAMB to see if a stock 32 rear spring will fit a 36 rear that has 36 bones on it? Anyone know if it can be done?
No. The 32 spring is bent forward on the ends. That moves them forward and makes them angled. You would have to cut up the 36 bones. I don't know about the width. I put a 40 rear under my 32 using the stock spring. I cut the hangers off the 40 rear and repositioned them using a weld jig made off the 32 rear. The weld jig is availabe if anybody is interested.
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