While I would certainly agree that you aren't ever going to get a T-bucket to ride like a Cadillac, I am stubborn enough to believe that they can be made to ride well enough that a cruise is a pleasurable experience and not a "death grip" affair nor a buckboard ride. I'd about bet that 90 % of the Buckets out there have an "inactive" suspension. Read that as "doesn't work". They are way oversprung or have a linkage design that does not allow for any, or very little movement of the wheels in relation to the frame/body unit. As you go merrily down the road and your little car encounters something in the roadway that requires the wheel or wheels to move in a vertical direction (either up or down) and the springing medium is so stiff that it will not allow that, then that force gets transferred to the frame/body unit. Result? ...well if it's only one wheel, you probably get pitched in a lateral direction…if both, it probably is a rather bone jarring thud. When you take a spring off of a 3000 lb. car and put it on one that weighs 1800 lb., it is overkill to say the least. Plus if the donor is a car from the 30's or 40's, they were designed for roads that our Buckets will never see the likes of in their life. Want to try a little test? Go out and stand on your front crossmember and jump up and down. Does it move nice and freely? Probably moves a couple of inches pretty easily? Hmmm?… It don't want to move you say. Now go out and try the same thing with your daily driver. Just give the front fender a shove and see if it will move? Quite a difference? Now, it isn't realistic to think that we are going to achieve that kind of action from a buggy sprung solid axle front end, but I still think that it could be improved greatly. While I would certainly agree that you aren't ever going to get a T-bucket to ride like a Cadillac, I am stubborn enough to believe that they can be made to ride well enough that a cruise is a pleasurable experience and not a "death grip" affair nor a buckboard ride. The other culprit in making our rides harsh is the old standby, the hairpin radius rod. Yes, I know they have been around as long as hot rodding has been and there have been thousands of cars built with them. But the bottom line is that they make a much larger contribution to poor ride than a solid axle does. I know the argument that a I-beam axle has flex to it and that allows the use of hairpins where they are not suggested for tube axles due to their not wanting to twist torsionally. While that is somewhat true, there is a point where Mr. Axle says " No more, if you make me go any farther, I'm staying". Twisted axle. If you want to see how a set of hairpins acts on the chassis, take a piece of wire and make two 90 degree bends in it so that the two side pieces are approximately the same length and all three segments are in the same plane. Lay it flat on a table and put two fingers on the same hand on the open ends of the wire holding the ends in place on the table. Now take the other hand and raise the bend on one end of the center segment. What happens? The other end of the center segment also raised, didn't it? It didn't stay down on the table. Translating this little example to your bucket, the two side segments would represent the hairpins and the center would be the axle. The table would represent your frame. O.K. if you hold down one of the ends and the bend on the same side and raise the other bend, what happens? Did the open end also rise up off of the table? What does this tell you ? If you encounter something that makes a wheel try to change its attitude in relation to the chassis, one or maybe some of all of several things will occur. The suspension components will try to make the chassis move to conform to its input, the frame/body unit will twist trying to absorb the forces, or something in the suspension parts is trying to bend or break from being in the middle and catching the brunt of the load. O.K., so hairpin radius rods are such terrible things. What is better? Well, for starters, try 4 bars. I don't have any simple little home demonstrations for this, so a photo will have to suffice. Show me a hairpin setup that will allow this much movement on one side without moving the chassis and I'll call it the greatest thing since sliced bread. And while all of this is happening on the front end, this is happening on the opposite side out back. With the right spring rate on the coilovers, there isn't a reason why this thing shouldn't ride reasonably comfortably, not like a Cadillac, but not bad either. For those with CCR hairpins who want to try a little experiment, try this. Take your floor jack and raise one side of the front end a ways and note what is happening. How far does it lift before it starts to twist the frame or things start popping and groaning. Also go look at the rear tire on the opposite side if you have some big meats that you run low air pressure in. Let the jack back down. Now, take the lower bolt out of the front radius rod on the other side from the jack. Now jack the first side back up again. Did you notice any difference? Did the axle move further before the frame started to move? This experiment might not work too well is you have a lot of spring on the front. Basically what you have done is turn a hairpin setup into a 3 link. The side with the radius rod attached at all three points has become two radius rods that have a common rear pivot point. Well, by now I've probably got 90% of those reading this madder than a wet hen and saying "who is this arrogant jerk to be saying that my car is less than the greatest". If that's the case, and you are perfectly content with your Bucket, I'll be the first to say that that's all that matters. They aren't Cadillacs and never will be. After all, part of the appeal of a Bucket is that they are different than what gets you to work everyday. So the ride is a little rough and keeping it in the middle of the road is akin to wrestling a Winston Cup car through the turns at Talladega when they are 4 wide.. "So what, it's fun and that's all that counts" is a perfectly acceptable philosophy. But for those who think that there could be a little something to improve on their cars, I hope that this has prompted some thoughts. I have to admit to being in this group. Probably has to do with age to some degree, think I'm getting soft. You know, doing a tune-up on your engine is pretty standard procedure around here, maybe a little in the way of a tune-up on your suspension wouldn't be such a bad idea. We might be amazed at what a change could be made by some reasonably simple adjustments. Maybe taking a couple of leaves out of a spring will soften up a harsh ride. Might have to make a spacer to get you ride height back, but that shouldn't be too hard for most. Has your car ever been to the alignment shop? That might be a few well spent bucks. How about just a check to see that all of the wear parts are in good shape, tie rod ends, kingpins, wheel bearings, etc. By all means, remember that this is just my opinion. submitted by George Barnes

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