Rear Spindle Hubs
- Thread starter scuster05
- Start date
Terry Oxandale
Skinny Man
I believe the Thunderbird had aluminum arms and subframe assembly.
Shawn:
Check out the T-Bird rear setup, and also some of the Mustang Cobras had a really nice rear independent setup with alloy uprights. The hubs and bearings are the same on both, and the Ford Motorsport catalog has a hub drilled for 5 on 4 1/2 that will fit that setup instead of the metric spec. Also the half-shafts for the mustang are really robust and I have found them on E-Bay for $80 ea.. The bearings are available at any auto parts store.
Good Luck
Phil
Check out the T-Bird rear setup, and also some of the Mustang Cobras had a really nice rear independent setup with alloy uprights. The hubs and bearings are the same on both, and the Ford Motorsport catalog has a hub drilled for 5 on 4 1/2 that will fit that setup instead of the metric spec. Also the half-shafts for the mustang are really robust and I have found them on E-Bay for $80 ea.. The bearings are available at any auto parts store.
Good Luck
Phil
The T-bird uprights are aluminum. They're also easy to find and inexpensive, that's what I plan to use. I think I paid $100 for a pair with hubs and caliper brackets from a salvage yard.
One thing to be aware of, the T-bird hub has a 4.25" bolt circle. If you want 4.5" like the normal Ford stuff you will either have to redrill the T-bird hubs or replace them with Mustang Cobra hubs.
Charlie
One thing to be aware of, the T-bird hub has a 4.25" bolt circle. If you want 4.5" like the normal Ford stuff you will either have to redrill the T-bird hubs or replace them with Mustang Cobra hubs.
Charlie
Out of interest, how does the durability of the bearings compare to the Corvette option that many use? Which is bigger, better etc. ?
Not much chance to go down to a wreckers yard here and sift through a heap of T-bird, Corvette stuff, it's just not around.
Not much chance to go down to a wreckers yard here and sift through a heap of T-bird, Corvette stuff, it's just not around.
I guess if you look at from a hp standpoint the the corvette hubs should be able to handle more abuse. I look at the T-bird hubs as being able to handle up to 250 hp and over 3500 lbs. Thunderbird super coupes had the power and still weighed almost 2 tons. The hubs have to be fairly strong to handle that. I think overall wieght would be harder on this type of component than power. Just my two cents though.
Russ:
The bearings are pretty substantial, it is the same unit used in the Mustang Cobra with a claimed 450 hp. Essentially the bearing presses in to the rear of the upright, the hub has a snout that presses in from the front of the upright, the outer CV joint has a splined shaft with a threaded end which slides in from the inside, tighten the nut and everything is preloaded. The flanges as I said above are available in 5 on 4.5 bc, and are about .375 thick. If you need I can supply the bearing number which should be available, just don't have that info here right now.
Cheers
Phil
The bearings are pretty substantial, it is the same unit used in the Mustang Cobra with a claimed 450 hp. Essentially the bearing presses in to the rear of the upright, the hub has a snout that presses in from the front of the upright, the outer CV joint has a splined shaft with a threaded end which slides in from the inside, tighten the nut and everything is preloaded. The flanges as I said above are available in 5 on 4.5 bc, and are about .375 thick. If you need I can supply the bearing number which should be available, just don't have that info here right now.
Cheers
Phil
Charlie, a photo would be worth a thousand words! I see it appears you have gone with the T-bird option after initially checking out the Corvette setup. What were your reasons? How far on is your car? Are you going to do a build thread?
And Phil, I know you have opted to build your own uprights rather than use the T-bird ones, presumably you found the T-bird castings unsuitable? Or maybe you had nothing else to do? LOL.:lol: Yes part #s would be good, also production years.
Parts in NZ would have to be sourced from the States, there's nothing here, not even workshop manuals for photos etc.
And Phil, I know you have opted to build your own uprights rather than use the T-bird ones, presumably you found the T-bird castings unsuitable? Or maybe you had nothing else to do? LOL.:lol: Yes part #s would be good, also production years.
Parts in NZ would have to be sourced from the States, there's nothing here, not even workshop manuals for photos etc.
