36 wishbone on a 39 front end

S

sourmash

Junior Member
To start..I'm a "newbie" at all this and read any post that I think will help me, now and, during my build The amount of information I have found here is extrordinary ! My question is this, I was given a dropped axel out of a 39 that is all set up with disc brakes. The wishbones on the 39's however were the wider sets. I have a Flat-O ****** conversio in my 36 and the 39's are too wide to match up. I have a split wishbone from a 36. If,(or better yet CAN), I put the split 36 on the 39 axel..will it work ?? Thanks in advance for all the inpu/assistance. :confused:
 
If you measure the '39 axel you will find that the area where the spring perch bolt goes thru is about 2-1/4", unfortunately the '36 is only 2" at that spot. You can mill/grind some material off this pad and then the '36 wishbone will slip on. Yes, you can do it.
 
Thanks for the response. I do have a complete machine shop available, (and more importantly the guys with the knowledge!) so a little milling should be no problem. I was afraid I would have to heat and "re-adjust" something which I really don't like to do.
 
Dak Rat...Please bear with me, like i said i am new to all this and just getting off an 18 hour shift. The 39 front came with the spring and all attached. So I will be using, (hopefully) everything from the 39 except the split whishbone. If I am using the 39 spring, what area needs to be milled, (the 39 u said is 2.25 and the 36 is 2.0) Thanks again..Brett
 
The distance between the perch bolt holes on the '39 axle are
about 2" further apart than on the '36 axle. If you try to use
the '36 wishbones on the '39 axle your spring perchs will
be too wide for your spring ('35 to '40 springs are basically the
same width.
 
Now that I think about it, when I used a '36 un-split wishbone in my '39 coupe, I was using a super-bell 4" dropped tube axel. It all worked out with the stock '39 spring. This was back in the late '70s so all the details are a little fuzzy.
 
Note. You need to bend the tube to align with the frame. If you bend the spring mount, the geometry changes.
 
The 39 bone is split but like someone previously posted I would have to bend the tubes to get them to mate with the Flat-O adapter. I am hoping that because the 36 was narrower at the frame x-piece that I won't have to bend anything, or at least bend them less.
 
I'm going through something like thid myself right now. I'd bend the 36 wish bone to fit the axle. Alittle heat at the far end should do it. Then use the 36 spring with the 39 main leaf or have one made. I used the bottom two 39 leaves and ground some clearance.
What kind of disk brakes are on the axle?
 
Not sure..will have to look. The guy I got it from originally liked the set up but as he got older wanted a "softer" ride and went with Independant.
 
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