Steering Linkage

[Ted Brown]

I believe they were meaning springs that needed to be oven treated after chrome plating..?? one way or another drive safe Another reason to paint instead of chrome plate...

 

[Mr. Fixit]

Just my 2 cents here. As Ted said try your rims and tires before you deside to swap the arms side to side. You might fine the part of the arm where the tie rod bolts to the spindle will be too close to the tire.

My fix would be to fab some new arms with more drop to them alowing the tie rod to pass under the lower hair pin or 4-bar tube. You won't need alot of clearance here so make the dropped end just below the tube. You can bolt the tie rod to the bottom of the new arm if need be. You should still be well above the scrub line.

Now for welding on the spindles, these are Chevy type spindles. As such they are forged as are the Fords. You can safely weld to these spindles with out effecting the structure. I know this goes againest all the theoretical laws, but concider this, Ford said the axles from '29 to '48 should NOT be heated to straighten. How long have hot rodders been dropping these axles by heating and reshaping them? We also see axles and spindles chrome plated all the time. Has anyone heard of hyrogen embrittlement?

Ron

Ron,

This was a car that was on the road when I got it and the tires/rims were no issue with clearence. While at work today, I thought up an idea of some spacers that I can put between the tie rod and the arms and mount the rod below the arms as you suggested. I am going to persue this approach.

Thanks..

 

[Old Rotor Flap]

Here's some FYI on Hydrogen Embrittlement,

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&...ent+chrome+plating&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=

Or just "google" embrittlement.

With regard to the Ford recommendation that axles not be heated and straightened, I think that refers to rear axle shafts rather than front axles.

Both the early Ford front axles and rear axle shafts were forgings. I suggest Ford recommended against heating and straightening rears due to the potential for not getting the rear axles properly straight thereby causing early bearing failure and the weakening (loss of heat treat) ending in axle failure due to improper heating to attempt to straighten.

I'm guessing the front axles were not been heat treated as the strength of the basic forging was sufficient for mission profile.

I have access to Rockwell test equipment and if I can spare a few little grey cells from this evening's wine saturation, I'll try to remember to take a spindle with me and ping it in a couple of places.


Hey RPM, I was contemplating shot peening, but my 12 guage would scare my dogs. I could vibration stress relieve'em by throwing'em in the back on my car and driving out to the higway on my dirt road a couple of times. Our road up to the highway is soooo f-ing rough.....
How rough is it?
It's so rough....... I was thinking about asking the county if they would give me a permit to run helicopter tours up and down it on the weekends.

 

[Gerry]

Here's some FYI on Hydrogen Embrittlement,

http://www.google.co...ql=&oq=&gs_rfai=

Or just "google" embrittlement.

With regard to the Ford recommendation that axles not be heated and straightened, I think that refers to rear axle shafts rather than front axles.

Both the early Ford front axles and rear axle shafts were forgings. I suggest Ford recommended against heating and straightening rears due to the potential for not getting the rear axles properly straight thereby causing early bearing failure and the weakening (loss of heat treat) ending in axle failure due to improper heating to attempt to straighten.

I'm guessing the front axles were not been heat treated as the strength of the basic forging was sufficient for mission profile.

I have access to Rockwell test equipment and if I can spare a few little grey cells from this evening's wine saturation, I'll try to remember to take a spindle with me and ping it in a couple of places.


Hey RPM, I was contemplating shot peening, but my 12 guage would scare my dogs. I could vibration stress relieve'em by throwing'em in the back on my car and driving out to the higway on my dirt road a couple of times. Our road up to the highway is soooo f-ing rough.....
How rough is it?
It's so rough....... I was thinking about asking the county if they would give me a permit to run helicopter tours up and down it on the weekends.

I stand corrected. Hydrogen it is then
Gerry