Front-end design: What does a strut rod do?
 

Dewayne, I didn't read your question close enough a couple posts back about the torsion bar location. The lower control arm is mounted on abushing that in turn is mounted on a large tapered tin that goes allllll the way through to the front of the crossmember where there is a retaining nut. It wedges in place once the nut is torqued. This provides the pivot axis for the lower control arm. The torsion par fits in to a socket on the rear of this pin, so yes it it mounted on the same axis that the control arm pivots on. You would have to see the setup up close and in person to understand how it works and pivots this way. A description is too complicated. I would imagine that the Volare is somewhat similar. You can see part of the pivot assembly with the torsion bar coming out of it in the last pic I posted.

Caster is set in the same manner as a GM. Remove a shim from under one bolt and insert it under the other. This slightly rotates the control arm and ball joint and forces the top of the spindle forward or backward changing the caster. Never in my life have I done an alignment, but several techs have told me that the initial alignment of a shimmed front end like this is a bear while trying to set caster and camber with the same shims. However once it is set up the first time, minor adjustments down the road are a piece of cake and the alignment lasts longer in between than a slotted hole arrangement.

As for the boxing issue, I have decided not to box for a couple of reasons. 1. F-1's don't have the crossmember at the firewall that the f-100's do. The major midship crossmember in an F-1 is the transmission crossmember. Quite a piece of steel! I did have to remove it. BUT, the replacement trans. crossmember that is going in is a heavily beefed and modified Gibbon unit that will be mounted in a short section of frame that WILL be boxed in roughly the same location. Trust me, I won't be losing anything. 2. I've got two inches less between my framerails in the front end to work with than you F-100 guys. I need everything I can get, including the space inside the frame rails. Boxing would get too restrictive.

As I have mentioned before, the whole thing is just mocked up for fit right now and will be knocked down and reassembled after the frame is blasted and painted. I may well move up to 7/16" fasteners then. Truthfully, the bolts you see are the ones that I used because they are the ones that Gibbon sent and they were within reach at the moment.

Front-end design: What does a strut rod do?
 

[updated:LAST EDITED ON 07-Jan-03 AT 09:53 PM (EST)]'rage

You are right, I am fuzzy on the T-bar to lower control arm attachment. I know a guy around here with a disassembled Gibbon's and perhaps he will post a shot sometime. I doubt it's like a Volare. Volares are weird. Pretty heavy but definitely unique.

Regarding boxing, if you get some good measurements you can keep an eye on any movement. I don't anticipate you will have problems.

I was not aware an F-1 did not have the mid x-member. I am going to wait and see if my windshield shatters. If it does then i guess the frame is spreading and the cab sagging huh?

It's obvious you are just fabbing up at this point with no washers and such. I would just advise a little bigger bolts for some practically free safety margin. You don't have that with 3/8. If unintended flex and a little corrosion occurs over time and makes the bolts a little smaller for any reason, you are asking for it with small hardware. Ever notice how OEM sometimes goes overboard on chassis and brake caliper mount bolts? I imagine they are dialing in some extra safety cushion for way down the road. The rivet being discussed would work if you had proper equipment to install them. Not something I have laying around the shop. I think George is saying they are originally installed while they are still hot and easy to smash in real tight. Maybe that's not what he means though.

'fenders

Front-end design: What does a strut rod do?
 

>I think George is saying they are originally installed while they
>are still hot and easy to smash in real tight.

You're correct but it goes a little further. Hot forging, or hot setting, the rivets means you have a hot rivet and (relatively) cold pieces of metal you are joining. When you buck the rivet head into a mushroom you compress the whole rivet body and it expands sideways to fill the hole - even holes that aren't perfectly round. You also get an added benefit. When the rivet cools it contracts and squeezes the metal parts together even tighter. The general rule is that the rivets are near their yield strength after they've cooled down. That's not a bad thing since they have plenty of ductility and can accommodate a little permanent stretch without any real damage. They are essentially "garbage can steel" as one auto maker put it in a meeting we had some years ago. :-roll

George

Truck restoration - does the fun ever start? :-X24
See my 1956 F-250 in progress at www.clubfte.com/users/earl/index.html

Front-end design: What does a strut rod do?