In a follow up to yesterday’s blog on the broken mono leaf spring, I went to Bob O’s house today and looked at the spring. The spring snapped about four inches from the center bolt hole on the passenger side. I am not a metallurgist but it appears the spring metal was defective or brittle. I will have it tested to see for sure what happened. I just happen to have a mono leaf spring for my 32 chassis and compared it to the broken one. It is difficult to tell where the stress is placed when a car hits a bump in the road but it appears the heavy cross section is the problem. Perhaps it does not flex as a multi-leaf spring does. I am still going to pursue the cause of the failure and will probably not use one on my 40. Bob O had my old stock spring redone in one day and was ready to install it back in the pickup. He has two other mono leaf springs in his other cars.
If you have been reading the HAMB and saw the post about Keith’s sedan wreck you begin to wonder about dropped axles and springs in any of these hot rods. The technology is very old and the aftermarket companies have invested lots of time and money in developing these new/old products for us to use. Perhaps we should just stick to the real deal Henry made so many years ago. No, I am not implying we should all rush out and purchase a new Kugel front end, but you do have to wonder why these things fail…
Stay Tooned!
Lynn
The spring just snapped while the 40 pickup was going down the road about 10 miles per hour and hit a small bump in the road. Bob said it felt like the whole front end fell on the ground. If you recall the 35 – 48 Fords mount the spring ahead of the axle and when it fails the spring hits the pavement and the frame rails come down on the axle…not pretty.
Bob O had my old spring redone to replace the mono leaf spring. He removed several leafs, reversed the eyes and had new bushings installed. This is what I will do with a new Posie spring.
Here is one I planned to install in the 32 chassis. The thick center may be the problem.
This photo from the HAMB shows the front axle broken on Keith’s sedan of many years. Who knows why axles break but they do. I am happy they are going to be O.K. I have never had a wreck but have had a rear wheel come off and slid down the freeway going 60 mph. Jeff Beck knows this for a fact.
On a happier note did you see this 3 window on Fordbarn for $31K. Really, they are still out there and the values are going down. I don’t think this ad was for real.
I do like 5 window coupes that are cut up. This one screams hot rod everywhere you look. I would like one of these also.
Here is another one from the Canada trip. I know Sid needed to stop at the Watering Hole for a cold one. Could this be Sid’s coupe?
How do you keep your eyes on the road with scenery like this. George is a very careful driver in his red coupe as he has many more Deuces to complete in the coming years.
This hiboy sedan has an IFS which is what George was going to install on his sedan delivery. He changed his mind and had a Deuce axle dropped by Joe in Oklahoma.
Today’s best photo…dreaming!
Dennis need to pass George in his much traveled Deuce hiboy sedan. How could you forget this trip!