Johnny - I'm all for you putting that '36 rear end in your 32, torque tube and all. I think all you have to do is notch the spring like Groovy says. I had a 32 I had to move the rear crossmember back 3/4" and then had to notch the flange and the tank, (it was a 40 rear end) but it all worked out. Don't give up!!! Your car will be respected and look "right" when you are done.
Here's a side view of my '32, the wheelbase looks fine to me. All I did was notch all the leafs in the spring to get it to fit. Once the wheelbase is set, you can cut the torque tube and driveshaft.
the spring is done and I got it to fit greatbut with the heavy wishbones i was told it would move my wheels foward .
Who is telling you this and why would the rear radius rods have anything to do with the axle location?
I can only say the distance between the spring and the banjo is diffrant from a stock model B and the 36 heavys that I planed on useing
the spring mounts directley off the arms on the endcastings on my 34 rearend. The spring mounts off the 36 heavy wishbones
the only way to get the spring in is to grind it because the crossmember is cresent shaped and the spring is straight.You can see in the pic above its ground already.
its actually the same distance. its shorter rite up next to the shackles about 5'' but due to the bend in the spring it brings it back out to 7 1/2'' which is what the 36 distance is spring center to axle center . I think 36- 40 maybe the same also. if he throws a 32- 34 bent spring in there hes gonna have a problem.
Absolutely! If you look at most '32s built "back in the day" it's super common to see the rear wheels forward by about 1" -1 1/2" in the rear wheel wells. Common enuogh in fact, that in the eighties a major manufactureer of "stage chassis" for modern street rods unknowingly built their jigs based on this "mistake". Grinding the rear of the spring might get most of it back, but it's usually still just enough to be pronounced. The problem was usually killed when a Model "A" crossmember was installed for a quick change, but that's not what we're talking about here. The best way I have seen it handled was to use the center section of a '35 - '40 rear crossmember welded into the '32 crossmember to replace the curved section.
why not just run the '32 rear end? we are running one in our '32 rpu behind a 350 small block. we have driven it all over this country with no problems. save yourself the work. -danny
actually you only need to move the axle back 1/2" to make the wheels look right. stock '32 wheel base is 106" 106.5" is where i build my '32s. -danny
If this is what you want, just run the '34 rear. It is absolutely as strong as a '36, both in the guts and in the wishbones. As has been said, the torquetube is where the rotational strength is. Switching the springs and wishbones around is all unnecessary work. And probably never done on a true prewar car since all a guy had to do was bolt in a '34 and shorten the TT. If you can find a late '32 rear, it is the exact same as the '34 and will bolt in with NO WORK.
im pretty sure the reason they would move foward is if you used the 32- 34 spring on a 36 later axle. if you use a stock 36 spring and grind it to fit you should be all set no problems.
because the spring hangs on the radius rods, and the axle mounts to the radius rods. instead of the other rear axles where the mounts are ON the axle itself.
The spring center line and axle center line compared to each other is the some on fords from 1932 to 1948, go measure it, i have. basically a 32 to 34 ford had the curved spring so the spring perches on the rear are shorther, then in 1936 they used the strait spring and in tern put longer spring perches on the rear end, the center line stayed the same, ill fight tooth and nail over this fact as ive done what talked about above many times, my 32 coupe is that way, my old 32 sedan is that way and a few others ive done. To me the best solution is to use the complete 36 set up, grind the spring (as youve already done) then measure the distance between the rear end and trans and cut the torque tube down to size, dont let anyone give you a measurement as to me every car is a little different, then after your done just tacking the torque tube install it (dont worry about the bones yet) and check to see that it lines up the wheels in the correct spot, if it does then continue forward, if it doesnt then figure out what it needs to do, now the 36 driveshaft kinda presents a problem because it is tappered, take a peak at the 34 driveshaft and see what the lenght comes out to be compared to that, you can run a 34 drive shaft inside a 36 torque tube, its easier to shorten the 34 shaft because its just a strait shaft, weather you are confortable to do it or not a machine shop should be able to shorten the 34 shaft, the other option on the driveshaft would be to take the end off the 36 shaft and have a new piece of dom fit and attatch the original 36 ends to that. now to the wishbones, when you shortened the torque tube the wishbone mount moved back, depending on where it moved to you can either leave it where it is and shorten the wishbones to fit that (youll have to heat the bone where the tubing meats the forging and bend em in a little) and cut the forged front mount off and weld it back on to the front of the bone. my 2 cents I dont have any profile shots of these to cars but both one has a 36 rear (coupe) and one has a 40 rear (sedan) both wheels are in the wheel wells perfectly.
Yes I get that. That still doesn't change the location of the axle in the wheelwells! Moving the crossmember would do that. If he bolts everything together and bolts it to the frame and measures the wheelbase, then he can proceed from there. A couple other things, I know you want it period correct but if you put it together without rerolling the main leaf spring eyes and taking out some of the leafs, that car will sit really high in the back! I mean ugly! Also, how long are '36 Ford radius rods? Once you put it together, they can't be more than about 48 inches or they might be too far ahead of where the torque tube starts to taper in the front. The tab on the bottom of the torque tube will need to be relocated but it can only be rewelded on the tube in a spot that is consistent diameter just like they were from the factory.
I'm with TITUS, on the rear end, I would do it for you if I had time, being that I am so close. But like he said, take your measurements after the trans and rear end are in. Also, make sure the car is on the ground and weight is on it when you measure. Don't try and measure while the frame is on jack stands. One thing TITUS didn't mention is that the 35-38 drive shaft is a 10 spline in the rear and so is the pinion. Ford did make a 6 spline to 10 spline adapter so that you could cut down a solid 6 spline axle and connect it to your rear end and not have to change the pinion or mess with it. There are several ways to do this, but this seems like the best.
You could also take a '48 Ford driveshaft and have it cut and resplined. I had Gordon Shroeder in Burbank do it for me.
thank you so much that was exactly what the plan was and how I was going to do it. I just wanted to know if anyone had done it.....
Glad this came up, this winter I start on my other 32 and want to this. I hope I can find this thread come December.
I was gonna mention something about the splines but i was getting to carried away rambling! thats kinda why i sugested using the 34 driveshaft cause youd only have to shorten the one end, if you used the 36 shaft youd have to find some dom tubing thats the correct diameter and cut both ends from the original 35/6 driveshaft I wasnt sure what the spline count on the 32-34 pinion was, i was assuming it was the same as 35/6 (37 is when they changed to the solid driveshaft so im pretty sure 37 and 38 are 6 splines). On my 32 coupe i was planning on using a 34 driveshaft i have laying around, now ill have to go check the splines. jeff
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