Features Dropped Axles and Aesthetics...

I cannot remember if i've posted in this thread previously, but I agree with keeping the aesthetics of the axle free from ugly shocks and such.. which is why i'm mounting the shocks behind the axle, with reversed F1 mounts and eventually tabs on the wishbones.


Heres my Model A axle that was dropped 3.5", was done locally in Aus.


As you can see in this pic.. theres no ugly shocks in the way of the axle, those lovely Guide lights and my modified '32 headlight bar and fog light.

 

I think maybe some need to re-read the first post in the thread. The threads intent was to discuss the looks of dropped originals and after market axles. The different types and techniques of drops from back in their infancy and up into today. How the shocks are attached has nothing to do with the aesthetics of the actual axle and the way it's dropped or the look of the dropped end. I guess if you want to factor in how the shock is mounted then I would guess spindle choice and steering arm look factors in too. Maybe we can also add smoothed tapered leaf springs as well since they are attached to the axle, but isn;t the whole car attached to it?

There are hundreds of threads on steering arms as well as shock mounts, they should be discussed on them and keep this thread pure, about actual axles. Modern heims on a traditional open wheel hot rod?

 

So it it alright to ask an opinion about a dropped axle?

For my 31 Roadster I have a very clean 33-36 axle that is undropped. I like it but was considering a drop. For less than the cost to drop my axle I got this Super Bell tube with a 5" drop. I thought it would let me see how I liked the look with a dropped axle. If I liked it I would then drop my nice 33-36 axle. I kinda like the tube axle, is it too bulky looking for my little roadster?

 

Not at all. Bell axles and Super Bell axles go way back in time. The deep drop SB looks good when painted also. I-beams are more popular today but there is nothing wrong with the round tube axle.

 

296V8...Greg
117Harv...Harv
NealinCA...Neal

Beautiful time consuming work by these guys that make old parts more desirable which no reproduction part could ever emulate.

Why bother with the new stuff? All it takes is a little vision and determination.

 

I don't think its bulky but it gets to looking pretty wide after everything rotating gets bolted on. What's the track width (c to c of rims) on that thing? The guys who worry about the king pin center line intersecting the contact patch will, well ,,,, they will worry.

 

It's 64" rim edge to edge the rear is 63.5" the king pin centers are 48.5". Running 16x4 front and 16x4.5 rear. I know what you mean about the brakes love the look but they have been a pain due to the width. I won't bog down this thread on that topic though.

 

Thanks alchemy

 

My opinion will differ from the rest on the subject but I like the look of a tube axle. Other then if you are using a V-8 60 axle it is a kind of a '60s look though.

I don't think that a roadster needs to look spindly, short and stout is a look that is pleasing to my eye.

You got a lot more drop in your axle than what I am using on my sedan. I am making up for it with dropped spindles. my axle is probably a little older then yours too.

I'll have to post another shot when I hang it.

Titus if I ever saw it done I would have been really young and don't remember but I believe that you are correct from what I have seen of the *original axles and heard from the old guys ( like my dad's age guys) when I was a young man. I believe like you that Dago Drop axles were hammered out then bent and aligned after the fact. They had a rough look about 'em for sure. I haven't seen a real Dago Drop axle in about 30 or so years. I would consider it a score to just see one even if I never owned it.

*original dago drop axles.

 

Here's my 32 I picked up at a swap meet last summer, not sure how much drop it is though.

 

There are two schools of thought on how to determine the drop on an axle. one is how much drop more then stock and the other is to measure the actual drop of the axle. The second is easy and is becoming more common then the first. You just measure vertically from the center of the axle to the center of the axle where it meets the king pin bung. For example mine tube axle is a 3.5" drop by modern standards but probably only an inch or two over the stock axle.

By the way they don't get that pulled taffy look until you stretch the hell out of 'em. I like them better with less drop aesthetically and you can find suspension drop in other places to make up the difference if you want it down in the weeds.

 

tube axles look like someone modified a trailer axle and slapped it on front..

Just how I have always seen tube axles in my mind.

 

51box Your 32 axle has a mild drop not much over an inch. Go to Anson Dropped Axles.com and click on 32 axles to see a 2.5 inch drop.

