Reversing the uprights on 1940 plymouth coupe

I've been hearing and searching for threads on reversing uprights to lower my 1940 plymouth coupe. I haven't seen anything definitive as to whether it can be done on my car. Here is an exploded view of what my front suspension looks like. sorry for the sizing.

don coatney if your reading hope you don't mind me using your pics.

 

I think your pivot bolts might be different top to bottom. i cant remember right now.
You will mess up your Caster.

 

I've been wondering the same thing. My '55 Plymouth front suspension looks almost identical to the one in the pic. If the bolts are the same size, your only problem would be getting your camber back to where it should be.

 

camber isnt as big of a problem. you can heat and bend the spindles so its correct.
thats what peopel do when they flip Ford spindles.

 

On the "older" Plymouths the spring perch on the lower control arm is bolted to the arms. All you have to do it unbolt the plate and move it under the arms and bolt it back together. You may have to make a spacer on the "newer" stuff to clear the flanges on the spring perch.
Gene

 

If you want to take an easy route and have a little bit of money to spend, Fat Man Fab makes a bolt in drop spindle for the '40 Mopars. Last I checked I think they were about $385 a pair.

 

I thought about going with fatman but then I started reading the posts about reversing and flipping uprights. When I looked at the fatman stuff it seemed that their setup was primarily a reeingineered reversed and flipped upright. Plus you have to do a disk brake upgrade and heat and bend some stuff for it to work. I'm interested in the disk brake conversion but not quite yet. Right now I just want my car rolling and low. Below is a pic of the fatman unit. let me know if I'm missing something

 

If you need spare front suspension, just let me know...I've got the entire IFS system off of my '40 Plymouth that I don't need, including the sway bar...I'm going with a straight axle since it's gonna be an early '60's style gasser...

 

I have the same suspension on my 47. I have been wondering if it could be moved up and welded and add a fish plate or 2. not sure what kinda metal it is.

 

i put the fat man spindles on a 41 plymouth a couple of years ago, didnt have to change the brakes, but should of, the stock plymouth brakes suck. had to heat and bend the steering arms, but nothing major.

 

dvanecek,

Having removed the uprights from my car, I'm pretty sure they're cast iron....very solid pieces. I'm not sure if removing reposition and welding would be a good option.

 

cast iron would make thing difficult.

 

So, is cutting coils a bad idea? That's how I planned on lowering the front of my Coupe....

The other option would be moving the lower spring mount under the control arm. I thought cutting a coil woulda be easier...

 

Sorry to side but you thread a tad bit. I heard that you can flip the up rights on a 50 plymouth without heating and bending?

 

I cut the springs by several coils and moved the upper shock mounts on my 50 Plymouth. Worked just fine. Just cut the coils one at a time till you get the height you want.

 

I did the Mustang II on mine. now after TCI dropped spindles and cut coils the front end is 5 inches from the tip of the front to the ground. I could go lower but with Michigan roads this is good.

 

I just lowered my 50 Plymouth about 2 1/2-3" by cutting and welding the spindle boss higher up on the upright. You need a sacrificial pair of uprights to cut the spindle boss off. Then you mount the cut boss on top of the original boss using a king pin for alignment. Once the welding is done you cut the lower boss off and you've got lowered uprights. It's like a low-tech Fatman setup. You do have to lower and trim the steering arms, and you do need to convert to discs. I make disc kits for Mopars, and I could make up the lowered uprights if you need set, and the arms, but it's something you can do yourself pretty easily. I don't think you could turn the uprights end for end and have it work, way too much geometry going on for it to work out, in my humbel opinion. I have better pictures I can email, I can't get half of them to post here.

 

I would bet that the stock uprights are forged, rather than cast. Much more strength in a forged suspension part. That makes it easier to cut and weld as well. I've thought a million times about building a jig to make my own dropped spindles, I have six or seven pairs of stock uprights I can prctice on. I never figured the kingpin by itself would be adequate for boss alignment. Damn! why do I always have to make things so complicated?

 

Cool, now all I need is a spare set of uprights. Is ther any reason why round tube with the same diam wouldn't work? Is ther a problem welding the the 2 different metals? what is the reason for needing to convert to disks? Is there a clearance issue once things are moved?

 

I've got the same questions. If you start using regular round tube, you'll be creating something that looks a whole lot like fatman's setup. (see above). I've been having so many problems with my brake setup that I may just go ahead and convert to front disks to have something different to do.

 

A couple of more points on the uprights. They are forged steel, not cast iron. Cast iron would be way too brittle to support the car and take the beating of road use. The top and bottom mounts on the control arms are different, you cannot flip them in my experience.

You may not have to convert to discs, but there are clearance issues to resolve either way, drums or discs. I convert everything I work on to discs unless the owner insists on drums.

I used my original uprights rather than tubes to minimize the fabriaction and the chances of missing something. I'm pretty simple minded....it worked before, if I don't change it too much it should work again. I'm lazy too, so the less work the better.

One last thing, it is a little more complicated than just cutting off the boss and moving it up. You need to do some relieving of metal on the boss to get a good weld valley. Everything needs to be really clean on that first pass. And you need to heat the whole assmbly pretty damn hot to eliminate a cold lap on the mig weld, especially if you are using a 110 volt mig like mine. I built up the welds probably more than necessary, but pretty was my second concern, strong was my first.

The steering arms have a step that thickens them on one of the mounting holes. This has to be cut or ground down to an inch or so to prevent the arm binding on the upright once the car is lowered. I then countersink the mounting bolts using flathead bolts so they are flush with the arm.

 

olddady,

Sent you a PM.

 

Looks good about time some one showed how to do it old school. Mines a 47 how about yours post a picture.

 

Can someone please tell me if the 40 Desoto coupe has the same front end suspension (uprights, steering knuckle, steering arms, etc..) as the 40 Plymouth? It really looks identical according to the pictures and diagrams..

 

I would say yes, I believe the Dodge, Plymouth, Chrysler, Desoto's were the same.

 

Thank You the guy at Fatmans wasnt sure.. I'll let him know I can act as a test dummy for discounted parts.. LOL

 

i am interested in more info on making your own dropped up-rites

 

Check out my thread on welding up your own pair.

 

So I will need another set of uprights pretty hard to find here a

 

Where is here? I have another set here......