Let's Install a New Chromed Front Suspension on the '30 Coupe

well today we're going to begin a very challenging job this is the front suspension on the 1930 chopped and channeled uh model a coupe and i'm going to replace the straight axle the leaf spring the radius rods on the side the spindles and the disc brake uh units that are um on both wheels okay it's it's uh going to be fairly challenging because all of the distances are going to be changed the new uh front axles a little narrower so the tie rod will have to be shortened and new brackets will have to be welded on the frame back here for the longer split wishbone radius arms now it's time to install the new front end uh this first step was to weld in the holes that i drilled for the friction shocks and grind and paint the surface now with those holes filled in the frame and ground smooth and painted it's time to install the transverse leaf spring it has to be absolutely parallel to the front of the frame and it is held in the spring perch with brand new grade 8 bolts and all the proper hardware and lock washers now the next job is pretty tough i've got to use the cutoff wheel to remove the bracket for the old radius uh rods and then relocate it way back here wherever those uh split wishbone uh eye bolts are going to end up okay i'll have to install them and then figure out where the bracket has to be hopefully i can salvage this bracket and just reinstall it back here after putting some graphite lubricant on the bolts that go through the shackles they have really nice thick nylon bushings also this piece right here is screwed into the split wishbone you can see the end of it here i'm going to get an acorn knot to cover that and i've got the hydraulic jack holding it up in place and then at the rear i've got it tied and that will be how i uh figure out exactly where to locate that rear bracket and weld it and so this is the new drilled split wishbone a radius arm and as you can see it tilts back at the top that gives you your caster on your straight axle i'm going to have to uh cut the bracket off and on the other side and mount that one just the same and then we'll know exactly where the axle is going to be and exactly where that rear mounting bracket's going to be also i think the wishbone would look a whole lot better if within the holes inside this area here was painted black then you just have your holes kind of set against a black background i think it'd look a lot better well we got a lot done today we have both of the radius rods installed uh other than the rear brackets which will have to be positioned and welded painted black inside to emphasize the holes the original radius rod brackets have been cut off get the spring installed with new hardware and this just gorgeous uh i-beam front axle i wanted it out the reason i went with the spring behind is to just position this forward and like it's just the featured piece here okay it's just to me that's just gorgeous sitting out there and it's way ahead of the frame called a suicide type front end so that's where we're going to stop today tomorrow we will install and weld those brackets and i'm trying to think there's a bunch of other things oh probably install the spindles on the uh ends of the straight axle okay so i'll see you again tomorrow here the radius arm brackets have been welded to the frame and the well ground down and uh everything painted the heim joint here has been adjusted exactly to square the straight axle in perfect parallelism with the front of the frame and everything's been bolted down tight now it's time to install the spindles on that straight axle first off uh this adapter here for the rotors had to be pressed on to the spindle shaft for the modern bearings that will be used and then uh it all had to be painted and we're going to put this onto the straight axle and then slide the kingpin in from the top making sure that we pass through the thrust bearing right down here at the bottom and then we're going to insert this cotter key into the straight axle tube to lock in right here and make sure that that kingpin doesn't come out when we're cruising down the interstate at 80 miles an hour okay so that's our next step here we have the spindle installed on the end of the straight axle uh it's there's a lot more going on than what you might imagine you have to hone the bushings in the spindle to exactly fit with like zero clearance the kingpin then you have to fit the cotter to that notch in the kingpin and when you're through there's some resistance which will go away as you drive the car but uh absolutely no play in any direction okay so that's it also some people like to chrome everything and i think really that defeats the purpose to me there should be some contrast to the chrome here and there and i think the black and chrome looks better than chrome and chrome okay also it's cheap now with our big pile of boxes dwindling we're ready to take on the next challenge and that is to alter the general motors metric rotors to match the ford spindles and believe it or not to do that we're going to have to remove bearing races and make some other modifications you already saw that stepped spacer that had to be put on to the spindle shaft well we're going to continue now and do make some more modifications so that this rotor will fit on those spindles step one we have to remove this bearing race from inside the rotor and install this bearing race i swear they look just the same but the angle is different so we have to make that modification and there's nothing fancy about the procedure or equipment use a great big drift like this and go all the way around on that lip of the race hitting it with the hammer and driving it down through the passage and out of the rotor well i finally got the old one out and as you can see there's not a world of difference between it and the new one you really don't want to get them mixed up and reinstall the old one so i'll set it off to the side and now we're going to have to use the hydraulic press to press in the new bearing race and to push that bearing race into position inside the hub here i'm going to use one of my giant sockets it's just the right size to press against that lip now i've already started the race so that it's absolutely square in the bore of the rotor next we'll use our giant socket and our 14 ton press here to go ahead and finish the job of pressing that uh race all the way down into the bore of the rotor well with the help of the good lord and about five thousand pounds of pressing force and plenty of cussing uh the race is now installed exactly where it should be and that inner bearing once packed with lubricant should spin happily for many years to come now it's time to paint the exposed metal surfaces of the rotor of course not the disc itself to prevent rust okay so i'm going to get a actually get a brush and some rust-oleum rust preventing paint and put a heavy coat inside here and also on the exposed surfaces of the other side now all the metal surfaces in here have a nice heavy coat of the rust-oleum oil base semi-gloss black it's time to do the edges here of the rotor and also on the front surface and there we have the finished brake rotor the painted and ready for installation next step is to install the disc brake caliper mounts and the steering arms nicely chromed and sculptured using heavy allen bolts and nylock nuts now it's time to pack the inner and outer wheel bearings assemble them in the rotors and then install the rotors onto the spindles when last we met we were