Ford's Twin Beam front axle opinion

beewhisper1

beewhisper1

Precision Fit
Jan 29, 2012
753
Voluntown Ct
First Name
Chet
Willys Model
  1. Wagon
Willys Year:
  1. 1962
I recently bought a 1995 F150 4x4 4.9L short bed pickup as a replacement to my now dead rusted Ranger. I've been chasing preventive and corrective maintenance items needed to get this to the point where I can trust using it. One of the items I just finished was replacing the radius arms and bushings. No easy task . During my R&D Youtube search prior to the repair (something I do religiously since tech. manuals are a thing of the past and nothing beats like seeing it done on a video) I saw a couple of articles/videos showing using these front axles as upgrades to other trucks. Considering the work I had to do to put a Scout ll Dana 44 under my wagon and the amount of work I had just doing radius arms, I can't imagine electing to use the twin beam over a straight axle like the Dana 44.

So, are these superior choices over the straight axle option? Do they live long lives ? I see that the parts run is something like 1982 to 1996 under various F series trucks. Must have been good enough to run that long. Or, it was a longer than needed painful run? I'm always surprised by how long we have to deal with weak links designs but then I'm not driven by profit, more like a fix it and forget it kinda guy. Choices accordingly, be it GM, Ford or whoever.

Your thoughts Sirs/Madams?

Chet
 
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The 4wd 2piece Ford front axle is a light duty axle only. Call a few auto salvage yards and ask them about those axles. They hear all the stories about bad parts. They were designed for a nice smooth pickup truck ride. Not a strong axle for an actual work truck.
In the Northeast those F250 4 wd pickups with the independent 2 piece axles were considered junk by snawplowing contractors. terrible on tires and wore out quickly.
diggerG
 
I agree with Greg. Worked for Ford in the nineties, and worked on plenty of these axles. I wouldn’t put a plow on one, and I would not consider it to be an easy swap into another vehicle not originally equipped with twin I-beams. They are, however, like most other factory parts- if used properly, not abused, and maintained, they would last.
David
 
I've owned a ton of them as F150's were my vehicle of choice for my contracting company. I did not see all the problems that you hear so much about on the net, so just from my experience, no they are not a bad system. I ran the trucks to about 180K. I did not plow with them, but that is not what they are for.

I have a friend with a jeep scrambler with twin I beam suspension on both ends. He says it works well, and he uses his jeep hard. Would I adapt one? No, but I like simple.
 
Kinda what I thought, more moving parts almost always complicates the issue IMHO. I never intended to use it as a plow truck, well, other than my own 1000' drive for whatever snow we get here in Ct. To tell the truth, I was more attracted to the inline six, EFI no less. Want to tow a wood chipper, stump grinder and ditch digger to clean up after the shop I just built. So having an open 3.08 axle ratio wasn't as helpful as I hoped for. But it'll do all the above if I go slow, new brakes fore and aft, new clutch assy (damn internal hydraulic release design, hope they hung that engineer) will aid those efforts.
So as I ride to and fro in my Wagon with it's Scout front axle, L.S. 8.8 explorer rear axle and 3:54's I'll be happy for what I have. And, it's got an EXTERNAL hydraulic clutch just as the Protective Saint of garage mechanic's intended. (Probably a Polish saint to boot. Ancestor.com says I'm 44%, just enough to keep me safe from myself).
Thanks for the comments, take care

Chet
 
How Hard Could It Be?

FordTwinTractionBeam.jpg


What's the track width?

If it's comparable:


  • Remove the crossmember from the donor to keep the geometry
  • Add it and a couple of coil-over mounts to the Willys frame
  • I'll bet those trailing arm mounts are just riveted on. A few minutes each with a grinder:
    FordTwinTractionBeam_exploded01.jpg



Also need the steering box, but one could probably have it done in a single, 1/2 hour TV episode.

FordTwinTractionBeam02.jpg




All kidding aside, another option for Fuel-Injected I-6!?
I'm in!
 
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Dang John, ever hear of "The Easy Button"? Don't look like it. Well done tho. You must be one of those guys that builds a SBC snow blower for his driveway. Or should I say a "Fuel-Injected I-6!"
 
Gentleman Beekeeper,

They're not mine. ' just some pictures of the Twin Traction Beam from the web to look at the install.

Our '59 is still straight-axle... fuel-injected, 4.0L, I-6, 5sp OD, shift-on-the-fly 4wd, coil-sprung, blah, blah, blah... but still straight axle.


I've been thinking about doing a wagon when my son gets his pickup out of the way and I was thinking "original" until I saw your post. I think it would be fun to do. That's why I asked about track width comparability.
 
TTB and TIB is alive and well in my neck of the woods...If you want any recommendations pm me.

TIB with 35" tires is going in my jeepster. Problem is my wagon is in front of it ;)

Couple linkys...

Start here-> Glenn Stragtiff built this f100
https://youtu.be/7WdhXlLCFgY

His friend Ramsey was building Raquel at Glenns shop.

https://www.race-dezert.com/forum/t...o-raquel-wait-till-you-see-her-topless.62958/

And built this business before passing away.

http://agileoffroad.com

Great introduction to TIB
http://www.hotrodders.com/scratchbuilt/Chassis:_Front_Suspension
http://www.fordification.com/tech/Ibeamsspindles.htm
 
Thanks for the links, Tom.

I saw "Scratch Built" in the HotRodders Link and went for it. This is what I got back:
HRNotFound.jpg
 
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And Then I Tinkered with It

I had to go to the Cover first:
and then click "Chassis Front Suspension" in the left-hand Table of Contents.

turns out there's a hyphen in their "scratch-built":

Thanks again for posting them.

49willys_mogon said:
Couple linkys...

Start here-> Glenn Stragtiff built this f100
https://youtu.be/7WdhXlLCFgY

His friend Ramsey was building Raquel at Glenns shop.

https://www.race-dezert.com/forum/t...o-raquel-wait-till-you-see-her-topless.62958/

And built this business before passing away.

http://agileoffroad.com

Great introduction to TIB
http://www.hotrodders.com/scratchbuilt/Chassis:_Front_Suspension
http://www.fordification.com/tech/Ibeamsspindles.htm
Click to expand...
 
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