I have 44 ford v8 pickup coming. Sits way too high for me, looking to get it down around 3-4" Just done a 47 and we flipped the rear axle, dropped it a little too much and is a fair amount of work!! So Reverse long spring and remove some leaves, front and back Dropped axle with stock leaves and reverse the rears as above Hope I've posted in the right place Thanks Ian
I think those frames are very similar or the same as f1. I did an f1 pretty sneaky, a bit of work, but worth it. Remove the rivets out of the shackle mounts on the frame for the rear leaf springs, flip the rear mounts upside down, move the front (rear spring still) mounts up, the lower rivet holes will now be mounted to the upper rivet holes, you will have to add a top mount to the frame for the upper holes. bolt the shackle mounts in with some nice shoulder grade 8 bolts. Remove every other leaf from the spring pack, flap wheel polish the leaves on the ends for a nice slide, grease and reassemble the pack. For the front, remove the bumpstops,reverse the main leaves and remove every other leaf from the pack,grease and reassemble. I had Sid in Oklahoma drop my axle 3" as well. The truck was low enough and still usable as a truck, rode like a caddy with those extra leaves removed. Hope this helps. Matt
If you go to my profile album are there is a bunch of pics of the truck and the build. I cant remember if there's detail shots of the lowering..The truck is in Norway now, otherwise I'd snap a shot of it. This trick worked really well, as no frame mods were needed as well as keeping the stock spring perches on the axle.
Ian, I dont remember, the truck was such a roach when I got it, I never checked what height it sat at. If you look at my albums, you can see the truck's stance once complete.Hope that helps.
A '44 Ford is spring behind the axle, not parallel leaf. You run longer shackles or de-arched spring or both to drop it in the rear. in the front run a dropped axle or reverse eye spring.
Pretty sure it's parallel leaf at the rear? I have a 3" drop axle from Sid coming over with the truck. Was hoping to drop the rear as far as possible without having to notch the chassis rails Ian
Pretty sure its not it is still running a banjo and ford did no redesign during the war. A 44 is the same as a 41. That said someone could have converted it, I'm not there and you would know best what you have.
Should be a cross leaf, the '42 that I had was of course I bought it used and it could have been a '41 titled as a '42 some states used to title the year that you first registered. Edit damnit: you are correct parallel leafs here is an excerpt from how stuff works: Henry Ford's archaic transverse-spring suspension also was eliminated, in favor of semi-elliptic leaf springs at each corner, working against hydraulic, double-acting shock absorbers. A tubular propeller shaft and open Hotchkiss Drive also were new. So my information was incorrect. You only option to lower it is to flip it or de-arch the springs. You should have enough room to flip it without a c notch but de-arching is going to give you your best option as far as not C-Notching. Sorry for the bad information.
Ian, I think with the bump stop removed I had 3-4 inches between frame and axle, never bottom it out, hauled several engines with it as well. 42 is the first year for parallel rear leaves and open drive, although the open drive is still a banjo. Matt.
I've raised the rear spring mounts up,bottom holes now line up with top holes on chassis, new top mounts made Not sure how to flip the rear ones tho? Maybe they are different on an F1 Sids axle and just one leaf removed has given me 3 1/2" at the front. The rear mod and several leaves should give around 4" at the rear. Still waiting for bush/pin kit for the rear Pretty sure I will take further spring(s) out at the front as it is pretty firm!! Ian
Looks like a really solid pu Ian! I would be doing the exact same thing you are. Do you have any pics with the front suspension done?
I'll take some pics when the rear is back on the ground, difficult to take them while it's in my workshop Ian
I have a '46 P/U dropped axle for sale (with new springs used for mock-up), but I'm not sure of the amount of drop. With a straight edge across the top of the king pin boss to the spring mounting pad I get 7", but I don't know what the stock dimension is. Does anybody have this dimension?
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