Using a ford twin I-beam axle, your thoughts? - KillBillet.com "The Rat Rod Forum Dedicated to fun, low budget, traditional, rusty, patina Rat Rods, Rat Rod Cars, Rat Rod Trucks, Rat Rod Bikes and Old School Hot Rods built with junk yard parts."

suede · #1 03-04-2011, 06:10 PM

So im scavenging the 351w, c4 and rear from a 79 ford f100, I was looking at the twin beam axle and wondering how it would look if cleaned up a bit.

Years ago i saw an aftermarket tube twin beam axle on a T-bucket and thought it looked rather good, but i havent been able to find a picture of an essentially stock one. I was thinking of just mounting it higher to reduce the ride height.

Is there any pics of this out there, has anyone here done this? I tried the search feature, but returned too many bogus results. Sorry, im not a computer guy.

21willys · #2 03-04-2011, 06:50 PM

I saw a guy try to do this on a ride at the ducktail run car show last year. It was ugly as sin and the way he did it was dangerous as it gets. His car belonged in the scrap yard.....

57 Pontiac Gasser · #3 03-04-2011, 07:06 PM

The twin I beam is a joke, My brother has a 66 ford F100 we are rattin out, were junkin the I beam and going with a strait axle,

suede · #4 03-04-2011, 11:24 PM

Oh well..anyone got any pics or real info..about this *****-hog? Ford said it was better than a straight axle.

oldndusty · #5 03-05-2011, 05:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 57 Pontiac Gasser

The twin I beam is a joke, My brother has a 66 ford F100 we are rattin out, were junkin the I beam and going with a strait axle,

I've owned my 65 f100 ( first year twin I beam) almost 20 yrs. as long as every thing is tight and you got a good alignment it drives and handles pretty damn good.I don't think they good on a rat but thats just me.

oldndusty · #6 03-05-2011, 05:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 57 Pontiac Gasser

The twin I beam is a joke, My brother has a 66 ford F100 we are rattin out, were junkin the I beam and going with a strait axle,

I've owned my 65 f100 ( first year twin I beam) almost 20 yrs. as long as every thing is tight and you got a good alignment it drives and handles pretty damn good.I don't think they look good on a rat but thats just me.

willowbilly3 · #7 03-05-2011, 07:12 AM

It is a great front end for what it was designed to do. People hate them because they are hard to modify or drop. Keep in mind that the camber changes as the wheel travels up or down so keeping the ride height correct is important.
I think with some longer custom made trailing arms and the proper springs, you could make it work ok. It still will look a little bulky at best. But hey, this is what hot rodding is supposed to be about, trying different stuff and not just doing what ever other person has done. When you walk that line, you have to be prepared to just tank an idea once in a while and start over. If it doesn't work out like you want, start over.

38 ford truck · #8 03-05-2011, 08:10 AM

personally i love the twin i beam setup alot of people have troubles with it though they end up replacing ball joints and claiming they put 3k into the front end of that ford and ended up selling it and buying a brand new chevy most these people were chev people to begin with and the fords they had 200 thousand on them

i personally think that with a small truck like ranger or f-150 or bronco the twin i beam was the way to go but with a large truck with a big heavy engine then it sort of sucked

willowbilly3 · #9 03-05-2011, 10:12 AM

Those old twin I beam front ends held up better than any Chevy pickup front end ever did. I had a 72 F250 I drove for 16 years, parked it with almost 200,000 miles on it and still all the original front end and still pretty tight. Greased it regularly. All the wore out ones I ever worked on looked like they had never been greased.
The older ones like you have were king pins. A much better looking I beam than the newer ones with ball joints. Just check the king pins and make sure they have been greased, you can just spin the end caps out and see.

todds-rods · #10 03-05-2011, 10:53 AM

I've always thought this would be a viable and cheap solution to a front suspension on a rat. The ends on the 60's and 70's trucks look very similar to a strait axle, you can use big drums or discs and you have the ride of IFS. The 2wd ford trucks I have owned with this suspension design rode and drove great. All you would have to do is hide the i-beam pivot points under the frame and decide on springs that would look good and I think it would be a great way to go. I just haven't got around to installing one yet. Been working on some 4x4's and not rats lately.