1930/1931 Rear Spare Carrier Wanted For 157 WB

[E.Moore]

Here's what this AA 157 began as.

[E.Moore]

After painting the frame with PPG Concept 9300, I found it was the wrong black. PPG 9300 contains blue and yellow. It is a beautiful black, but it dosen't look right in the sun. It has a bluish haze. I sanded the 9300 down and repainted the frame with PPG Concept 9000. The 9000 is completely black and is the closest match to the original Black Ford chassis enamel.

After rebuilding the front end assembly with all NOS parts, the front spring U Bolt nuts pull up past the cotter pin holes, making the cotter pins useless.

The Old U Bolts had a lock washer between the spring clip and the U Bolt Nut, which lowered the nut on the U Bolt, allowing the castle to align with the cotter pin hole.

The parts books do not show a washer of any kind as a spacer, although one would have to believe a spacer had to be used on the 13 leaf AA spring assemblies for 30/31.

My spring assembly is a 14 leaf unit, AA-5310-D.

Does anyone have washers between the front U Bolt Nut and the spring clip on the 30/31 AA's

[Neil Wilson]

Eric,
I have frequently seen where the spring clips (u-bolts) are too long. I am sure that there should not be any spacer washers originally. I found that a piece of frame webing is placed on the top of the spring when being installed (per "Model A Ford Mechanics Handbook" by Les Andrews). This might resolve the problem. I have never seen any Ford documentation of this part. So, I question if it was actually original.

Some type of spacer above the spring would at least not show once installed.

Your frame had pitting. Did you use any type of filler before painting?

[Watermelon Truck2]

I have a september of 30 AA and there are no spacers , though I think the castle nuts on mine are taller to take up space and still match the cotter pin hole.

[E.Moore]

Neil & Watermelon Man, Thanks for your responses. My NOS Front Spring U Bolts match the Ford Green parts book Front Spring Clip Chart on page 178. The Green parts book changed the prefix to BB, but other earlier parts books show the same dimensions. I thought of installing the welting, but I'm afraid it will compress under working conditions and will cause the front spring to be loose under the crossmember.

I'm pretty sure the front spring U bolts that came off were original, as all the old original parts were correct, just worn out. The old U Bolts are exactly like the new ones in all dimensions.

Since there was only one front spring U bolt for the 13 & 14 leaf springs, it would make sense that washers or spacers were used in order to space the U Bolt castle nut on the U Bolt to be able to use a cotter pin to keep the castle nut from moving. The 13 leaf front spring would cause a larger disance from the U Bolt cotter pin to the castle nut.

Front U Bolts that have the cotter pin hole welded up and redrilled higher would be a way to solve this issue. The end of the U Bolt would have to be cut off so as not to appear too long.

The parts books are sometimes wrong. I realize that the parts books are the only source we have for restoration, but nice original vehicles are sometimes better examples for what actually rolled out of the assembly plant.

Neil, Do you know of anyone who has used the welting for this issue? If so, I wonder if they have tried to retighten the nuts after the truck had some miles on it.

[E.Moore]

Neil, Yes, I mounted the frame on a rotary fixture and sandblasted every inch of it. The rotary fixture made it possible to rotate the frame to any position from vertical to horizontal and upside down to get to the hardest to get at places. The sandblasting took some time, so between blasting, I had to coat the newly cleaned sections of frame with black PPG primer sealer DP 90LF. Filling the rust pits took either mig welding and dressing down when the pits were deep, or with a good body filler for the shallower pits. The rotary fixture has wheels on it to make it easy to move it in and out of the workshop for the sand blasting and priming.

Sanding and dressing down, retouching the areas that were sanded down with more DP 90LF took a long time. We have a lot of humidity in North Carolina, so it was important to keep the cleaned bare metal coated with primer sealer during this process. I tried to dedicate my efforts on one section of the frame at a time, and progressed from front to rear. Once the frame was smooth, It was coated with a sandable primer and sanded with 320 wet or dry paper, to get the sanding marks out from the 180 grit paper.

The thing that was hard to get over was after painting the frame with the PPG 9300, I found that it contained blue and yellow. When the sunlight was on it, it had a wierd bluish haze. After talking to PPG, I took a NOS piece of sheetmetal and the remants of black paint in a can of original Ford black frame enamel to have it computer matched. PPG Concept 9000 is all black and is the closest match to the old enamel paint that was originally used. So more wet sanding of the entire frame and spare tire carrier with 600 grit wet or dry sandpaper.

My fingertips have been so sore that it was painful to pick up anything. A lot of sanding could be done with air powered tools, but a lot has to be done by hand.

I am very satisfied with the result of all that effort. I've taken a lot of static from friends who don't understand why I spent so much time on a rusty chassis that will never be seen once the bus body is installed.

There were a number of frame rivets that had to be replaced. I had replaced frame rivets on the passenger car frames, so it was not difficult to perform the same task on the truck frame. Big Flats Rivet Co has tools and rivets for most rivets on the AA frame.

The rear tire carrier was a task that took the most work. Big Thanks go to you for your help with replacing misplaced back issues of the AA Truck news letters as well as borrowing the wheel stops. Those new wheel stops are just the right thing for the spare wheel and they look great.

I'm not building this for high point judging. I just want to rebuild it as nice as I possibly can, using as many NOS parts as possible in order to build value in it, but to also duplicate the technology that was used during the manufacture of it in 1931. I want it to drive and handle like it was originally engineered to perform.

[Watermelon Truck2]

I used a piece of the frame welting and smeared it with grease , it has been 10 years and u bolts are still tight ,this also helps elimate front crossmember wear ,also no squeeks

[Neil Wilson]

Hello Eric,
Thanks for the information on your frame restoration. It makes me appreciate the condition of metal here in Colorado and surrounding states. It is not uncommon to find frames which can be sandblasted and painted (without pits to fill).

I put a piece of frame welt in my '28 AA Stake Truck after not being able to match the nuts to the u-bolt holes. The truck is not back together yet.

[E.Moore]

Neil & Watermelon Man, Thanks for your replies on using the welting. I will do that.

[Bob C]

Eric,
There are two u-bolts listed on page 178, BB 5455-A for the 13 leaf spring
and BB 54355-B for the 14 leaf spring. BB 5455-A is 5.28" long and BB 5455-B is 5.56" long.

Bob

[E.Moore]

Bob, Thanks for your reply. I'll go back to see what I missed.

[bud valerius]

This spring set up is taken from a June 1935 parts list

[E.Moore]

Bud, Thank you for posting the drawing. The 14 leaf spring is the one I have. Do you have any washers or spacers under your front U Bolt castle nuts?

[bud valerius]

Most of my AA 's have had the original u-bolts replaced with longer u-bolts , this is a photo of my mail truck with the correct set up Bud

[E.Moore]

Bud, Thank you for the photo of your front U Bolts. The U Bolts I have are the 5.56", supposedly made for the 14 leaf spring.

How many leaves are on your truck the is pictured?

Do you know if there is any welting on the top spring leaf?

Does any one have any very nice AA front spring U Bolts for the 13 leaf spring for sale?