Despite putting in a Posies reverse eye front spring my '39 still rides terrible. Every bump in the road is a disaster. I'm guessing the stock houdaille shocks are worn out. I'd like to upgrade to some tube shocks and saw the CE kit. Does anyone know if this kit will work with an other-wise stock (no dropped axle and unsplit- wish bones) front end. Just looking for experiences/ opinions of this kit from someone that's used it. Thanks, Jay
The shocks don't care if the axle is dropped. Now, they may be stretched to their limit if the spring is too high though. Is your spring reversed eye? I'd bet the CE kit is designed to work with a reversed-eye spring. Call them up (319-643-2655) and explain the parts you have. They'd love to help.
Didn't have STOCK friction shocks, Henry didn't use them. They were hydraulic shocks when new. Iceman
Alien, I'm a big fan of CE stuff and have had really good luck with the shock kit for '35 to '40 Fords. There is plenty of adjustment available for any spring.
Me and my dad have used may of these 35-40 ford front shock kits. They are great in my eyes. I would also install a chassis engineering front sway bar kit they are reasonable and the car will drive totally different you will not be disappointed at least i am not.
Alien, my 36 chassis is all Chassis Engineering and I cant say enough about the quality or how they stand behind their product. Although I'm on my third set of front shock brackets, they keep fracturing between the bolt holes, the company has sent new ones every time with-out problems.(actually maybe the shock brackets could be made of a little heavier guage than 3/16 so they hold up better-I dont know if I'm the only one with this problem) Its hard to find a company that stands behind their stuff like that, they could have told me to go scratch from the get go. If you want , ask Kevin or Chad at HOT ROD CHASSIS & CYCLE and see what they use, I know its another company just dont know which one. Anyways, when I build my next car, I will deffinately deal with Chassis Eng. again. Good luck, mike.
That 39 is never going to ride like a buick. My '39 coupe had dropped axe, non-split wishbone, tube shocks, removed 3 top leaves, and plastic between the rest. It never rode worth a damn except on the smoothest of paved roads. Now my '32 with 4-bar and posies front spring is another matter, smooth and fun to drive.
Nuther vote for CE here. I have their shock mounts and one of their reversed eye springs. Mine are probably 15 years old and in good shape. While you're in there a panhard will take care of that pesky oversteer that will occur once you start carving the turns with your new shocks and anti-roll bar. Pete and Jakes has a nice bolt-in setup.
My 40 Std. Coupe had a Houdaille aftermarket tube shock kit on front AND rear and rode quite well. I had the factory Ford sway bar setup on it too. Never had a complaint about ride from any passenger or anybody else I let drive the car either. We removed a couple leaves from either end and cleaned and reassembled the front and rear springs and reinstalled them with factory style sleeved steel shackle studs. It's not magic.
Thanks for the input, guys. I'm going to see about ordering the tube-shock set up. I just know I've got to do something. My other rides are a 15 year old Jeep and a 55 year old Effie. Both of those ride like Cadillacs compared to the '39. I know it'll never ride like a dream but it's nearly ridiculous. It hits pot holes so hard I usually feel obligated to apologize to the car afterwards. Maybe I've just been paying more attention to how it rides since I put in the Posie's reverse eye spring but it almost seems to ride worse now. Is that even possible? Anyway- I'll be ordering up the CE kit this week and throwing it in as soon as it gets here. Jay
I realize this post is 7 years old but-I have the CE front shock kit in my '40, unsplit bones, teflon between spring leaves, pan hard bar and their stabilizer bar. Lower 3 piece shackle-shock mount, the shock stud itself rubs on the inside of my AR Thorq Thrusts. Wheel size is 15 inch with 195 X 15 tires. Brakes are Speedway discs which WIDEN the tread width 3/4 inch per side. Turning radius is huge now compared to what it was. Running 76 Cutlass power steering box. I intend to try P&J's shackles next to see if wheel to shock mount stud with narrow up enough to stop the shock mount from rubbing on the wheel. If this does not work, I intend to make, or have made, a new shackle that mounts the the shock stud above up and inside the axle-wishbone mount area. Anyone else have this trouble?
Not sure if you ever fixed your problem but I am running into this with my 38 Ford Coupe! Did you ever get this resolved? Thanks
I had this issue with the triangular front shackle/shock mounts on my 35 Ford with dropped axle and reversed eyes front spring. The lower shock mounting bolt was contacting my widened original 16'' Ford rims when steering, reducing my turning radius. Not sure what brand the shock brackets were but probably similar to CE. I cured the problem by rotating the the triangular brackets 180 degrees so the shock mount bolt is on top, then raising the chassis shock top mount the same distance to maintain correct shock travel. This does reduce the perch to shock mount clearance, which is still adequate, however it gives a lot more wheel clearance and the best possible turning radius.
This may be an old post but the info is really good. On my 40 sedan, I had a Posies reversed springs but when I put an 8RT engine in, the car bottomed out in the front end. I called Posies and he told me to add another long leaf and that solved the problem.