Thread: Splitting the wishbone on 30's Ford

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I see my mechanical cutting/welding abilities sort of like the fellow who is out on the end of a limb and is sawing the treelimb off between himself and the trunk. With my luck, I'd do it wrong the first time. Therefore, I am trying to find a step-by-step on some hot rod site that explains fully how to split the wishbones correctly and then explains what do do to make them adaptable to the frame. Is there a good mag/book or website that really explains this to the novice? I am not so much a novice, but I certainly have no experience in splitting wishbones.

I see some universal wishbone splitting kits advertized and I have even found a set already done for about $150.00 bucks. I have no idea if that is high or even if the swap area still has them. Is there any set distance to cut them and how is the best way to cut; sawzall or what? I have heard that cutting them will actually drop the car about an inch, but don't know if this is accurate or not. Do the wishbones have to be heated and bent at the fronts, once cut?

Seems I saw a decent article in Rod and Custom at their on-line site, but it seemed to leave as many questions as it answered about this process. Are there bungs to be welded in place or what?

Excuse my total ignorance on this, but I am thinking of keeping my '30 tudor project as low buck as possible. In looking at replacement front ends and assemblies, this seems to be the cheapest option to say in budget and still have good results. I just don't want to create more of a problem than I am trying to get rid of. Would it really be best to purchase the wishbones that have already been done up than to take on the project myself?
I appreciate any tips,
Huey

If your welding skills are not up to the taske, then the prewelded package would be the best, or maybe cheaper to find someone local who knows how to do it and is a good welder and pay him to do it. Broken welds on suspension would not be a fun thing to have happen on a done car!!!!

Wishbones come in a number of lengths. If you run a Vega style cross steer you want the longest wishbones you can find. If you run a stock location steering box with the drag link parallel to the frame you want a wishbone the same length as the drag link.

The forged yoke with the ball is hard and very difficult to cut. But the bones are easier to finish cut if the yoke has been cut. I'd use a plasma cutter or tourch for this. I have used a chop saw and it is hard on blades. Once the wishbone is in two pieces cut the tube about 1/4" forward of the weld. The best tool for this is a bandsaw. And the next best is a sawzall. Again, a chop saw will also work. An alternative tool is a 7" metal cutting blade in a 7 1/4" skill type carpenter's saw. If you use one of these saws go slow and don't let the saw itself overheat. And wear sdafety glasses!!

The traditional way to attach the split bone to the frame is with a standard Ford tie rod end. Speedway sells bungs with the right thread. A competent welder can pop these in in a couple of minutes.

The tie rod end has a tapered shaft that goes through a tapered hole in the spindle. A ream is available (I think Speedway has it). But you can avoid this expense if you can locate two spindle eyes. These can come from spindles that have completely worn out their bushings and ovaled the holes or from arms that have been cut off and replaced with after market units (more on this in a minute). These eyes will be welded (TIG is best) into a bracket made out of 1/4" or 5/16" flat stock.

The bracket location and shape is established by test fitting the complete axle assembly to the chassis. In the ideal situation the chassis will be complete with wheels, tires, drive train and body in place. The goal is to have the rod sit like it will be driven.

Using the wishbones as levers, the axle is set to six or seven degrees of caster and blocked. Note: Sears sells a magnetic base angle finder that is both cheap and does this job accurately. The bracket you fabricate will drop down from the frame rail with the eye centered on the tie rod end. The brackets should be located at the same point on both sides of your frame and have the same drop. If this is not the case something is out of line. Note: The tie rod ends should be threaded with about 1/2" to 3/4" of thread exposed. This gives you the ability to make adjustments later.

Before you fabricate your brackets step back and take a look. The wishbones should be parallel with the frame. If they look awkward there is a fix. At the front of the wishbone there is another forging, a "C" shape that goes over and below the axle. You can "pie" cut just before this forging as necessary to bring the wishbone to the proper line.

The brackets themselves are an oportunity to express your own sense of style. I have seen brackets made out of 4" wide stock that bolt to the sides of the frame. This is a very traditional way to do it and offer the builder the ability to adjust the location if and when the spring settles and the final ride heigth is set. Other builders weld a bracket to the underside of the frame. And some builders fabricate brackets with multiple eyes. These offer several caster adjustments.

Splitting wishbones does not require a lot of welding but the strength of the welds is critical to your safety. The key to a good job is getting the relationships correct. If you have the right tools and know how to use them you should be able to do the fabricating in your shop and you can have the welding done by a professional.

I am not much of a welder. There s no way I would trust my life to my welds. I have a little 110 MIG that I use to tack critical welds to be finished by someone who knows what they are doing. I also have a 50 amp 220 welding plug in my shop. If I need a lot of welding done my friend brings over his big Miller. Every rodder needs a buddy who welds.

Finaly, a note about the "eyes". If you are running a dropped axle you will need to drop your steering arms so the tie rod can run under the wishbone. The old school way was to heat and bend. But I have never liked this. To many ways to screw up. I like to cut the stock arms off and use after market bolt on arms. Super Bell, Magnum and Chassis Engineering all offer dropped arms. I prefer the Chassis Engineering units because they are forged.

What do you do with the old arms? You use two of the eyes for your brackets and you save the third for your next rod project.

Confused??

Then email me at stevehansen+cox.net (+ = @)

Thanks for the info on the splitting technique and mounting. Speedway sent me a listing of what all they recommended for doing the job. It is, unfortunately, something that I can't get to for just a bit, but the info will be of paramont importance when I start the project. All of my saws and equipment is currently in storage, as is my A. Anxiously awaiting getting it all out and starting up.
Thanks,
Huey

This thread comes at a perfect time for me. I doing the same project only I'm trying to go one step furture. I have a 35 axle I want to use with the original A front end. The 35 axle drops about two inches from the original A axle, so as a low buck kind of deal, I would like to make it work. My question is this, how do you get the old wishbones off the old axles? I wrestled the 35 axle all day and ended up cutting the wishbone off and drilling out the spring perch hole. Before I touch my original 30 axle I need some advise on this tricky situation. Do I need to heat them up first? Thank you in advance for any help you can provide.