Inverted Drop Axle For Altered Drag Car

Saw an old altered race car in a magazine that had used a dropped axle front end but flipped it over to get the front end raised in the air. I have never seen this done before and wondered if in fact it is a good idea or would it be dangerous. I'm thinking of ways to do my altered roadster and never even thought of doing this before I saw the car in the magazine. This was supposedly a find from the 60's era. Any ideas on the safety of doing this.

 

It doesn't sound like a good idea,,I would go with a straight axle,,the short wheelbase cars are already a hand full no sense in making it easier to get sideways. HRP

 

That does not sound like a good idea, to invert the axle. Please post some pictures of the car you have.

 

Not if it is a "I" beam as the king pin inclination angle will be reversed... BUT, if a tube axle then with the right axle shape it could be properly done in the "Jig" when built... Do I Recommend it, NO!

 

yes, as kennkat stated, the kingpin angle will be way off, with no way to adequately correct it. This is a stupid idea unless the axle in question was specifically ordered to be installed upside down.

 

Now that is a killer idea!

 

How are you making out with that roadster? Any progress pics?
john

 

na still in the planning process. Finished the bike but like most things tore it down to do some rebuilding. Hope to get on the roadster this winter. Come to think of it, the front axle was a dropped tube axle that was inverted, not an I-Beam.

 

The way to solve the king pin issue would be to then install the spindle right-side up! Wait a minute, I'm getting confused.........Maybe it's not such a good idea!

 

Aside from the safety issues, it sure would look goofy.

Don

 

I agree, there's no reason not to use one of several tried-and-true methods.

 

Not even sure that set up would be legal at the track. I know the tech guys at my local track flinched really hard when I mention this to them.

As for the street I guess it's not a whole lot different than an old school tractor setup. But I have no idea how stable that would be at speed.

 

That kind of info is always good to know.Thanks fellows.

 

just to further clarify, it is not a good idea at all in fact it is a bad idea.

If you want it to be hard to hang onto there are a myriad of better ways to do that.

 

Yeah...Just think of something really unstable. Then put it on stilts.

This was a news flash from the Center of Gravity.

 

I saw some old pictures from a '65/'66 car show a while back and they had a hemi powered altered that had claims of a 165 MPH time slip. They got their height from a straight axle and then the engine was up in stilts (top of bell near the top of cowl).

I remember looking at it with the caption and thinking yea 24" crank center my ass, then thinking 165 in the heap, not on your life; and I am nutz.

easiest way to make on unstable enough is to use a stock A axle (drilled of course) in a sping over setup, 100" wheel base, 500+ HP and modern drag slicks. No reason to go all extreme, there are plenty of low tech ways to make on a handfull.

 

I can see it now, parallel leaves, a 6" dropped axle mounted upside down, and traction bars to keep spring wrap under control during braking.

 

All mounted under a four door or a fuckin station wagon. Probably make magazine covers.

 

Only the ones that use "Z"s for "S"s, and "K"s for "C"s.

 

I was not really considering this, I really want a straight axle like the Super Karrot but it was something I saw and thought I'd ask about it. It came from a supposed survivor of the drag strip of yesteryears and since I hadn't seen it before I thought I'd ask. I suppose there is a reason why I only saw it once!!

 

Here is an upside down axle with spring below done many years ago to lower a car. Dropped axle upside down with spring above to raise a car sounds funky as hell.

 

It might work for a doodle bug, but not for the road.

 

I can save you time and planning.I'll sell you my 96" 23T Altered ,very old school.It had a straight axle..PM me.

 

Has anyone thought about the king pin inclination built into the axle? If you don't heat and bend the king pin boses it's going to make a wheel barrow look like an F 1 car! Look at the ends of Tom Beatty's roadster. Obvious that the axle ends have been re shaped.

 

Not only would it look goofy as hell, but you would never get the set up right, and it would be unstable as hell.

 

I heard they were thinking about doing that very thing on the old Ramcharger's coupe, but someone said it would look too funny. Gary

 

And there certainly isn't anything funny looking about that car!

 

I wanna be there for the first quarter mile run! I'll have video cameras set up at different points down the track. Wouldn't miss this.

Serious note: the camber is opposite of what should be and with all that extra leverage (spring wrap) with braking the caster would go way wrong. Good luck keepin this thing outta the guard rail.

Don

 

Some clown tried that on a '55 Chevy that I happened to run across on ebay a couple of years ago:

 

Lots of cars used Model A rear springs to get the front end up there. Only looks kind of funny out of context. Never saw a reversed axle. Except maybe for Tom Beatty's lakester, if memory serves.