Straighten Radius Rods ??? 32'

Just throwing out another thought. Could you bolt both of those back onto the axle and use some heat at the bend to gently massage them back into alignment? It seems that having them bolted up would be a good way to restrain these from rolling around and would also help with any length issues?
 
If I'm looking at things right, it looks like they're both bent upward when mounted correctly. Some heat, a 2x4 block and a hammer...work it back straight slowly keeping an eye on things to make sure you're not causing other problems with the tube. May be a good way to start...if it doesn't work then move on to plan B
 
I imagine that those radius rods would be difficult to get alignment on now where the single bolt holds them to the torque tube. When they were removed, someone likely had to either beat the bolt out or cut it just to get it apart. The bow in those would have put a lot of tension on both sides of the axle. Another way would have been to remove the bolts from the axle bells first, then remove the radius rods. That would have relieved some of the tension. I've not seen any previously that were bowed that bad. I figure some kind of an accident likely caused that. Maybe someone ran into something with the back tires while in reverse gear.
 
When I bought my 32 I was assured by the people arranging the shipping that the car would not be picked up with a fork lift. Guess what? The shippers picked it up with a fork lift. Both of mine were bent like that. I straightened them out in a big vice using pieces of wood to cushion the force. It took about 5 minutes.

Mart.
 
A fork lift can really do some damage if folks don't have a grip on what they are doing. My nephew picked up my Pop's old 51 Merc with a Bobcat Loader with the forklift rails on. It collapsed one of the inner rockers. I had to buy one of Mike Dundon's repros to fix that. Not a fun job in any way shape or form. I've seen several lathes destroyed when folks were trying to move them with a fork lift.

Playing 4-wheel drive in rough terrain can also bow thing when the car comes down hard on a dirt bank or rocks or something of that nature. Folks used these old Fords pretty hard sometimes.
 
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Mart said:
When I bought my 32 I was assured by the people arranging the shipping that the car would not be picked up with a fork lift. Guess what? The shippers picked it up with a fork lift. Both of mine were bent like that. I straightened them out in a big vice using pieces of wood to cushion the force. It took about 5 minutes.

Mart.
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good idea...I can get close and go slow with the vise and make sure nothing wierd is happening....
 
But to get back to the reason for the symmetrical bending in the first place. In my case,
it was due to ....ummmm.......Torque!
 
That would be hard to do with a torque tube attached. Think the gears or axles would let go long before the torque tube and radius rods would bend.
 
Well, that would be interesting! The radius rods will not work with an open drive without a lot of modification, but guess you figured that out.:)
 
JSeery said:
Well, that would be interesting! The radius rods will not work with an open drive without a lot of modification, but guess you figured that out.:)
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It's been done
 

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The 1935/36 bones have been used with some success due to their strength factor but the earlier ones aren't strong enough to take extended abuse. They are already 80 + years old so fatigue will do the rest towards destruction. There is also a lack of a torque member and that is the most important part of all with the buggy spring.

You can make it out of cardboard and paint it all up but that doesn't mean it's going to work well. I sure wouldn't use those flimsy old radius rods without a lot more reinforcement. It would be better to just make some from chrome molly tubing or something of that nature. I consider the open drive conversion set up for 35 to 40 Fords with the torque member from the Hot Rod Works a minimal requirement. Anyone doing any less should inspect there components regularly for cracks or other defects.
 
many moons ago i built what i called "the free car". someone gave me a rolled over datsun, and i found a model t in the neighbors woods. i put it together like the photo above, with the datsun drive line, and in only a few hundred miles both radius rods cracked in a straight line thru the u joint location, where the twist would want to be. now model T rods are very weak, however, still a bad idea
 
Charlie Stephens said:
This doesn't look strong enough to me, even without the lightening holes. Was it ever run and behind what size engine?

Charlie Stephens
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I just grabbed a pic off the internet to show it's been done. No idea what we are actually looking at. Those may be reinforced thus the lightening holes.
 
The bent radius rods probably resulted from allowing a '32 to roll back off a trailer after the ramps have been removed. The bend is about at the balance point of the car. Do not ask me how I know this.

P. S. they can be straightened, but it takes some effort and a torch.
 
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