straight axles

[truckdog]

anybody have a simple tutorial for straight axle gasser style front ends?

[Ace-Garageguy]

Since no two are ever really the same, you just have to understand the workings and then make what you need. Solid axle front ends are installed after all of the independent front suspension bits are removed from the frame. Ride height is achieved by using a combination of axle design (straight, like this)

Or dropped (like this) and appropriate semi-elliptic springs.

Make what you see.

Edited March 30, 2013 by Ace-Garageguy

[southpier]

http://straightlinemodeler.org/straxles.html

[Ace-Garageguy]

Wow, good one, Joe !!

[greymack]

I was wondering if back in the day rodders flipped the front axle upside down to achive gasser look?

[Ace-Garageguy]

Flipping an axle over would reverse the camber...so the answer is no, no one with any understanding of suspension and steering geometry would do that in 1:1, which is not to say it hasn't been tried.

[zenrat]

It would also put a large turning moment on the axle clamps when you applied the brake. That, combined with the forward weight shift due to braking would probably result in a sudden crash dive.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Hey Wernher, you missed me" - Fred's Dad

Edited April 24, 2013 by zenrat

[Skip]

I was wondering if back in the day rodders flipped the front axle upside down to achive gasser look?

It would also put a large turning moment on the axle clamps when you applied the brake. That, combined with the forward weight shift due to braking would probably result in a sudden crash dive.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Hey Wernher, you missed me" - Fred's Dad

Not to mention that an upside down dropped axle would want to torque the dropped part of the axle outward under braking resulting in catistrophic failure of the axle at either of the two bends. The suspended weight would want to spread the dropped part outward as well with the same results. Looks just plain nuts! It doesn't break under normal use in it's intended design because the moment of force is lessened by the triangulation of the two bends. I have seen dropped tube axles break under extreme use, as in a not so light car that could pull the front end off the ground then sets down with a less than gentle landing! Dropped I-Beam axles start out as a stock axle that is clamped in a press heated then pressed downward under huge amounts of hydraulic pressure until the metal moves. The fixture holds it in place until it cools and stays, they are not 100% as strong as before being dropped which may be why you don't see them on too many heavyweight hot rods.

Been around the block a time or two with hot rods, race cars, I've never seen this done even on a show car. Not to say that someone hasn't tried it, the minute you say that someone comes up with pictures. Pretty sure no self respecting tech inspector would OK this set up either.

[zenrat]

I've seen tractors with a set up that looks like an inverted dropped axle but they are designed to be like that from the start (for high ground clearance), don't go as quick and won't have the braking forces applied to the front end of a car (if they even have front brakes).