Question on front suspension rebuild

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Model T Ford Forum: Forum 2012: Question on front suspension rebuild
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Jim Hycner on Friday, October 26, 2012 - 10:12 pm:

I'm going through the front suspension on my '26 Tudor and need some guidance on two things. I've looked at the MTFCA book and The Model T bible for "enlightenment" but did not see see what I needed. The front saddle that holds the spring has two studs that are about 2 1/2" long that are drilled at the end for cotter pins. The castle nuts when tight are an 1 1/2" up on the studs and nowhere near the cotter pin holes. Am I missing something? The other question is on the front spring pad (Lang's # 3823L), where does this go and how many are needed? Does it need one between the spring and mount or between each leaf?


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Jack Daron - Brownsburg IN on Friday, October 26, 2012 - 10:24 pm:

You may have the wrong front spring clip. The spring only uses one pad above it ,right under frame cross member.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Mark Gregush Portland Oregon on Friday, October 26, 2012 - 10:43 pm:

Sound like you have the truck front spring mount or you are short some leafs. The 26-27 front spring should have 8 leafs. Not sure if the truck has it, but the car one has a boss cast into it that the front apron gets screwed to.
There is only one pad needed, it goes between the cross member and the top of the spring.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Hap Tucker on Saturday, October 27, 2012 - 09:13 pm:

Jim,

As mentioned previously having the wrong number of leaves can cause part of the problem. And for the 1926-27 improved cars they had a different 8 leaf front spring that was flatter to make the car lower. And Mark correctly pointed out that the 1926-27 TT crank case front bearing and spring clip assembly is longer than the very similar looking item that was used on the cars (and before 1926 also on the TT).

One way to tell them apart if you don’t have them next to each other is to check the size of the nut that screws onto them. The 1921-1927 car part (and 1921-25 TT part) use a smaller thread – 9/16 by 18 tpi while the 1926-27 TT part takes the larger 5/8 by 18 tpi. If you aren’t certain what size is what – remove the rear axle hub cap (or if you have the 1926-27 wire wheels the rear wire spoked wheel) and see if the nut screws on easily to the car’s rear axle shaft. If it does it is the TT part. If it is too small to fit onto the axle shaft and it is one that came on a Model T then it is the car part. There are additional details about the car vs 1926-27 TT as well as missing leaves causing a similar problem. They also discuss the difference between the 1925 and earlier front springs and the later "Improved car" front springs used by the 1926-27 cars at: http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/50893/72796.html

If you car turns out to have the 1926-27 truck front crank case bearing support and spring clip please let us know what size nut is used. And in the previous thread they were asking if the 1926-27 car front spring was also used on the truck and the answer is no-- the car had an 8 leaf spring and the 1926-27 truck had a 9 leaf spring (some of the leaves were the same as on the car). And a photo of the mismatch would be helpful to document this for the future.

Respectfully submitted,

Hap l9l5 cut off


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Jim Hycner on Sunday, October 28, 2012 - 07:55 am:

Hap,
The nut is 9/16-18 and by the photo you can see that the studs extend 2" beyond the frame rail. My spring has 7 leaves so it is incorrect. But one extra leaf would not make up for the stud length to have the cotter pin fit through the castle nut. The pin hole was over an inch from the nut when everything was assembled. The engine support bracket does have the small hole tapped to support the lower radiator cover.
No the "T" is not laying on it's side....the photo just posted that way HAHA...


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Mark Gregush Portland Oregon on Sunday, October 28, 2012 - 10:57 am:

You could do one of three things; get the correct mount, drill new holes, see;
http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/257047/319041.html?1351279141
or make spacers to fit between the nuts and spring clamp.
My 21 shows about 1 1/2 inches from the bottom of the cross member to end of stud.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By ROBERT BERGSTADT on Sunday, October 28, 2012 - 11:05 am:

Do you have the T-381- Bar that goes under the spring and how many leaves do you have, Bob


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Harold Schwendeman - Sumner,WA on Sunday, October 28, 2012 - 11:32 am:

Jim - I have a similar situation with my '27 depot hack and it has been determined that I have the wrong castle nuts on my front spring clip/motor mount assembly. They were on the car when I got it but they are wrong, as they are a bit shorter from top to bottom, or, I guess you could say they are not thick enough. The cotter pins were in place, but were about 1/8" below (or out of) the castleated part of the nuts.

It is interesting how this was discovered. After one of our club meetings last summer, a few of us got together at one of our club members shop and did a pretty thorough safety inspection of each others Model T's. The problem with my "wrong" front spring clip castle nuts was discovered (thanks John Aldrich) merely by comparing each others Model T's in detail. It then became obvious that only MY front spring clip castle nuts were smaller than everyone elses. I mention this, only because after our safety inspection, we all discussed the benefit of comparing cars during a safety inspection and how this leads to discovering "discrepancies" that effect safety that might otherwise have never been discovered.

For what it's worth,........harold


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Jim Hycner on Sunday, October 28, 2012 - 09:02 pm:

Robert - I do have the bar that goes under the spring and it has 7 leaves. Same here, it has about an 1 1/2" below the nut.


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