Coming along nicely - thanks for posting all the pics. Please don't forget to update us soon. Cheers.
Thanks everyone, we finished the chassis up tonight and it is reasdy for pick up! Hopefully another hot rod will come alive after it is picked up. Gonna be a cool one
Nice chassis work, looking forward to seeing the body work to match, i also love RPU's. Being inspired by Deans car will make this a cool build. JW
Very solid, straightforward construction on that chassis. Neat and to the point...........looks great. I've never mounted my shocks under anything but single shear either. There just isn't that much strain on them. Don
I've been eye-balling your chassis and wondered how much the axle is dropped, or the type of steering arms you have? I've been making some sketches and would very much like to get the tie rod over the bones like you have done in the easiest / best way possible. Thanx, Gary
It is an original model A axle, dropped 4". It is not stretched. The spindles are original '46. The axle was dropped and drilled by Okie Joe out of Ponca City and he adjusted the spindle arms to match the drop.
Cool project and great to see Rusty doing chassis work again. Looking forward to seeing this one progress! Malcolm
About that front end again... I used one of your images for a little desktop inspiration and no matter how long I looked at it, something looked weird for some reason. It just hit me, the ackerman / steering arms look out of wack. I'm no engineer, but shouldn't trailing steering arms point towards the diff? Could they be front steer items? Or am I confused about something? Gary
I am not sure what you are seeing. Both steering arms do point to the rear of the car. It is a basic cross steer setup - nothing unusual about it.
Perhaps it's just me, but your arms appear to point backwards more parallel to the frame, rather than pointing more towards the diff. I'm sure there are better drawings around here or on the web (just search for ackerman steering drawings) The kingpin centers and the tie rod ends should both fall in a line intersecting the center of the diff. That's how it's always been explained to me. If you think you are ok, no worries. Gary http://myair.ro/system/application/views/images/ackerman-steering-angle-i6.GIF
Its the slow part of the build and havent had time to do much. Today I cleaned and repainted the 56 truck hubs, and now have everything new/ and rebuilt on the entire brake system. I have 56 truck brakes on the front and 57 car brakes on the rear. After assembly of the front brakes this week I will have a rolling chassis - and I am going to build up the short block next.
Man, time flies. Between work, life, family, and getting side tracked with the 40 truck and 57 Tbird I am getting well behind on this truck. I planned on being done before the LSRU this year but ... In the end its all just excuses and I need to get some progress on this little truck. The chassis has been sitting collecting dust for months now - and today I got off my ass and started working on it. I did a little grinding on the spindles to fit the 56 truck backing plates, then took the spindles and hubs apart for a trip to the powder coating place. I am going to go powdercoat the brakes and spindles now so that I dont have to take the front brakes apart again. The entire chassis and components will be powdercoated eventually - but want to make sure on fit before I take the frame in. The rear is coming out this week and I am going to powdercoat the housing and order parts for the 9" locker. Its tempting to rush through since the truck is now complete parts-wise, which is my nature - I am not a detail oriented guy - but I am fighting that tendency and taking my time in order to make sure this build doesnt cut corners.
<< (gnichols) The kingpin centers and the tie rod ends should both fall in a line intersecting the center of the diff.>> Sharp eye, GNichols...Those arms definitely should be aligned before powder coating... (Ackermann principle: 'Toe-out on turns')
The steering arms and spindles are from a 46 ford car. The king pin centers and tie rod ends are in a line intersecting the center of the diff. It must be the angle of the photos as I am not seeing what you guys are noting.
Finished painting the chassis today. This is a driver, so I painted the chassis with POR -15. My reasoning is that I can touch up the POR-15 paint, but powdercoating is another disassembly. I applied the paint with a foam roller and it came out nice. Have used this method on my off topic early Bronco and a couple of mustangs and always had good results with the product. Just noticed the rug in the photo. I always pick up old rugs when I see them out by the curbs on trash day. They make great disposable work pads and I have them in every bay of the garage.
Thanks - not a lot of progess this year until recently. I am working on it some a few times a week; cleaning and painting small parts and prepping for final assembly. Its long and tedious, but at least its not greasy work. Its nice assembling clean and restored parts.
Thanks - It was my neck - 2 vertebra fused. I haven't been able to lift anything or do any kind of real work since April. I am doing some work now but still limited overall. I am assembling the differential and rear suspension this week and then working with a machine shop on the engine build. If all goes well - will be working on the body mounting in early September.
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