Kicking around an idea of a future build of which I'm looking at lowering a stock '30-'31 "A" (stock 19" wheels) and wondering what would be the best way to go about getting rid of the tire to fender gap. Not looking to go extremely low. Just not sure if stock springs with reversed eyes is what is needs or more..
Stock springs with reversed eyes will give you about 1 1/4" lower. You can remove a couple of leaves and get a little more.
I used a dropped axle and tried a reversed eye spring but the 19" wheels hit the underside of the fenders I had to put the stock spring back on my avatar
If you are using the stock mechanical brakes, I'm not sure how the linkage will work with a dropped axle. It would be less work, and less money to go with the reversed eye spring.
Dropped axle use 32 perch pins. It raises the mech brake pivot higher but you will need to have an axle dropped and stretched to original width to work. Okie Joes does it for this purpose.
Also keep an eye on the headlight bar bolts so they don't contact the tire when you turn. I put carriage bolts from the inside out with Stainless Acorn nuts so I wouldn't shred the inside of my tire.
A Model T rear spring will bring the back end down a little over 2" from stock. New England Speed and Custom in Connecticut also came out with dropped rear springs that mimick the T curve but are the same width as a stock Model A, so it's a simple swap. Really nice springs at a fair price.
Thank you for the link. Just read through all the info. I think I'll start with the springs first. I'll be running 475/500x19 Lester bias ply (29.80" diameter) fronts and 600x19 Lesters (31.50" diameter) rears.
One thing that I've been wondering is ... At what point (how many inches) when lowering an "A" with stock brakes does the mechanical brake geometry start being affected? If going with just a reversed eye spring (with the possibility of removing a leaf or two) and a stock axle, will that change the brake geometry?
Guys like Elrod have run mechanicals with 3 1/2" to 4" dropped axles and never had an issue. I would have thought that binding on the return/anti-rattler springs would be an issue, but apparently it is not. The only other issue I could possibly foresee would be that an extreme angle on the brake rods might cause them to be too short, but this has not been an issue on even the most radical drops as far as I can tell. In short, the lower you go, the more your brake rods will angle downward (front to back). While this technically constitutes a change in geometry (from stock), it is not an issue and lowering via 32-6 axle, reverse eye spring, and/or dropped axle has been done for years with mechanical brakes. Best of luck!
I'd have a good think of which way I wanted to go and measure before you touch the front spring if you are runnig 19". If you go the 4" strech drop axle you will probably not want (or need ) to reverse spring eyes.A 4"strech drop axle will lower it 3". If you go the 32-36 axle you probably will want to reverse eyes. That would give you about 3" also. Don't think you will get much lower than 3" without rubbing with 19's.
ive done most all to lower my "A" coupe . the best for me was ... 4" dropped front axle (some leaves out) reversed eye posey slider , did a ton of stuff to the rear . tried "T" spring , reversed eye with leaves out . still had tire gap in back . coil overs put the tires where I wanted them . front has f-100 steering box with custom pitman arm , drag link & hiems & custom steering arm . 16" radials on '35 wheels ...... tried most all over 3 years , this I like now . all tires up in the fenders ...... steve
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