Thread: Removing my hair pins - need guidance please

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I asked two pretty hotrod savvy people and got two completely different answers, so now I am confused and thought I'd better run it by you guys. Please only answer this if you have a 1932 with hairpins and have removed and reinstalled your hairpins. THanks:

I will be sending my hairpins to get rechromed. No longer shall my hairpins be red. Currently the hairpins are bolted to a small braket welded to the bottom of the frame on one end and to my batwings on the other two ends. In short, 3 large bolts hold everything together. I am posting photos at the end of this post to help you figure things out.

Can you walk me through the procedure of removing them and then reinstalling them.

1- will I need to jack up the car or not necessary?

2- will I need to worry about holding everything in place while hairpins are removed and sent out to rechromed or will the front leaf spring keep everything steady until my hairpins return. NEEDLESS TO SAY I WOULD NOT BE MOVING THE CAR OR DRIVING IT WHILE HAIRPINS ARE OFF>

3- how would you guys go about measuring the threads so to put everything back EXACTELY the same way it was.

I was given different and sometimes contradictory answers to above questions, so I hope you guys can clarify things for me. This is my next move, along with bias plys tires.

Thanks a zillion,

Hiboy Girl

I will post a photo of the batwing area today. Here is the photo of the other end of the hairpin set-up.

Faith, no need to limit answers to only guys with '32's..........your suspension system is not unique to only that year. Same system can be on a T bucket, Model A, etc. I know you think '32's are special, but in this regard, they are not. Anyway, here are the answers to your questions:

1) Yes, you must jack up the car and put jackstands under the front portion of the frame on both sides. You want the axle to have zero weight on it. In addition, put blocks under the front and rear of the front tires so that they will not want to walk out from their position.

2) That will also answer number two. The spring will keep everything in place laterally, but you need to keep the tires from rolling fore and aft.

3) You don't measure the threads, you measure the overall length from reference points like the holes in the front and rear, and record each side. Theoretically, they should be identical, but you never know, as the guy who installed the brackets might have been off on one side and compensated for it by screwing one hairpin out further. This is also assuming your car is in perfect alignment right now.

4) Yeah, post the front pictures, but I pulled up an old photo of yours, and it looks to me like your hairpins simply unbolt from the batwings with two horizontal bolts in the front, and one tie rod nut in the rear on the frame bracket. Once you have all the weight off, remove these bolts and the hairpin will simply drop out of it's position. The tie rod end might take a little tapping to get it out of the tapered hole, just don't beat on the bare threads, use a pickle fork or tap on the loosened nut lightly.

5) Installation is the reverse of all of this, after you have remeasured and put them back to the same length as they are now. You might have some thread issues as the chroming process fattens up the threads, but a saavy chromer will steer you on how to keep that from happening. Use Neversieze on all the threads when you put it all back together (auto parts store stuff)

This is a very straightforward job, and you can easily do it in a few hours at most. And just to be safe, have a competent alignment shop (that knows old rods) realign the front end.

Here is the picture I downloaded of your front end, but just to be sure, post a side shot of the batwing area.

Don

Huh, picture isn't downloading. Ok, there it is.

CCCCCCCCC - I can't seem to post without adding some more characters.

Originally Posted by HiboyGal

I asked two pretty hotrod savvy people and got two completely different answers, so now I am confused and thought I'd better run it by you guys. Please only answer this if you have a 1932 with hairpins and have removed and reinstalled your hairpins. THanks:

I will be sending my hairpins to get rechromed. No longer shall my hairpins be red. Currently the hairpins are bolted to a small braket welded to the bottom of the frame on one end and to my batwings on the other two ends. In short, 3 large bolts hold everything together. I am posting photos at the end of this post to help you figure things out.

Can you walk me through the procedure of removing them and then reinstalling them.

1- will I need to jack up the car or not necessary?

Yes.
Set the car on jackstands under the frame - pad the jackstands with clean rags to prevent paint damage to the frame.
If you don't get the weight off the wheels,the axle can shift and bend things when the 2nd hairpin is removed because the only thing keeping the axle from twisting when the hairpin is off is the spring shackles.
Watch out for an abrupt shift of the hairpin when the 2nd one is disconnected from the frame.


