Front spring going through radius bars

[Jeddie]

I know a longer spring makes for a better ride but do y'all think this is ok?

 

[Jeddie]

I know this is not the "normal" setup, but will it work. I bought it this way. It appears to have a model a front cross member. The perch bolt holes are smooth like somebody welded them up.

 

[choppedtop]

Hmmm, don't know what it would hurt, as long as they don't hit. Doubt it that would ever happen.
Lee

 

[EX JUNK]

Personally, I'd be more concerned with the reversed Ackerman than any interference between the spring and hairpins.because the spring should never hit the hairpins because they move together. IMHO

Jim

 

[choppedtop]

Jim, could you explain what you mean by that? Not questioning your post, just want to learn a little here.
Lee

 

[baddawgcustoms]

I think what Jim is talking about is the alignment of the steering arm. You should be able to run a straight line from the tie rod hole, through the king pin, straight to the center of the rear axle. The steering arms need to be much farther out to get that straight line to correct the ackerman.

You can search on youtube and find some good explanations in video of ackerman and how it works.

 

[EX JUNK]

Jim, could you explain what you mean by that? Not questioning your post, just want to learn a little here.
Lee

Ackerman is the principle where the inside wheel turns at a tighter radius than the outer wheel. When you put the tie rod in front of the axle you've reversed the Ackerman and the tires "scrub" when making a turn. To correct this you need to modify or make new steering arms. To see correct Ackerman string a line between the center of the tie rod mounting bolt and the center of your kingpin on both sides and they should meet at the rear end. With a reversed Ackerman the two line will never meet as they will to infinity. Would you like to be in an emergency situation where you had to make a sudden turn to avoid an accident and the tires did not want to cooperate and merely skidded along instead of gripping the road and turning to avoid the possible collision? I know that I'd not be too happy in that situation.

Here is an example of making new steering arms to regain proper Ackerman when you reverse the tie rod.


Jim

 

[choppedtop]

Thanks Dale. I did a bit of searching, but not on da tube yet. Jim, just read your post also. Now I get what you mean. Never to old to learn.
Lee

 

[EX JUNK]

Thank you, Dale, for that sketch. I know that there are guys, for whatever reason, don't believe Ackerman is important but I figure that there are a whole lot of guys that are WHOLE lot smarter than me that have figured out the importance of this.

Jim

 

[EX JUNK]

Thanks Dale. I did a bit of searching, but not on da tube yet. Jim, just read your post also. Now I get what you mean. Never to old to learn.
Lee

That's why it pays to ask. In my opinion there are NO dumb questions. If you don't ask, you can't learn.

Jim

 

[baddawgcustoms]

Thank you, Dale, for that sketch. I know that there are guys, for whatever reason, don't believe Ackerman is important but I figure that there are a whole lot of guys that are WHOLE lot smarter than me that have figured out the importance of this.

Jim

3 months ago I had never heard of ackerman, but I probably have 10 hours of research, reading, and talking to people in the know, for every 1 hour I have working on my car. And a LOT of listening to you guys on here and reading about every post ever put on here. I'm a little bit of a book nerd, so reading about chassis engineering when I decided to build it from scratch myself, has been almost as much fun as the build. Jeddie I would recommend you calling Ron over at RPM (one of the sponsors here) and letting him look at your photos. he makes a weld-on batwing for the I-beam axles and he can integrate the spring mount with it, and I'm sure he could build you a set of steering arms to correct the alignment issues as well. Very reasonable prices.

 

[Jeddie]

Wow!! I love all of this info. Keep it coming. Dale, I will definitely be getting into contact with Ron.

 

[PotvinGuy]

I'm feeling perverse tonight (too cold here to work on the car), so I'll rant a bit. For the best Ackermann geometry in our buckets the tie rod should be behind the axle. That said, if you are stuck with the tie rod in front, then the bent-out arms as shown and described above are the way to go. But don't be sad; even in production cars the geometry is only approximate because it just isn't that critical. My bucket has original spindles with the integral arms behind the axle and I calculated I would need a 42 ft wheelbase for best Ackermann!

I've been driving it 20 years like this and haven't had any problems. The bucket's bucket list includes new spindles and custom arms with optimized geometry, someday.

Here's a brief intro: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ackermann_steering_geometry

 

[fordnut]

I am thinking of using a CCR front end. Anyone out there using this set up, or know anything about its geometry.

 

[GAB]

You might take a peek at this Ackerman explanation.

http://nationaltbucketalliance.com/bb/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=264

 

[butch27]

I think the real trouble is using your tie rod as a front bumper.

 

[T-Test]

I think the real trouble is using your tie rod as a front bumper.

On the early Fords, 40's -50's I think, the tie rod was out front, some anyway. I remember having to straighten the tie rod back out after having hit a stump

 

[EX JUNK]

I think the real trouble is using your tie rod as a front bumper.

If you are that near sighted that you'd use the front mounted tie rod as a bumper you have NO business driving. IMHO

Jim

 

[fordnut]

Maybe bolt a snow plow to it. ?

 

[EX JUNK]

You might take a peek at this Ackerman explanation.

http://nationaltbucketalliance.com/bb/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=264

It seems as though you have to join that sight to get any info. At one time you could get a lot of info there but not anymore.

Jim