Thread: straight axel made of mid 60s twin i-beam?

Tweet

im crap for funds for a while now, but have plenty of parts laying around to make stuff with so im working on my suspension and im wondering if or how safe it would be if i full penetration welded and braced together a pair of mid 60s twin ibeams to build the solid front axle of my truck.

Engine weight may be a factor since i have a ford 460 and truck 4-speed tranny laying around to go in it.

Im thinking of those since there drum breaks.

if i were to do it ill prolly make a jig of the rear axle to mount the hubs on to make sure its straight and true once its welded together bare ill prolly cut some cromoly tube and add to it for added support and make a cleaner look to it

yes, no, unsafe?

I wouldn't do it.... lots of old straight axles laying around, I've got one beside my garage I can't even give away..... Sounds like you're taking on a whole lot of extra work for something that may or may not work.... You would also have to figure out radius rods, spring mounts, caster angle.... Don't real see a way to do one that would be safe to drive, let alone be acceptable looking....

I've been threatening to do that for years, around my Ford fanatic buddies. I am no fan of twin I-beams, though my '66 Merc pickup works all right. The local machinist sez he'd do the welding if I want to try it. It would go under my '62 Unibody to get disc brakes on it. The only problem is that the twin axles aren't straight across the chassis, one angles forward, the other aft. Don't know what that would do to the geometry if they were straightened out.
As far as the welding part goes, the newer Fords have welded-up steel axles from the factory, no problems.

No No Nannette!!! Not a front axle.

I'd do it--cut them out near the part where the radius rod mounts--use a piece of decent wall thickness retangle tube that can be fitted over the outer pieces

i had concidered using the thick wall rectangle tube idea which isnt bad but i was thinking of welding them together long ways instead of at one cntral part, im not mentaly challenged i do understand metal and stress. the cut and use tube would work if i found a tube that would allow the ibeam to fit snug with little modification to the beams then welded on the end and maybe through a couple patch able holes to make sure its not a single weld between me and another car

All the welding and reinforcing is fine....don't forget about the geometry of the front end, and it's attachment to the car. Welding the I-beams together is probably the easy part.... Then there's the other concern of making it look presentable...

i think ill possibly toy around with it and if when done it looks like crap no biggie it is just scrap anyways ill salvage the breaks spindles like i was gonna do in the beginning, but if it works then ill use it. never know i may just make use of it as is maybe with half leafs who knows

My neighbor has the complete twin-I setup from a seventies van laying in his yard and we were discussing this very thing last night....
Because one sets behind the other at a slight angle to match the left and right wheelbase, perhaps you could bolt the end eye of both axles through each other. The stock setup is coil sprung and uses a pair of wishbones with large threaded rods and rubber bushings to adjust the location, front to rear.

Might be better to adapt the spindles onto the straight axle???

I've seen this done. I was at a rod run several years ago and saw a T-bucket with a front axle made from pieces of a twin I-beam. It was one of the earlier models which are more slender than the later ones. The beam had been cut and butted together in the center. Unfortunately, I don't remember what it had for a spring or radius rods, but I think it had disc brakes. I remember the car had a 300 cu. in. inline six; can't remember if it was a stick or auto trans. I remember thinking that the running gear probably all came from the same donor vehicle, a Ford van or pickup. If I had the parts lying around, I wouldn't hesitate to try it...

Dave, Whats the axle behind the garage?

well i built my axle heres some pics of it needs a little tweaking but overall im happy with it (wheels are not bolted on just sitting there

i used a piece of 2x3 rectangle tubing notched the end so its just not a weld around the notch goes over an inch to where the radius bar mounts up and is welded in solid. the ibeam goes inside the tubing about a foot for strength

Originally Posted by 61bone

Dave, Whats the axle behind the garage?

59 Chevy pickup