Another Build Thread - My '32

[J. Robinson]

OK, I've been distracted with other things (Electrathon racing season has started. See my other thread.), so I haven't spent as much time as I should on the Deuce. I finally put in a pretty good day on it today.

As an old-time fabricator who designs and builds "on the fly", I sometimes make an unforeseen problem for myself. Although I have built five previous torsion bar front ends, no two are exactly alike. This time I created a problem with interference between the tie rod and the bottom shackle bolts. I didn't take a "before" picture, but the problem was, when the front wheels were turned sharply either direction, the tie rod contacted the head of the shackle bolt. That could be a problem in a tight turn on uneven ground.

Below I attached a pic of one of the shackles. Notice the head of a 1/2-inch diameter bolt is almost 3/8-inch thick. In the second pic is the shackle modified to accept a countersunk bolt. The final pic is the modified left shackle back in place and with the wheels turned full left. The tie rod clears the shackle and bolt a little over 1/16-inch. Now I can finally ditch the temporary (homemade) tie rod and install the nice pretty Speedway Motors chrome one.