celebrating the installation of these gorgeous chrome steering arms unfortunately as often happens when you're sort of scratch building a car they put the tie rod way too far forward and underneath here we've got spring shackles and all sorts of stuff that would interfere with it so i had to fabricate a custom pair of steering arms out of very heavy gauge stainless steel tubing and half inch steel plate here you can see them side by side and you see this is where the tie rod would go and i've got an extra maybe three inches here in length on the steering arm so this one is going to position the tie rod back here where it has free travel all right so you can see here that i have it installed on the back of the spindle with a grade eight button head allen bolts and lock nuts and it comes down to exactly the right position to connect to the tie rod where the tie rod has clearance from the radius rod uh no matter what position of the spindle this rises and falls during rotation because of the caster of the front end so it is very tricky it took me a good two days to come up with this design i know it looks simple but it had to be absolutely perfect and really really strong so i'm really pleased with it and now i can continue i've got to go to the bolt store and get some more appropriate bolts to connect these joints together and then i'll be right back steering arm has been installed i have a new grade 8 bolt with a lock nut connecting it to the tie rod the tie rod has not been uh detailed or painted yet okay now i'm going to turn the wheel uh to the opposite or right hand lock and you get to watch it work well finally the steering arms are completed and installed the tie rod has been painted and installed and i'm going to crawl down underneath there and show you the steering arm from the steering box and also the steering down okay here we see the tie rod and over here is the steering damper it's a horizontal shock absorber that prevents the uh steering from entering into some sort of uh oscillating motion called like a death a death wobble or something like that this keeps the steering really smooth and stable and then back here we have the arm that connects the steering box to the tie rod okay so now it's time for the spindles to receive the big heavy rotors for the brakes here's another view of that steering damper as you can see it's simply like i said a horizontal shock absorber that keeps that uh tie rod from being able to move back and forth quickly it really does smooth out the steering it's real nice it can't kick back on you okay the rotors are all painted and looking nice with their chrome lug nuts i want to make sure that the thread of the lug nut was correct for the studs now it's time to flip these jewels over i've got to pack the wheel bearings and put them into the rear of the bearing area inside the hub and then i've got to uh press in these uh grease seals that keep that packed grease from getting all over our disc brakes here's that big inner tapered roller bearing that's going to fit inside this race i'm going to have to pack it and then the grease seal will fit in right here the bearing has been thoroughly packed with a high temperature bearing grease and now it's time to tap in the grease seal using a giant socket that's the right diameter i have tapped the seal in place with a hammer going in circular fashion with the hammer until the sea uh seal is completely seated and uh now we're ready to install this uh rotor on the spindle i'll show you how that inner bearing fits remember this is that adapter piece that i heated up to 400 degrees and slipped onto the spindle then this is the the bearing that i pack the inner bearing this is the way it's going to fit up on the adapter sleeve right here there's also a smaller diameter outer bearing in the nose of the rotor right there and it's going to already been completely packed and it's going in within these parts in succession and finally a cotter pin to keep this nut from coming loose and having the wheel depart from the vehicle brake rotor now is installed on the spindle and i pushed in that small outer wheel bearing now i need to install the additional parts and finally a dust cover to keep it all clean the nut has been adjusted i tightened it down to where it kind of restricted the rotation of the rotor and then backed it off one flat so that now it spins freely time now to install the cotter pin there's the finished product with the dust cover installed and now it's time to do the other side well it looks like we're finished with the rotors and bearings and grease seals they're installed and now tomorrow we will worry about painting the brake calipers then installing them here on these arms with the pads and then we'll be done we can put the tires and wheels back on this and get it back on the ground well we're definitely making some progress here and we're in the home stretch if you remember in the beginning we had boxes piled all over the workbench here straight axle springs stuffed strewn about and now we're down to the two brake calipers the brake pads and the associated hardware so first off we're gonna paint these then we're ready to install them and then we'll be done well it's time for the final step the calipers have been painted with a heat resistant semi-gloss black paint we've got our brake pads ready to install with our pins and then we're going to connect up our hoses with the fittings and crush washers well the caliper is now installed with those special anodized bolts you can see that we've got our bleeder right here i'm going to have to connect the brake a hose right down underneath here and you see the pads on either side of the disc so the driver side is finished and ready to go now finally we've connected the brake hose in a nice stylish s curve here and made sure that at no time during the steering process that the hose binds in any way now it's time to do the passenger side well everything's assembled we got the tires and wheels on it i took a short drive to be sure nothing god awful happened and it didn't thank heavens but the fun's never over i've got it up on the lift here so i can get under the weld the inside of those radius arm brackets they have to be welded on both sides uh just you know for for strength and safety also uh i'm going to have to do a little minor adjustment on the steering link so that the steering wheel is the bar there the horizontal one is perfectly horizontal okay so now it's time to crawl underneath and with the trusty welder and fix those brackets well the job's all finished everything's been adjusted tightened and i even went for a little test drive i thought i'd give you a final walk around here you can see those nice uh split wishbones very subtle down there at the bottom nice chrome straight axle it's much lower in the front than it was might be too low the steering box linkage is only about two inches from the ground uh granted other than speed bumps that's really not a big issue but i might have to raise the car up about three quarters of an inch or maybe an inch i hate to because that stance is absolutely classic just the way it's supposed to be so that's it uh thanks for joining me on this rather challenging job that certainly turned out very well i think i hope you enjoyed it and i hope to see you again soon bye for now

Channel: Uncle Doug's Hot Rod Garage

Views: 5,508

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: Speedway, Hot Rod, Rat Rod, Straight Axle

Id: v1xcBkwaY80

Length: 20min 39sec (1239 seconds)

Published: Tue Jul 21 2020