A lot of us use the Model-A rear crossmember, either in a Model-A or also in a later year frame to accommodate a quick-change rear end. Finding the original Ford "high-step" clips bars needed for a 7 leaf spring can be difficult. The reproductions I've tried (I'll shame no names) were made of soft cast metal and snapped when I tightened up the bolts. The U-bolts were simple bent rod threaded on each end. So here's a Tech on how to make a beautiful set of art deco U-bolts and clip bars for your Model-A rear crossmember. You will need: A pair of '41-'48 front u-bolts. (These may go further back but I harvest them off the common '41-'48s. 4 front clip bars from the same model. I've seen these with 18, 01A and 11A prefixes so they may have been available for a while. These U-bolts are too wide to be used on front Model-A crossmembers and appear too narrow to fit over the rear one, but with a bit of grinding away on the inside surface of the "U" they do eventually slip over the rear crossmember. You'll have to remove quite a bit of metal and sharpen up the inside corner at the top, but there's plenty of material left. The threaded part can be left as is. Chase the threads on the u-bolts and then polish to a shine. Some u-bolts have a hole through them for a cotter pin and some later ones are fitted with lovely early self locking nuts. Next up: The clip bars, part number 5458. When you fit a 7 leaf spring into the Model-A rear crossmember it slips in there pretty deep and needs clip bars with a high step up. That's why we need four of them. Cut the ends off two of the bars and the little flanges too so that an intact clip bar and your modified one mate together. See picture below. Champfer the edges and weld together top to top. Blend the welds smooth and polish up a bit. Be careful not to polish the original Ford part numbers away. This beautiful modified Ford clip bar will not break or rust away - ever! When fitted to the crossmember the U-bolts look like they've been poured over the crossmember as molten metal. I think the designer must have been inspired by Picasso's clocks! Finished - Now fit the body to the chassis so no one ever sees your beautiful U-bolts again. But you'll know they're there.
cool tech, thanks for sharing. BTW, "The persistence of memory" (melted clock painting) was by Salvador Dali
So it was! I should have checked that as there was a little nagging doubt there and as soon as I read your post it clicked. Funny to think that for years to come, people googling Picasso or Salvador Dali are going to end up here! Ed Ed Twitter @edsrodshop
Lol you know how it goes, you can't type anything into Google without ending up back on the HAMB sent via classroom note. pass it on
Nice work, I'd be so proud of those I would have to mount a mirror under the xmember and cut a hole in the body to show them off.
^^^ The whole point of a Tech post is to show you guys how to do it! I'd love to make more but shipping the parts to Germany, then shipping them back would make them too expensive. Ed Twitter @edsrodshop
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