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Billet Front end

Did anyone see the t bucket on ebay a couple of weeks ago? It had a unique front end design. Someone spent a lot of time on the mill.

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I agree. Im not a fan of the torsion bars, but I do like the billet lower arms. With everything else that has been custom machined on the car, I am surprised that they didnt replace the stock outer hub carriers. Maybe they just ran out of time?

bilhub.jpg
 
Bill Pedersen said:
I agree. Im not a fan of the torsion bars, but I do like the billet lower arms. With everything else that has been custom machined on the car, I am surprised that they didnt replace the stock outer hub carriers. Maybe they just ran out of time?

or money hence why it's up for sale? :eek:
 
Maybe it's the fenders, but I have to agree the front end isn't my cup of tea either.......too busy or bulky or something. But you do have to admire someone who thinks outside the box like that.

Don
 
That's unique. While this is not a truly independent suspension but rather a swing axle unit, it does incorporate some interesting design ideas. Looks like it would be hard to get enough torsion bar spring rate for that long of a torsion arm (the whole half axle) but the bars are not very long.

A couple of years ago, a discussion on the NTBA board about IFS's was going on and there were several who thought that the Mustang II setup was the hot setup. While they undoubtedly work well as far a operation of a front suspension goes, the appearance just doesn't cut it for me. So out came the doodle stuff and this is what I came up with to try to keep the traditional motif with the advantage of IFS function.

IFSGreen.jpg


It is torsion bar based also. The bar runs inside the tube that forms the lower control arm. The strut rods for the upper and lower a-arms are long to suggest the radius rods on most buckets and the tie bar for the lower control arms is reminiscent of the drilled axles that are popular. Basically, just trying to keep it lean and low.

Not most peoples cup of tea. Just more doodling fun! :D
 
While I really like GAB's design, I just have a hard time with an IFS on a bucket. GAB, could you hang a track nose on your illustration?

Ron
 
There probably is some way to create that compound of a shape (track nose) in this program, but I don't know it. :confused: I'll have to see if I can't find a little time and see if I can noodle out some way to do it. Stay tuned. :food:
 
I don't have a lot of stuff on Jag rears in my files, but here are a couple of things. This first one is from doing a Jag rear in a Spirit frame. The positioning was done to the customers specs. Sorry that it don't show the actual rear end pieces.

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The next one is of what we did when a guy lost his lower control arms somewhere between disassembly and installation. The hub carriers were some that I used to make a long time ago.

JagRearend-TomDonnelly-Small-1.jpg



Here is another drawing of a lower control arm for a Jag that we were contemplating building to lower the back of a car that had no room to do anything with the upper shock mounts. They weren't ever built.

Assembly1.jpg



Hope this helps. :D
 
Thanks for your input GAB. Were the hub carriers that you built made out of steel? Do you happen to have any pictures of one?

I doubt that you remember me, but I have been out to the shop at your house a couple of times 15-20 years ago to have you bend some 4130 tubing for me and I bought one of the first tubing notchers that you built. I actually met you for the first time 30 plus years ago at your shop Tubular Dynamics when it was in North KC. I was fresh out of high school and I built an aluminum gas tank for my front engine dragster and brought it to you to weld. You did a beautiful job of welding it. The only reason you may remember this is because I made it out of .125 aluminum and I had to bring it back a second time because it wouldnt fit in the chassis. I was embarrassed, but you didnt give me a bad time about it. You just told me to always measure twice. Im sure that you had a good laugh after I left. Watching you cut the tank and re-weld it is when I decided I wanted to become a fabricator like you.

I kept the end of the tank that you cut off as a reminder and it still sets on top of my welder.

tankend.jpg
 
Bill,

Wow! That is going back some! I was in N.K.C. from 1975 to 78. I have to apologize to you for not remembering the incidents that you have mentioned. Please don't feel bad as I am terrible about remembering names, if I saw you I'd stand a better chance of recognizing you. I frequently see a lot of people from the automotive hobby that I have no idea as to their names. :eek: It gets pretty embarrassing when they can recall my name but I can't remember theirs.

I'm guessing from the looks of your consumables selection in the pic that you did indeed pursue fabrication either as a hobby or vocation. Lots of fun, isn't it?

I don't have any pics of the Jag hub carrier as a complete unit, but I do have a couple of sets of the bearing carriers and a set of the lower cross shaft housing tubes and even managed to find the patterns for the gusset and the side plates. And yes, they were made from steel. I think that the jig is up in the storage building. The piece in the lower right side of the pic is a sample of what I wanted to change the design to eventually. This would be the inner piece of a 2 piece boxed section that would connect the two tubular parts.

JagRearHubCarriers002.jpg


Good to hear from you again! Are you still in the K.C. area? Bucket building?

Hope this helps. :D

George
 
George,
Thanks again for the picture. I now live in Ottawa, Kansas which is about 50 miles south of KC on I-35. I am in the bucket building planning stage right now. :D I have a 13-year-old son that I want to teach some of the fabrication skills to while building a bucket. I have a couple of projects and honey-dos that need to be completed before I can get started on a bucket.
I didnt pursue fabrication as a vocation, but did jump in with both feet as a hobby. Most of it revolved around my drag racing and more recently my sons go-kart racing where I do quite a bit of machining and welding with titanium, magnesium and 4130.
Bill
 
It's great to see a story like that....

I have to say that I really like that GAB front end... and the computer program too. what program are you using?
 
Fatboyman05, I use Inventor 8 software for the drawings.

Ron, I'm still in the dark ages, no CNC stuff here.
 
I gotta say I'm not a fan of IFS' on a bucket but.... Gab's drawing has gnawed at me since the first time I saw it. Yesterday I got the July issue of SRM. In it Jim and Candy Rizzo are building one of Totals King T kits. As soon as I turned the page, I though of Gab's IFS. Man, the 2 are meant for each other. That track nose would hide all of the support fixtures and leave nothing but the business pieces out in the open.

Ron
 

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