Setting up a Model A front Axle. Have all of this on hand can go either way. Which spindle brake combo does everyone like better? 1940 Ford passenger Round back non bendix brakes. Cross steer ready, or go with traditional? 1949 Ford F1 Square Back Bendix brakes Ugly drivers spindle. Which set does a guy sell which set is a guy happy with? Any way to fix the ugly steering arm on the 49 F1 square back spindle run cross steer or traditional? Which steering Style?
I think a lot of guys who run the F-1 spindles cut the original (and ugly) steering arm off flush and use an aftermarket steering arm. That is what I plan to do if my buddy comes through with the F 1 pieces when he subframes a truck he and one of his grandkids are planning on building. I'm running fenders though and the spindles won't be that obvious.
To me it depends on how heavy the car is. Non self energizing brakes require a bit more room to stop than the Bendix but are not horrible if kept in good adjustment. That is the word, good adjustment. The Bendix brakes stop better but are more cash to set up and just don't have "the look". The best of both worlds is using the early backing plates and putting the self energizing guts in them either with Buick drums or Ford/Lincoln drums. These suckers will put you through the windshield. There are a number of threads on here about how to do this mostly using early 70's Impala guts. Just do a search. I'm using the later on my new pickup and have used the same setup on my '35 pickup and my '30 roadster and they both stopped great with a 1" bore MC, non power. I've modified the '49 spindles to take a side steer arm, you can check out how on my Sport coupe build thread.. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=641469&highlight=koz+sport+coupe+sort+of This one was done on the round back spindles but the concept is the same. I've run cross steer, side steer and cowl setups. All of which worked great. It's all in having them set up and your geometry right. All work well if "on" and varying degrees of bad if not "on". It's what works for you. My favorite is still a Vega box and cross steer, albeit not the most traditional in appearance. My 2 cents......
On the fronts I used the round back spindles and the F1 11" brakes. The spindled needed to be ground some for clearance with worked fine. I never tried the F1 Spindles, do they fit? I did try the '42 to '48 spindles and the taller upper king pin boss would not clear the F1 wheel cylinders that are available these days, no way, no how. Just remember that wire wheels won't fit without spacers in the F1 setup. Cliff Ramsdell
Easy to modify the F-1 spindles to remove the "ugly"; but by the time you purchase bolt on arms you will have a fair amount of money in them. I think you would be better off to use the "round-back" spindles that already have steering arms. Here are a couple of pictures of a pair I modified. Look like earlier "square-back" spindles with the arms cut off. I have had no problems getting brake hoses to fit the current Chinese F-1/F-100 wheel cylinders on either "round-back" or "square-back" spindles.
Round back spindles are usually the spindle of choice. Self energizing brakes have to do with the era you are shooting at, if your era did not already have self energizing brakes then you will have to go with an earlier brake setup. Cross steer also depends on several variables. For instance my '38 Ford came stock with cross steer. Anything built after '38 could have had cross steer. For instance, suppose I was alive and building in '51 and was building a slick '27 T, I may have chosen a cross steer and spring in front setup from a '38 Ford.
I used my original 36 ford square backs, I used bendix brakes out of a 53 f1 and the wheel bearings some on had posted here. no fitment issues at all. I did cut off the steering arms due to excessive clearance issues. needed to go 4 in drop on the steering arm.
37-41 Round flange or 42-48 Square flange spindle are the same as far as I care. Use whichever you have access to and everything fits fine. I prefer the 42-48 single adjustment brakes just because they are easier to adjust. Never used the F-1 or F-100 conversions but I'm a low-bucker, run what I find. Cross-steering works fine and a steering loop makes fore-aft steering not a problem either. I never cut off the extra eye on the RH spindles though... just hate to ruin a spindle for its intended use.
Before my learning curve I bought 2 driver & 1pass f1 spindles,found out the spindle inner bearing is bigger than a car.I've got 46-48 car backing plates,hubs,drums loaded with extra shoes so now searching for car round or square spindles.
The spindles could be the late36 ones with the 37-48 axle stub. Early 36 and earlier Ford spindles have a longer stub axle and require bearing spacers to use the hydraulic hubs and the holes in the hydraulic backing plates to be slotted and use a centering ring on the flange to center the backing plate. The bolt hole pattern on the 28-36 spindle flanges is smaller than the 37-41 and 42-48 spindles and reuires the bolt holes in the plates to be slotted to attach them.
'35 and '36 spindles have straight vertical sides, easy way for quick ID when someone is trying to scam them as "square-back" spindles.
I don't know why anyone uses non-energizing brakes on a hot rod.... FWIW: 1937 - 48 spindles will work 37 - 41 are round back, look nicer in my opinion, just need a little grinding at the top 42 - 48 are square back otherwise they are identical 1953 - 56 Ford F-100 pickup brakes and hubs are self energizing and fit on those spindles -- you can buy the bearing kit from Speedway, just have to trim the inner bearing a little with a grinder. Plenty of threads on the net about this set-up.
I use non-energizing brakes on my hot rod.....because that's what I had laying around. That's hot-rodding, to me anyway.
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