Ford Blitz Restoration/Rebuild

[Ian Johns]

Originally Posted by Tony Wheeler

Yes, this is similar to the FAT diagram I recall, although not quite as detailed. Note low position of front cable attachment point - well below the chassis rail, in the vicinity of the spring hanger. This is necessary to avoid fouling the step brackets, petrol tank and brackets (esp. longer FAT petrol tank), and battery box on RHS. This can be demonstrated by running a string line from under the rear wheel to ANY point on the chassis rail itself where a hook might be mounted. It may just be possible on the LHS of 60S and 60L CMPs, but definitely not possible on the RHS. I'm left to conclude that winching forward with scotches was not possible before the hooked spring hanger mod. Any thoughts....?

As Phil says the hook is not large in cross-section, being merely an extension of the ribbed reinforcement part of the spring hanger, which is barely 3/8" thick. However it's of considerable depth along the line of force, and a thick stiffener pad has been added in the casting. In order to fail it would have to shear through a large area of metal, something along the lines shown in pic 5 perhaps.

There would of course be a component of sideways force, since the scotch plates are outboard of the spring hangers, and this would be greatest with the FAT, due to the greater angle resulting from SWB. All in all though I reckon it would be plenty strong enough for a CMP winch, which are only rated at 7000 lbs. However I guess we'll never know, unless perhaps Ian will be kind enough to test his to destruction for us!

LOL I'll pass on it this time. Maybe later?