What?!? Something's very wrong. The shocks should have no effect on the ride height at all. Take the shocks out and leave them out...for now. Get the car sitting the way you want on the spring alone, and then, as Fuzzy suggested, modify the shock mounts so that the shocks have 50% travel up, and 50% travel down. That should do the trick.
See,,,,,apparently a shock will raise the ride height You just need the right shocks and the mounts in the right position? Phtttt
See,,,,,apparently a shock will raise the ride height You just need the right shocks and the mounts in the right position? Phtttt ^^^^^^ Now that right there is funny!!
Just remember when you are pulling springs out of the pack that the shorter springs offer the most support for the pack. If you get a new spring pack take the 2nd and 4th from the bottom. Leave the shock mounts you now have just get shorter shocks. Come on guys don't make it so damn hard for him.
They are tube shocks. If the upper mounting plate on the frame was higher, they would work. They are straight shafts on the top and bottom held down by rubber donuts and nuts, they are not your average shock ends that have holes to slip over bolts.
I had another idea. I have two remnants of the original leaf springs left. They are both 13 1/2 inches long. Maybe I could finish off the cut ends and drill holes in the centers and slip those two back into the spring pack. Any thoughts?
Yeah put them on top. May help some. Probably not much though. Good luck drilling the holes though. How long is your top spring now? I think you are going to end up relocating your top shock mount upwards. Mount shock with 60-65% compression left at ride height. That's after you get your spring problem fixed.
The distance between the top of the axle and the bottom of the spring pack is your vertical travel, absolutely necessary for your spring to "work".
Gary,, IF THE SHOCKS ARE BOTTOMED OUT THEY WILL HOLD CAR UP !!! If they are those damn vertical shocks the restorers put on Model A's..
Yes Gary I agree that properly set up shocks carry no weight. But things are different on the internet sometimes.
NO No No Get a stock Model A spring and a dropped axle. Don't try to reinvent the wheel. If you want good shocks, get some MGB rear shocks. They mount into the existing holes and are very good shocks and are not expensive.
Incredibly very scary..............You're either blind or deaf..........shocks don't hold weight, post pictures, take some of that hard earned cash in your pocket, stop butchering springs and start with a new set, and there are a million styles of shocks out there. Go to the catalogue at your local suspension guy and find a shock rated for the load you have, the extended shock length you have and the closed length you have leaving a little extra so the shock neither tops or bottoms out. This is real easy to do or please for the safety of others around you, take your car to a spring shop with a blacksmith. wuga
If you put your shocks on and they are holding the car up they are bottomed out ( to long ) totally shot ( bent ) or have springs on them! Gary
This is getting way out of hand. All I did, apparently like many others before me, was to pull out my stock spring pack on my stock Model A coupe, remove four leaves (3,5,7,9 as suggested by other HAMB people) and put the spring back in. It didn't work. Obviously the springs had lost much of their tension after 84 years. The big discussion on shocks has nothing to do with anything. The aftermarket shocks worked fine when I put them in with the stock spring. Once I removed leaves, the shocks would not work. Period. Shocks are another issue. All this crap about whether or not shocks will hold up a car is a ridiculous waste of time. That's not an issue here. Forget about the shocks. I tried what supposedly is a tried and true hot rodding method of lowering the car a couple of inches and, in my case, it didn't work. I will start over. No big deal. I don't need people telling me how stupid I am and that I'm going to kill myself and others. The car is going nowhere until I have it straightened out. I was just looking for help from other "friendly" rodders. I am not blind or deaf. I didn't start the discussion about whether or not shocks hold weight. I am 67 years old. I don't have a digital camera. I don't have a cell phone with a camera. I live on Social Security and a little extra cash that my wife brings in. What difference a photo of a main leaf spring sitting mostly straight above the axle is going to make, I don't know. I've about had it with car forums. They are all the same. Everyone talks big. Everyone is an "expert." If someone has a question you treat them like their dumber than a box of rocks. Well, thanks for nothing and goodbye HAMB!
Before you go, A word about your shocks and safety. Based on your description and the benefit of hind sight - ill wager that your spring was never holding the car up and that it was the shocks all along. If that makes sense to you great if not then you might want to stick around and ignore the knowitallneverdidanything guys and pay attention to the good stuff.
It is getting out of hand. People are telling you that the closed or compressed dimension of your shocks are probably not right. When you put them on the car and let it down off the jack so the vehicle weight is on them they are as far down as they can go. Thus holding the car up. Try this. Take the shocks off, let the car down so the vehicle weight is on the suspension. Measure the distance from the center of the lower shock mount to the upper shock mount. Let's say it's 14". Now compress the shock all the way and measure center to center of the eyes. In this hypothetical math problem I'll bet you find the shocks are greater than 14" when compressed thus not letting the suspension settle into it's new ride height. Measure your mounts and measure your shocks when compressed. I'll bet you find your problem.
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