Hot Rods My rear end is too high! LOL

Damn, sweet forty....

 

Same kit on my '36. It was tall as hell.



There is not a "problem" with the kit, it is just engineered in such a way that the leaf springs mount to the bottom of the frame, which makes the ass end of the car too tall. You can either re-arch the springs, move the spring mounting points up in the chassis or add a lowering block.

Good luck, -Abone.

 

Are you sure the shackles are installed correctly? They look wrong to me. Hang down , not up.

 

"MY REAR END IS TOO HIGH!".................

Buddy of mine was working on his 55 Chevy and needed to go chase some parts. He was laughing at himself when he realized he asked the parts person for "studs and butt connectors".....

 

Can you crawl underneath and photograph the springs [in particular the rear shackles] with it sitting on the ground.
It could be binding or close to it [and the rear hangers might need moving rearward]


Also if you supply these measurements I can calculate the spring stiffness for you
Length inches,
Width inches,
Thickness inches
Number of leaves

And if you can measure the height of the arch [from a straight line between the eyes] we can estimate the spring load

 

CE same deal, too high initially, added 2-3/4" blocks, better.

 

Or you could use Posies kit straight up, no blocks. I think Weedetr's kit is similar.

 

^^^^^ That's a much better kit.

 

There is a lot of rubber wore off the inside edge of your tires, and the undercoating is freshly rubbed off inside the fender well, are you sure the tires are not what is holding the car up rather then the springs? If the tires are contacting the inner fender, nothing you do to the suspension will make any difference. Gene

 

I would be interested in your explanation of how they could be 'up'...instead of down...given the frame and hangers shown....

Ray

 

I did a 39 Ford for a guy with a chassis engineering kit and it did not set like that . No pics but did not need blocks get a nice ride height.
Since it is a kit you want and not build something . Pete and Jakes rear ladder bar and coil over kit . Then you adjust the height with a spanner wrench.
Get a refund on that if you are not happy, rather than spending more money making somebodies bolt in kit fit your car.
I used Pete& Jakes stuff on my old Morris minor they made one off length bars for me at no extra cost. I had to fab the rear end mounts and the front crossmember.

 

You can probably take off the rear shackle mount , weld a small boxing plate on the rear frame where the shackle mount is.... Drill a hole thru the frame and the boxing plate .... Weld a bushing in and bolt the shackle thru it.... That would probably drop the rear end about 2 inches an still give your spring shackle clearance to move under a load....

 

o.k. looked again. Not used to seeing shackle hangers like that. Most hangers are longer and shackle points up.

 

If you look at Rich B's you see the spring eye's reversed. That's what guys called but the top spring is just re-arched and can be done with a sledge hammer and a bolt welded to an anvil. Pain but ez to do..(wear ear plugs) Mark your spring arch on a long piece of cardboard then work it until it follows the same line with the eyes down instead of up. Then if you need more go to some lowering blocks.. Good luck.it's called hot rodding without a credit card.

 

If you look at the photos the OP posted.
The rear spring eyes are reversed , but the front ones aren't . So the traditional main leaf reverse eye resetting technique wouldn't work.

 

I like this setup the best of those posted. When I was a kid in the mid-'50s, our neighbour across the road was a mechanic. He drove a 1940 Ford truck. It ran a 312 engine with an automatic transmission and a '51 Merc rearend and springs out back with a dropped axle and cross spring up front. He took me for a ride in it once. Really rode and handled nicely. Every Spring, he pulled the bed off and detailed the undercarriage. I remember that he had fabricated and welded in spring mounts similar to those on the front of the Posies kit.

Rear shackles and hangers were taken from a mid-'50s Ford though. These shackles were hung from C-shaped hangers mounted beneath the rear frame rails on '52 - '64 Fords with the shackles extending upward.

Happy Motoring,

Harry

 

^^^^^^using the ‘52 up rear shackle hangers would help a little in this case, but the real problem is the frame profile (it’s shape and the height of the rear rail) not being contoured for longitudinal leaf springs in the original design. Had it been, either the frame rails and/or the hangers would be different.

as long as the hangers are below the frame rail, it will require a flat or reverse arch spring (and likely lowering blocks) to get even close to the height desired.

the inboard mounted front hanger, and a through the frame rail rear shackle hanger, are the easiest ‘correction’ of this problem.

Ray

 

I used a CE kit also, same problem, I had to take a leaf out and put lowering blocks in but you don't want to put big lowering blocks in. My springs arch downward and the ride isn't good over big bumps. My buddy put Weed eater springs in his 48 Ford and it rode like a dream and sat right.

 

I have used both CE and weedetr kits in many 40's. 40 in my avatar has weedetr. CE requires blocks. Have never seen one sit that high though. Usually go with weedetr and maybe 1" blocks. CE requires flattening (rearching) the spring a bit and blocks as well.

 

I used to de-arc my stock car springs in the shop at work. I'd mark the springs with a sharpie spread about 4" apart so I could repeat the hits in the same spots. I used 2 knife-edge dies with a large radius. Take "before" measurements first, compare both springs side by side in the end. In your case, I may try the longer main spring first.

Talk to a spring shop before you do anything, but install the rear shackle washers and nuts before going anywhere.

 

Mimilan..Didn't notice the front. My LSR roadster has leafs with 1 up and 1 down. And you are right. I had to have Long Beach Spring make it that way in 1981. I've lowered Ford buggy springs by "reversing the eyes" as they say with the hammer/anvil method. It is a way to lower a vehicle but it's not recommended by spring makers.

 

Here's a picture of my 40 and my brothers delivery. They both have the same style of brackets you are using. We make our own. I think your problem is the spring. I am using the chassis engineering springs on mine. The delivery is using stock dodge truck front front springs 65 to 71. Neither of our cars have lowering blocks. Both are the four leaf springs.

 

I've learned from this thread.
If it were me I'd be returning the TCI kit and order one from Posies or Weedet'r.
I'm filing this in my memory banks for future reference.

 

With the car in the air, springs unloaded, those rear shackles are hanging straight down and look rather short. With the car on the ground and the springs loaded, the shackles will extend back and up but maybe they are too short to allow the spring arch to fully flatten. We're still waiting for the photos of the springs (shackles) under load. It may be your spring mounts are too close together preventing the springs from unlaxing* all the way. (?)

* Is that a word?

 

I used a complete Posies low rider rear spring kit on my Avatar 48, by complete I mean new spring to frame brackets and all. After over 70,000 miles it's completely settled at an inch and a half. It appears to me, it needs to have the spring dearched, and take care of the inside tire rub. Bill

 

Im thinking measure your axle to frame distance. Pull the rear wheels off, sit it on jack stands and measure that distance again. I bet these guys are right, your tires rub, and thats as low as it will go until they stop rubbing

 

i do. i may try and see if they will fit

 

Even without the tires.. its high.

BTW, the tire rub was from the inner wheel well, there was some metal which was bent out. It was not preventing the car from going down. This was a driving car prior to the swap out of the TCI kit (in hope it would be better)

TCI says they will work with me to resolve but also said it looks like it's correct.

 

Read through this thread but won't add any further comments beyond this one until there's some pictures of the underside of the car with the suspension LOADED because all of your other pics with the car in the air do not show what's going on at ride height because the suspension is at full droop.

 

I'm working to get that. Thanks for all your input. it's been extremely helpful. The car is at my mechanics place so it will be the weekend before I can get those other pictures.