Suicide front axle

[Six]

Silly question, does anyone have a tutorial on building a suicide front axle on a '30 Model A Ford Coupe??? I'm striking out on finding anything decent on the "web" any help would be greatly appreciated! 😁

[Ace-Garageguy]

I've done several build threads showing how.

Gimme a minute or two...

[Ace-Garageguy]

It's really pretty simple once you understand exactly what you need to do.

The below is copied directly from some of my build threads (start with a tubular front crossmember, and then mockup your model at the desired ride height for the look you want, and do some careful measuring):

"Some careful measuring gave me the amount of drop I'd need on the suicide-style front-axle mount (above the top of the frame rails)."

"To mount the axle to the frame, I'll be using a "suicide" style perch. Here I've started making it up from 2 sections of styrene channel. I left the forward leg long to get a good idea of the alignment of the perch with the frame rails. I like things that are square and symmetrical."

"In this shot, the perch has been trimmed to its final configuration. The mount pad is 1.7mm higher than the tops of the frame rails, which is what that earlier figuring told me I'd need."

"Here, the axle has been tacked to the mount, and the 4-link bars set in place to mark their bracket locations on the frame rails. This shot also shows that the last of the horrible gluey mess between the rear rails has been removed cleanly."

One more reminder: getting the look you want doesn't just happen by randomly cutting and fitting. It takes careful mockups, measuring, and adjustment of several parameters, just exactly like building real cars...which is where I learned the stuff.

Edited 14 hours ago by Ace-Garageguy

[TECHMAN]

Superior job on the fabrication, looks "for-real"  👍👍

DJ

[Ace-Garageguy]

Here's another thread showing the same basic idea, but not in so much detail. 

Scroll about 1/3 way down the first page...and remember: mocking up the look you want and then measuring accurately is essential, just like building a real car.

 

[NOBLNG]

You can also google 1:1 suicide axle setups to see how they are done…then just try to emulate that look.

 And not really a suicide front, but one I used on a build.

Edited 12 hours ago by NOBLNG

[Six]

Wow! Thank you guys!!!! That's just what I was looking for! You guys are awesome!!!!

[Fat Brian]

One of the Issues you're going to have is getting the front low enough. If you look at how the front axles are laid out in some of the pics Greg posted you can see how the leaf spring isn't over the axle but between the front radius rods. I don't know of any kit or aftermarket parts with this layout. When I built this type of front end I used the front spring and axle from the 30 kit but made the cross bar the spring perch mounts on taller, this effectively lowered the front end to what is possible with the spring mounted behind the axle.

[sidcharles]

what is that . . .  never mind. i don't want to know.

[Six]

This is the victim... Revell's 1930 Model A Coupe. Gonna use some 3D printed Artillery wheels, bomber seats, steering wheel, and shifter. Yeah, gonna be my first rat rod! Probably a "bare metal" look with some surface rust. This is the monster that I plan on stuffing in it...a Boss 429 with fuel injection and a top loader 4 speed trans! Wish me luck!

[NOBLNG]

7 minutes ago, Six said:

This is the victim... Revell's 1930 Model A Coupe. Gonna use some 3D printed Artillery wheels, bomber seats, steering wheel, and shifter. Yeah, gonna be my first rat rod! Probably a "bare metal" look with some surface rust. This is the monster that I plan on stuffing in it...a Boss 429 with fuel injection and a top loader 4 speed trans! Wish me luck!

Sounds like a great plan Derrick! I just put this one on my bench this afternoon. I look forward to seeing what you do with it.😎

[Ace-Garageguy]

11 minutes ago, Six said:

This is the victim... Revell's 1930 Model A Coupe. Gonna use some 3D printed Artillery wheels, bomber seats, steering wheel, and shifter. Yeah, gonna be my first rat rod! Probably a "bare metal" look with some surface rust. This is the monster that I plan on stuffing in it...a Boss 429 with fuel injection and a top loader 4 speed trans! Wish me luck!

I started something similar back in 2016. You can see the beginnings of the suicide front-end mockup.

A lot of the build thread was about Zeeing the frame front and rear to get exactly the desired stance and still have adequate ground clearance to drive the thing if it was real.

You might get some more ideas.

 

[Six]

That's freekin AWESOME Ace!!!! Thanks bro!!!! 

[Andria H]

Pic is not the greatest, but is a tacked together interim solution before I fabricate the perch for the suicide spring and AMT Double Dragster tube axle from junk plastics. This is a kitbash of all different brand items around a cutdown Revell Dan Fink Speedwagon frame/rear suspension and AMT front axle/spring, intended to go around a poorly started, 40+ year stored original issue AMT '32 Vicky.