mental lapse in joints allowed me to forget those that come with a threaded
stud attached to the ball in the joint looking like an "L" shape. in
suspension aplications they tend to try to rip themselves out at the
attachment point to anything. my bugeye had those as the front mounts for
the adjustable upper rear suspension links and tore out the body and cut
down link box pieces from excessive flexing from lateral motion front to
rear from acceleration and deceleration. t he "fix" was a body repair for
the torn aerea and fabrication of outer brackets welded to the existing (cut
down for tire clearance) remnants of the upper link boxes. this allowed for
a regular heim joint with a 1/2" i.d. hole through the ball to be bolted
through the bracket from outside to inside and lock nutted on the inside.
now this end has suport on both sides from the brackets and al lateral
movement was eliminated. a couple pieces of 1/2" i.d. tubing was cut to
space out the joint between the inner and outer brackets so it was paralell
to the spring's center line(front to rear) when tightened. of course you do
need to align the pinoin to the transmission also . there is an imaginary
line going out the tail of the transmission where the drive shaft plugs in.
and there is an imaginary line going straight through(front to rear) the
dif. pinoin gear. these 2 lines ideally should meet in a continous level
line. and rarely does ! so with the suspension carrying all of the
weight(settled) you can tape strings to trans and the dif. and see what
angle the pinion is in relation to the output shaft of the transmission.
with a 1/4 eliptical spring rear you can (with adjustable upper links) fine
tune your driveline's alignment. the acceptable alignment is 2 paralell
centerlines with suspension bearing weight of car if you are racing with the
car weighted for the driver too. some anti tramp bars fitted to 1/2 eliptic
sprung cars allow for this type of adjustment. if not and a significant
misalignment is found there are "degree" shims that look like thin wedges
with a center hole that fit between the spring and axle housing's spring
mounting pads. depending how thick(what degree) shim is installed and wich
way shim is installed (thick to front raises pinion , thick to rear lowers
the pinion ) will determine your final adjustment. these are available from
a "good" alignment shop and are kinda pricey for what you are getting but!!!
they will correct for altered ride height cars what suspension modifications
might misalign in a driveline geometry. u-joints prematurely wear and
sometimes "growl" in excessive mis alignments. but you serious power
addicts,,,,,a smooth transition from the trans to the rear axle means that
little to no horsepower is consumed in the universal joints . and the best
reliable service is delivered by the driveshaft,s joints.
the degree shims are available in steel, aluminum and (hard to find) bronze.
be forwarned though, the width of lbc" springs are far narrower than what is
considered common for a shop to stock. be prepared to get shima that are
too wide and need to cut them down(width wise) to fit the springs in your
lbc.
old willys jeeps( 40's,50's and early 60's) had narrow leaf springs. if you
find a serious off road jeep type of shop you might find narrow shims in
stock? just a parting thought?
chuck.
i need to rest my right index finger i think i'm getting a blister!
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