2- will I need to worry about holding everything in place while hairpins are removed and sent out to rechromed or will the front leaf spring keep everything steady until my hairpins return. NEEDLESS TO SAY I WOULD NOT BE MOVING THE CAR OR DRIVING IT WHILE HAIRPINS ARE OFF>

No worries.
The axle will hang from the spring with the car on jackstands once the hairpins are removed.

3- how would you guys go about measuring the threads so to put everything back EXACTELY the same way it was.

Mark each hairpin left and right in an inconspicuous place.
Reason being, they're not always the same exact length, but most times they are.
Either count the exposed number of threads if there's not too many or measure.
Write it down.

Measuring may not be completely necessary if you're set up to read your caster.
Or . . . double check alignment at a front end shop.

You may want to ask the shop if they do Mil-Spec plating.
That's where they bake the axle for about an hour after it comes out of the last rinse of the chrome plating process.
A good way to go imo.
Chroming can create a hydrogen-embrittlement problem which can lead to breakage problems in suspension components.

That said, the rear 4 bars on my 32 are chromed without baking and there's been no problems.

You may want to Google "hydrogen embrittlement" or similar and do a little reading on it.

I was given different and sometimes contradictory answers to above questions, so I hope you guys can clarify things for me. This is my next move, along with bias plys tires.

Thanks a zillion,

Hiboy Girl

I will post a photo of the batwing area today. Here is the photo of the other end of the hairpin set-up.

(quote Highboy Girl) Please only answer this if you have a 1932 with hairpins and have removed and reinstalled your hairpins. THanks:


I forgot to submit my resume, to prove to you I have the ability to accurately answer your question. Here is a picture of my '27 front end.........I have removed the hairpins "once or twice."


Don

31 on 32 rails.

Hairpin removal is easy as is the re-install.

Can't quite say the same for the 4 bars on the 32.
The initial install on those I had to use a Spanish Windlass to get it to move that last little bit....

Faith,

Don nailed it. I have a couple of other details you might want to consider.

- On each hairpin, measure from the center of the bolt hole in the rear to each bolt hole center in the front. Record those numbers.

- As backup, as you unscrew the rod ends, count the number of turns each takes to remove. Record those numbers.

That way, you'll have a way to cross-check your re-install.

Jack
- Not a '32 owner, but it doesn't matter - creds attached.

Itoldyouso, you are taking my post the wrong way I wanted to stress that:

1- I do not think the 1932 are "special" as in "better" than any other hotrods. I happen to love the earlier year roadsters as well. i know some people out there think that if it is not a Deuce it is Bird poopoo, but I am not one of them . I am no Deuce owner snob.

2- the only reason I asked for only people who have had hairpin experience to answer is because as I mentioned, I already have had two different contradictory opinions, one of which from a very knowledgeable hotrodder who has built many cars - but never one with hairpins type front suspension. So his answers were INCORRECT and could have cause me a LOT of trouble (he said to not jack up the car).

See what I mean?

One question

PS: I understand everything you guys explained except one thing: if my car is jacked up, the tires will be off the ground so how do I add blocks and exactely where? I am not sure I understood clearly what you meant in that respect.

Faith, no, I was just trying to be a little bit funny.......I knew you just wanted to finally get one definitive answer, after getting all those conflicting ones, so you were searching for someone who had done it. I took it as exactly that, and only made those remarks tongue in cheek.

I know you are pretty tough, so I knew you could take some jabbing. Welcome to the "boys club."


Don

Denny, we are still accepting applications and will get back to you when we have made a final decision.


Yes, that drawing is correct. (that moves your application up a few notches)


Don

(he said to not jack up the car)

Geez, what was he thinking? Wishbones, hairpins or 40-bars, that's a recipe for disaster.

Originally Posted by Henry Rifle

Geez, what was he thinking? Wishbones, hairpins or 40-bars, that's a recipe for disaster.

Wow, I'll bet that 40 bar is a booger to set up, Jack!!!!!

Originally Posted by DennyW

Cool !! I might make the grade after all. I've been studying hard.

All I need now is to get a 32 to play with, and practice on for my final exam.

Yes . . . don't forget to practice for the sideways in second gear part of the exam....

Originally Posted by Dave Severson

Wow, I'll bet that 40 bar is a booger to set up, Jack!!!!!

Yeah, but there's no bump steer.