56 f100 axle

[john dioli]

hey gentleman here comes the rookies questions?
can i use a 56 f100 front axle, brakes,steering arms, and steering box a friend is going to be putting a different front end on his 56.
or will that be to much modifying would i be better off getting a complete bucket kit from say ccr?
thanks john

 

[GreggDaniels]

I'm using a complete front axle and drum brakes from a '66 Chevy 1/2 ton van and aside from it being heavier than a tube axle it works fine. I drove the van for about four years so the price was right. I made my own steering arms and batwing brackets and it does take a little work to cut the spring pads off and weld the brackets on but the money I saved paid for my Mickey Thompson's and Cragars. Front and rear drum brakes and the skinny tires up front will lock up pretty easily.

 

[donsrods]

There are two ways you can go with that setup. Since it was not designed to use a traverse leaf spring you need a way to bolt or weld batwings to it that will mount the spring and the radius rods too. RPM has a kit to do this modification.

Or, you can remove the 56 axle and spindles and substitute a 28-48 axle and 37-48 spindles, and use a simple bearing swap kit (that Speedway sells) to put that all together. This is a cleaner setup, appearancewise, and all you would need to complete the setup are a couple of batwings and hairpin radius rods, or a set of split wishbones from someone like Speedway.....or you can split your own out of early Ford wishbones. With this setup you can either mount the spring over the axle or suicide style, and people like Posies sell the correct length spring to make it all work out.

As for the steering box, that one is the one most rodders like to use and I have one in two of my cars. Not used so much in T buckets because of the way they mount and the fact most T bucket steering columns are almost vertical. The F100 box is usually mounted in front of the firewall, not under the floor.

But if you can pick this whole thing up reasonably there are some very good parts there. What is he asking for it ? Reason I ask is so we can tell you if it is a good deal or not.

Don

 

[john dioli]

thnks guys i have a neighbor who ive known for 20 some years hes a retired street rod builder (norm francis street rods)

pretty well known on the west coast i told him what i have and he has some old inventory that may be helpful when i have time ill go over and see what he has
john

 

[john dioli]

There are two ways you can go with that setup. Since it was not designed to use a traverse leaf spring you need a way to bolt or weld batwings to it that will mount the spring and the radius rods too. RPM has a kit to do this modification.

Or, you can remove the 56 axle and spindles and substitute a 28-48 axle and 37-48 spindles, and use a simple bearing swap kit (that Speedway sells) to put that all together. This is a cleaner setup, appearancewise, and all you would need to complete the setup are a couple of batwings and hairpin radius rods, or a set of split wishbones from someone like Speedway.....or you can split your own out of early Ford wishbones. With this setup you can either mount the spring over the axle or suicide style, and people like Posies sell the correct length spring to make it all work out.

As for the steering box, that one is the one most rodders like to use and I have one in two of my cars. Not used so much in T buckets because of the way they mount and the fact most T bucket steering columns are almost vertical. The F100 box is usually mounted in front of the firewall, not under the floor.

But if you can pick this whole thing up reasonably there are some very good parts there. What is he asking for it ? Reason I ask is so we can tell you if it is a good deal or not.
your right on the 28-48 axle don i think ill just use some piese but get it all from him im going to see if he will take like $125 for it all hes a good friend and old phone guy
john

Don

 

[john dioli]

your right on the 28-48 axle don i think ill just use some piese but get it all from him im going to see if he will take like $125 for it all hes a good friend and old phone guy
john

 

[john dioli]

your right on the 28-48 axle don i think ill just use some parts but get it all from him im going to see if he will take like $125 for it all hes a good friend and old phone guy

 

[donsrods]

Wow, if you can score that for $125 jump on it. The brakes alone are worth more and so is the steering box. 56 boxes are getting hard to find any more, as are F100 brake setups. I bet you could sell the leftover axle and spindles and get your $125 back.

Funny what some people will have no use for when they make changes on their car. Years ago I was driving along and saw something sitting by the garbage cans at the curb. Turned out it was a pair of 40-48 Ford brake setups, complete from backing plates to drums, all painted black and in excellent condition. Evidently the guy had swapped to disc brakes and put the old ones out on trash day. I couldn't grab those quick enough.

Let us know how you make out.

Don

 

[meangreen]

John,
My Track-T and my son's sedan have Econoline axles and my coupe has a Jeep axle. All of these were originally parallel-leaf typ front axles, similar to that '56 Ford axle, that I converted to use welded-on batwings and hairpin style radius rods. I trimmed off the spring pads with torch and grinder and fab'd my own batwings, radius rods, and other brackets. My son's sedan has a buggy spring, my T has coils, and my coupe has torsion bars. If you want to see some pics of my T's front end, scroll through the build thread here:
http://www.clubhotrod.com/hot-rod-talk/30400-another-build-thread-yep-my-track-style-t.html
There may also be some pics of my coupe in the gallery there. If you need more clarification on what I did, send me a PM.

 

[john dioli]

thank you sir i appreciate it