How To Quarter Elliptic Springs & Split Wishbones From Scratch Early Hot Rods

Come along as I install quarter elliptic springs and split wishbones on the BLT.

[@merccrewlcab2385]

Very cool! Stoked I found this build as we are building a lakesmod T with a Chevy II banger as well. Its my daughters and we have been collecting parts for it for over a decade. Cheers eh!

[@HotRodDad]

That’s awesome! Be sure to post some video. I’d like to see it. Thanks for watching!

[@marksanders1942]

Just found your build. I will watch them all. 👍👍👍

[@HotRodDad]

Thanks! Gotta get back after it now that car show season is over.

[@rickynelson3222]

Great video

[@HotRodDad]

Thanks for watching! Come back any time.

[@floridian7143]

Best video you've done! Moving along with the BLT! Thanks for sharing!

[@HotRodDad]

Thank you for the kind words and for watching!

[@gibbyrockerhunter]

Damn this style of video and builder. I had to rewatch most clips a few times and just started to rewatch the whole damn thing. You have too many killer things to take note of! I really dig your style dude! From the melted metal to your blue bench. These builds are a dime a dozen but I can’t remember the last one that wasn’t in person where I was not only impressed, but cared enough to look and check out the “hows” you chose. First time Iv found you but stoked I did. Thanks for the content. Thanks for the knowledge. And thanks even more for have some sort of style with what you do. I obviously love it and can’t wait to see what else you have going on.

[@HotRodDad]

Thanks for the kind words and for watching! Check out the walk around video to see a more detailed list of parts going into this pile. “Y’all get out there and build somethin’”

[@gibbyrockerhunter]

@@HotRodDad man I am a couple of days out from my second spine surgery. It’s killing me not being able to fart around in this beautiful spring weather and work on my builds. I’ll just have to live through you until my bed pan can make its way back to the kitchen. Lol

[@HotRodDad]

@@gibbyrockerhunter, I hate to hear that. Unfortunately I don't get that much time in the garage, so I'm more of a slow cooker than a microwave like some other channels, but I'll get an update up soon on the BLT.

[@xmo552]

@@HotRodDad What's the reason for quarter elliptic springs vs the "standard" Ford transverse set up? I know other manufacturers used this design, but I've never known the pros and cons and whys.

[@HotRodDad]

@@xmo552, the traditional transverse buggy is prone to body roll. By having a spring on every corner, I believe it will help tremendously with that.

[@RODDER-hq2tr]

Great video 👍🏻 Love the Eville iron T-shirt best show around 👍🏻

[@HotRodDad]

I need to get back up there. Wonderful show!!! Thanks for watching!

[@Dane_the_Pain]

another top shelf video mate .. fast becoming my fav channel. cheers from down under 🍻👌

[@HotRodDad]

Thank you for your support! Cheers!

[@shotsrodder]

Nice job 👍

[@THROTTLEPOWER]

Very cool, another great vid!!!

[@HotRodDad]

Thank you!!!

[@THROTTLEPOWER]

@@HotRodDad 👍👍

[@TheDutchVanMan]

I say , Master 💪🏼

[@dweb7321]

I hate that I didn’t get to make it to the rumble. Hopefully make it down to see you guys for the next one.

[@HotRodDad]

You missed a good one. Put that old Buick in the breeze next year headed south for the spring Rumble.

[@dweb7321]

@@HotRodDad that’s my plan unless something else pops up. I think Somerset will probably be may last one for the year and I’m gonna park it and fix a few things.

[@billcampana4328]

You could have just drilled a 1/2 inch hole in each side and plug welded it. Much easier! Cleaner

[@HotRodDad]

I’m assuming you’re referring to the wishbones. Yeah, I’ve seen guys do it that way. Not sure how it’d be any cleaner. Either way I’d use a flapper disc to smooth it down to surface level.

[@curtisalbert1846]

I wish I knew how to build something I would build it

[@HotRodDad]

Never too late. Thanks for watching!

[@BigMike1138]

How do you cut the leaves in half without ruining the temper? That's what I want to know.

[@HotRodDad]

I’ve used a grinder with a cut off wheel, and a band saw before. The spring steel is rough on saw blades, though. Cutting them does not change the temper at all.

[@robert4005]

Hey Dennis, what type bit do you use to drill thru a leaf spring? Never had much success with a hardware store bit doing that. I’d have thought a carbide bit was necessary. Thanks for another good show.

[@jimshotrod2519]

Buy a good quality high speed steel drill bit and take care with the speed ,use a drill chart to get the speed correct and lubricate while drilling .

[@tonyengland1974]

Any measurements I'm trying to run a quarter elliptical could you mount a quarter elliptical on top of the straight axle

[@HotRodDad]

I don’t know exactly what kind of axle you have, but I have seen it done on axles that came from donor vehicle that originally had parallel leaf springs by making an adaptor bracket that bolts to the original u-bolt holes. The length, and how many springs you need, are going to be dependent on the drivetrain choice, weight of the car, weight distribution, etc.

[@tonyengland1974]

@@HotRodDad how much travel do you get i have a play that song that used to have parallel leaf spring out of a Ford Econoline truck

[@betsysnow3594]

Hey Hot Rod Dad where are you going to be parked on the strip this week?

[@HotRodDad]

Probably wherever we can find a spot. We usually try to park close to the arcade/go cart place. We will be at the top of the hill in the show at the entrance to the gravel parking lot. I’ll be driving Ol’ Smokey or Oscar, but we don’t hang around the trucks a whole lot.

[@tertessa]

She's looking great...lots of fabrication..

[@HotRodDad]

Thank you! It’s a ton of fab work and I don’t work on it nearly as often as I should, but I’m really enjoying this little jalopy so far. Thanks for watching!

[@bondvagabond42]

One redneck engineering trick I came up with for guestimating spring rates for this kinda stuff, that works pretty slick: get an old bottle jack, weld an old worn out socket on the side of the stub that the jack handle slips into, so you can use an old beam type torque wrench as a jack handle. You can then watch the torque wrench and see how many ft/lbs it takes to lift a corner of your project, and how many ft/lbs it's takes to flex a potential doner spring to your desired suspension travel. If you want to be fancy you can rig up a test light so it's on when the spring is at rest, and goes out as soon as the spring raises, for more precision. It's good for testing springs too, when you get a couple springs from the junkyard, that look the same, to make sure they are similar spring rate and one isn't all sacked out. When in doubt, get stiffer doner springs, cause you can always remove leaves, or hit the edges with a belt sander etc to soften the pack up. Great channel, I just found it, and going through your vidyas.

[@HotRodDad]

Thanks for the tip AND for tuning in.

[@xmo552]

I don't grasp the bottle jack trick... Hot Rod Dad.... on the shackles why not sleeve the studs rather than plug, weld, machine, and drill?

[@HotRodDad]

@@xmo552, that was just my thought process at the time. I ended up not using those shackles anyway.

[@2ndshiftaudio300]

I got a question. Did you have to do a panhard bar for the front??? I'm seriously thinking about doing this to my car. It's gonna be a pretty big step back to it. But, based on this video. I think it's worth it.

[@HotRodDad]

I’ve never seen one with a pan hard on it. This is the first quarter elliptic setup I’ve used, so I’m on a bit of a learning curve, too.