Due to the sheer might and torque of a all but stock flatty, ( or my heavy right foot ) I had to fix my radius rods, as theybroke on the front mounting hole when they mount to the diff . This sent the pinion angle up the wazoo and the drive shaft into the underside of the body, not what I call fun, but luckily , not that far from home either. should have known really, these were off a stock 32 diff, I was trying to save money by using what I had instead of paying too many peso's for 36 bones. Anyway long and short of it is the below photos, pretty much tell the story. thought some might like to see. especially those looking at doing a similar thing to keep your ride looking original like.
I was gona say "sell those V8 32 rear rods to a restorer and buy 2 sets of 36's" til I scrolled down ans saw you cut them up. The 36's are much stronger. If you have them split at the front, that is the reason they broke. The rods are only meant to triangulate the rear, side to side wise. The torque tube is meant to take the "torque". The twisting action of the split rods will eventually break something else next time, if given enough power. If you drive easy on it though, it might be OK. This rear split wishbone subject has been re-hashed many times on the HAMB. alchemy
You've done a real nice job of faberication there. Unfortunatly all you've done is move the stress point that made the other ones brake. Some personal advice would be to do some home work and eliminate the stress and bind so it doesn't happen again. The Wizzard
With those parallel radius rods the body roll is using the rear end tube for an anti-roll bar. Except that big tube won't twist so it's ripping the the weakest part out. You need to run the rod like you have it on the passenger/traction side and run just one bolt on the other side so it can pivot when the frame twists relative to the rear end. Or you need to run four bars or "unsplit" the radius rods, aim thefront pivot in close to where the front U joint is like on a 60-65 Chevy pickup.
A little food for thought. The split piece pivots on a collar with retainment sides. A little grease, a torque control device of some kind and you'd be in business.
I am thinking about putting a torsoin bar off the diff to stop this from happening agian. there is only a flathead running this so where not talking 300+ horsepower. I realise that the stress points have moved and will hopefully lower that with a torsion bar, not early, but practical. I also cut a grove into the rods along them and welded that so to increase the contact between welded surfaces. Sorry if this has been done to death, just thought some might like to see Dr J here is a photo of the front mount, which is pretty much as you describe. thanks C9 looks good. This is a see what happens fix, if its ok, well great if not, so be it, didnt cost me much and I'm back on the road in a weekend After all it is summer here
The Jalopy Journal
