TagMan
09-25-2004, 10:33 AM
Before the board moves entirely to gassers http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif, I gotta ask a question about LOWERING the front end of my '46 Chebby pickup. I want to keep the straight axle, for nostalgia's sake, as well as trying to keep the project's cost down. The truck will be a dailey drive, with a '57 Ford 9" rear axle, 4-speed & a '65 vintage 327.
Anyways, in an earlier post, a couple of guys suggested I put the axle on top of the springs, instead of under it. It would lower it about 4". Sounds like a good idea and my thoughts were to weld a 1/4" or 5/16"(?) plate on the underside of the axle and make it parallel to the stock spring mounting plate & about the same size, and drill holes to match the stock mounting for the u-bolts. I'll have to notch the frame for clearance, but that's no biggie. Anybody see anything wrong with this idea? Anybody have pictures of a similar setup? I want it safe, above all.
Other thought would be to heat & stretch the axle as was discussed on here before, but I'm a little leary of doing that.
Thanks for your input.
Anyways, in an earlier post, a couple of guys suggested I put the axle on top of the springs, instead of under it. It would lower it about 4". Sounds like a good idea and my thoughts were to weld a 1/4" or 5/16"(?) plate on the underside of the axle and make it parallel to the stock spring mounting plate & about the same size, and drill holes to match the stock mounting for the u-bolts. I'll have to notch the frame for clearance, but that's no biggie. Anybody see anything wrong with this idea? Anybody have pictures of a similar setup? I want it safe, above all.
Other thought would be to heat & stretch the axle as was discussed on here before, but I'm a little leary of doing that.
Thanks for your input.