 

You apparently have never seen Jim Ewings Super Bell coupe!

 

That's what I was thinking an inch or 2, looked very minimal when I first spotted it. Someone smoothed the top already and welded up the old shock holes.

 

I like the beefy look of a dropped heavy '32 or any of the ones pictured. What I have always disliked is the pinched to shit axles that have hammered, flattened flanges so that the web is barely discernible. Those pinched axles look dangerous although they aren't by virtue of their numbers. O.K. Bring on the flack.

I really enjoy reading your comments, suggestions, and especially your craftsmanship. However, not being near the craftsman you are, I had my '32 Highboy built in my neighborhood by a rodder four blocks up the street. I wanted to be traditional, but as I discovered after some lengthy research, the trad car would not satisfy my expectations. I needed a ride that is literally a "new" car wrapped in vintage tin. And, so I own one, AND am one happy camper. I am planning our third trip to El Mirage sometime this year, and I couldn't or wouldn't try if the car didn't have a/c, heat, a top with side curtains, and an OD trans. It looks JUST like a traditional highboy with 15" steelies, hair pins, F-1 style shock brackets, small headlights(oh, shit, they have halogen bulbs in them!), '46 Ford caps and beauty rings, '39 teardrops(yawn), and bigs and littles. Being on a fixed income, I welcome the honest 22 mpg it gets at 70 mph. Without boasting, I have had no, zero, nada trouble in the 20,000 miles I have accumulated. I don't think many rides which are REALLY TRADITIONAL can claim the same. I am way too old(69) to sweat my ass off in 115* temp in Yuma in order to be traditional. I love these trad rides built in Texas by Bryan Bass, John Joyo, Eric Andersen, ROAD FARMER(Kail), and the list goes on and on. I can only do my thing by using new innards and old tin. We all arrive at the same conclusion, we are just cool in different ways.

 

You rodders from no where really hit the old proverbial nail on the head. Very refreshing.

 

You, Sir, are what hotrodding USED to be about, when we all didn't have money running out of our asses.

 

Your axles look like the way ALL factory axles should have been dropped. Great job.

 

The one with the filled axle crashes in the movie and kills the driver. Great B movie.

 

Just throwing this out there. My wife's '27 under construction. I don't know any history on it, but when I got it 16 years ago it had so much surface rust I didn't know it was chrome. It had been under the car I bought since the mid seventies.

 

Dropped axles are just plain sexy, here is one end of an axle I just had dropped by Kohler Kustom.

 

Mark, That appears to be very well done. Where is Kohler Kustoms and what do they charge?
Thanks, Dave

 

I think that with your '07 join date you should know that the '70s are pretty much out for traditional rods. In recent years we have pretty much tolerated a lot of later crap but we established the end of the traditional era at least for the scope of this forum to be @ 1964.

Interestingly enough the drop axle never really changed much from its beginnings to now. There really isn't much you can do with one that is different than the originals. I don't have an example and no one has posted one but there were some that were welded up and not stretched way back when. Perhaps there are not good examples because it takes a pretty good welder to pull it off or maybe just because it was never really as popular as stretching or hammering.

As for your like of tube axles you obviously were not around then, the one I posted I only posted because I know when it was made and by whom and it falls within the guidelines that we established for this forum way back when. I would say that no one ran a tube axle before the early '60s but then I would have to count out Norm and all the others that ran v8 60 axles wouldn't I and I have seen them dropped as well.

Here is one I stole off the web but if you look around and have a little more patience then me there is a thread with a couple of old dropped V8 60 axles that are a little more visible.

 

Andy Kohler is located in Williamsport PA.

He charged me $200 to do my axle.

Andy is a great guy to deal with, here is a link to his profile page;

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/members/thunderbirdesq.11933/

 

I have dropped real Henry axles on both of my straight axle projects. I like the look and they are stronger than stink...

 

Nothing looks better on a 40's style ride like an 'ugly' Ed Stewart "Dago" axle;

 

I love these early dropped axles ^^^^^ for everything they are, the primitiveness of their appearance and hands on blacksmithing hand HAMBered look.

 

droooooool.....