I've been doing a bit of digging around the net, but found this on our very own forum. http://www.gt40s.com/forum/gt40-tech-chassis-brakes-tires-wheels/17013-uprights-needed.html
Can someone tell me whether the uprights shown by BillE in posts 18 and 22 are the (presumably) readily available Thunderbird/Lincoln units or some one offs that he has made up? Not being familiar with the parts or some of the USA nomenclature, I am a little unclear as to which parts he is referring.
Also I now have the bearing numbers.
Thanks guys.
Can someone tell me whether the uprights shown by BillE in posts 18 and 22 are the (presumably) readily available Thunderbird/Lincoln units or some one offs that he has made up? Not being familiar with the parts or some of the USA nomenclature, I am a little unclear as to which parts he is referring.
Also I now have the bearing numbers.
Thanks guys.
I got the impression from BillE's text that they were the Lincoln units, but he also mentions that they had/were making flanges /splines etc in better materials for his application.
If you check out Ebay they have these hub units on a lot of FWD& SUV stuff these days, just a matter of knowing what spline count/dia you require.
The Lincoln units are like most big fords with 5 stud on 5" pcd. ( Same as Rover 3500 etc )
If you check out Ebay they have these hub units on a lot of FWD& SUV stuff these days, just a matter of knowing what spline count/dia you require.
The Lincoln units are like most big fords with 5 stud on 5" pcd. ( Same as Rover 3500 etc )
Shawn:
Seems we've totally hijacked your post, but lots of good info so PM me with what you need,
Russ, yeah I have tons of free time...Ha But I had issues with my original design, although I have done two sets for other chassis and they work well, there was always a bug in my head about making changes as I had to clearance the upright for the CV joint and it never set well with me from a design standpoint. PM sent by the way.
Jac: I remember Bill E's posts and its hard to determine which upright he used, but there are also units used on the Mustang cobra which had an independent rear, and I have some of those half shafts and they are really substantial. The inner spline on the Cobra halfshaft is larger and has more splines than the T-Bird units, and they use different boots.
The outer CV and spline are the same, and I think the SUV's and Ford trucks are using the same outer CV joint....I am currently trying to source that info as it would make things much easier as far as parts availability.
I bought NOS Cobra halfshafts on EBAY for $75 ea. complete so the stuff is out there.
I can post some photos if needed.
Cheers
Phil
Seems we've totally hijacked your post, but lots of good info so PM me with what you need,
Russ, yeah I have tons of free time...Ha But I had issues with my original design, although I have done two sets for other chassis and they work well, there was always a bug in my head about making changes as I had to clearance the upright for the CV joint and it never set well with me from a design standpoint. PM sent by the way.
Jac: I remember Bill E's posts and its hard to determine which upright he used, but there are also units used on the Mustang cobra which had an independent rear, and I have some of those half shafts and they are really substantial. The inner spline on the Cobra halfshaft is larger and has more splines than the T-Bird units, and they use different boots.
The outer CV and spline are the same, and I think the SUV's and Ford trucks are using the same outer CV joint....I am currently trying to source that info as it would make things much easier as far as parts availability.
I bought NOS Cobra halfshafts on EBAY for $75 ea. complete so the stuff is out there.
I can post some photos if needed.
Cheers
Phil
Russ,
The photo below is FFR's IRS setup from their website. It uses the T-bird uprights, hubs, and brakes. I'm thinking of doing something similar.
Originally I was going to use the C4 Corvette front suspension and DRB rear uprights with the Corvette hubs and brakes. When I had the chassis design 80% or more done I made a full size wooden model to determine my body, engine, and transaxle mounting. It was then I discovered that due to the length of the Corvette lower control arms I didn't have much room for my feet. A desire to use a BRM style pin drive wheel rather than the deep backspace type used on the Corvette didn't help.
I found that the pin drive width front suspension that FFR uses on their roadsters has a control arm that's about 2" shorter than those used on the Corvette, so I decided to go that route instead. Since I changed to Ford hardware in the front, I figured that I would use the T-bird stuff in the rear to be consistant.
I haven't started a build thread yet. Once I get to the point where I'm actually starting to fabricate the chassis, I probably will.
Charlie
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Charlie, thanks for the photo and all the other details. :thumbsup:
