Encyclopedia Hoonatica: Front Beam Axle With Leaf Springs

By Peter Tanshanomi Mar 30, 2015

Beam axle with leaf springs
Back when I had my ’66 GMC van, I was amazed on how basic and uncomplicated the front suspension was: A simple, solid axle bolted to two longitudinal leaf springs. It’s about the simplest front suspension one can imagine, and isn’t much different than the suspension on a horse-drawn frontier buckboard of 150 years ago (and why people complained that my van “rode like a buckboard”). No control arms or other linkages, just an axle, springs, and a couple of shocks. It doesn’t provide the best ride, and it’s not a terribly space efficient layout, but it is elegant in its simplicity, very robust, and can be maintained with basic mechanical skills and a few simple tools. (“Yeah! Impact wrench! VRRR VRRR!“)
In homage to my old van, today’s entry in the virtual tome that is Encyclopedia Hoonatica is vehicles with a solid beam axle and leaf springs up front. Lately, E-H queries have not been very technical, so I decided to lob out a question today that’s a little more deferential to those greasemonkeys who spend more time under cars than perusing sales brochures.
The caveats:

  • Passenger cars and light trucks only. We could name medium- and heavy-duty trucks until the cows come home. And then the cows could name a few more.
  • Rear wheel drive only. No 4x4s. A beam axle is not the same thing as a drive axle.
  • Front suspension only. We don’t care about what’s in the rear of your Dodge Caravan.
  • Since this was a fairly common configuration on many early vehicles, both common and obscure, let’s restrict the list to postwar vehicles.

Difficulty: Easy for some, a blank stare for others. Big bonus points for passenger cars.
How This Works: Read the comments first and don’t post duplicates. Bonus points for adding photos. Remember, you can simply pasting in the image URL now, thanks to Disqus.
Image Source: Digz_MI’s Photobucket via The Vintage-Vans.com Forum

By Peter Tanshanomi

Tanshanomi is Japanese [単車のみ] for "motorcycle(s) only." Though primarily tasked with creating two-wheel oriented content for Hooniverse, Pete is a lover of all sorts of motorized vehicles.

0 thoughts on “Encyclopedia Hoonatica: Front Beam Axle With Leaf Springs”
      1. Hey, don’t bother me with small font. I just wanted an excuse to throw the Aston Martin Atom up there.
        I didn’t need this list being all gassers and pick-up trucks. Haha.

  1. And I wouldn’t say that front beam axles are not space efficient – sure, the whole front axle has to move up and down, but there’s no spring towers intruding into the engine compartment.

    1. I knew I had driven a beam-axle MG T-series with leaf springs! I was trying to remember which it was. Thank you for posting.

  2. 1946-48 Ford car and other carryover Ford products, unless you sissies got something against a single transverse spring. We already gave you your damn hydraulic brakes.

    1. Actually, that started with Model T in about 1908, carried through all Model As (1928-31) as well the 32-on early V8s.

    2. But a single transverse spring has to have some sort of trailing links or locating arms, and then look at all the complexity you’re into!

  3. Crosley Farm-O-Road, and probably the Hot Shot, too, but I can’t find any proof of that.

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