Suicide Front End.. Now I know what they meant

Yep, driving to Santa Paula car show a week ago... hit some gnarly train tracks (luckily going 10 mph)... broke my driver side perch. Even at 10 mph that was some scary shit!

 

I'll second that, I'd like to see some close ups as well.
Glad your ok!

 

Yep, me too. I'd like to know what not to do.

 

I to need to see the Pics...

I have been saying this spring mounted to the 'Bones is Horseshit for years but only a few agree..

Eddie, Shoot me yer # in a P/M ... I wanna see this in person.

 

Looking at the picture it look's like the perch tube broke away from the shaft.The whole shackle is still attached to the spring.This might just be a case of bad welding.Give us some close up pic's of the failed part's please

 

I'm one of the few. Glad you're okay, man.

Flatman

 

Yikes. Glad you are okay, and yes - we need to see what happened.

 

Looks like someone used the threaded spring perches in that set up, the kind they make for a "spring behind" on T-Buckets with tube axles.

When done properly with the proper parts I personally don't see anything wrong with the perches going through the wishbones...

 

Just glad you're okay.

 

I'd be willing to bet that the perch was welded with a MIG !

 

BTTT for pics!!!! How were they mounted to the bones, what welding process, details, details, details, details!!!!!!!! This is very important to everyone who is building this type of front suspension. All pride needs to be put aside at this point and details should be posted...

Looks bad, glad nobody was hurt.

 

Glad you're OK.
I'd be dead because I usually nail it going over tracks just for the thrill of "getting air"!

The problem with this overworked phrase is it's a bitch finding out the hard way that something wasn't proper, and other than overbuilding, isn't that the only way to know?

I look at these suicide setups that are hanging hundreds of pounds of engine and a couple of lives by four shackle bolts that are smaller than the one's holding the headlights on and cringe.

Enough of the bitch, here's a possible solution, other than keeping the axle under the frame where it safely belongs...
How about an "L" shaped plate welded to that rod that the "L" crosses over far enough under the shackle so if there's a fastener failure the "L" catches the end of the spring like the axle will in a spring over axle setup?

 

when you post the specific photos, this will get ALL excited then...glad your OK.
maybe some of these fellas will take the time to inspect what they are driving as hotrods around here. wont do any good though if they dont know what to look for! more pictures!

 

I think you can see the surviving perch bolt under the R headlight in the picture...looks like a threaded installation sticking out, not tightened down against anything, so bolt is allowed to flex. I would guess also aftermarket part with cut thread there... but thats speculation. The world needs closeups and origin of the part for some analysis.
I don't think this geometry is necessarily unsafe...part material and workmanship, design, installation are the killers.

 

I'd love to see more pics of the car before tragedy struck. Loooks like it had a killer stance! Anybody have any?


Brian

 

Personally I don't like to argue over the interent... But this set up has been done enough times by other people tthat even a first time builder with a little bit of research would know which way works best. To be honest, it's probably on this board about a half a dozen times already.

But still, at this point we don't know how this front end is set up. People say it's dangerous, all I said is that when it's done properly I don't see it being dangerous.

 

Yep, that's why they're called suicide front ends. I would never ride in a car with that set up and I don't care how it was welded or who built it. The axle belongs under the car not out in front. You can see what the result is right here. I would like to see more pics too so we can pin point the failure. Sorry to hear about this, that's a nice car.

 

Them Dodges are purty bodies...
It looks good because the body isn't sucking asphalt standing still.
Notice on the flatbed the shackle isn't actually on the deck.
I think the only thing keeping it up is the split bones in the rear using the rear end as an anti-sway bar.
Guess the rear bars haven't been too stressed and aren't cracked, yet.
Would have been more damage if it was one of them 1" off the ground cars.

 

"Hecho in china" parts probably.

 

wow.. good thing it was only 10mph. I can't imagine a failure at higher speeds.

- Joe

 

Owch..that sucks. glad you were going slow. good thing your ok. time to figure it out and fix it so you dont have that happen again!

 

glad your ok man!!

 

yeah glad your aight

 

On blowing up the picture you can see the shackle on the right under the car. Does not appear to have anything attached to the non spring side, like the attaching bolt broke off? Looks like it was attached to the bones. Don't be shy, lets see some pictures of the failed part.

 

More pics!

 

Even the "best" design will not live
if all the components are not sized correctly.

How many miles on this before it fell apart ?