My 40 Ford is leaning to the left and I want to level it out. I can’t figure out what bushings I need to change to resolve this. I have buggy springs front and back straight axle, wishbones, radius rods. Someone said I need to flip something or change the bushings. I’m racking my brain on what I could do to level it out.
How much of a lean? These cars tend to lean a bit because of the way the springs support the car. Does it straighten up if you get on the passenger running board and bounce the car up and down a bit?
It’s leaning enough I’m starting to get tire rub in the front and rear. I can barely fit my fingers between the tire and the fender on the drivers front. I can fit my fist in the passenger front
A missing bushing might make it lean a half inch at most (the thickness of the bushing). A fistful is something worse. Could be sagging or broken springs, could be the spring isn't seated properly in the crossmember, could be the spring clamp is tighter on one side than the other. Could be some suspension bracket was made lopsided and only you can stick your head under there to find it.
Not that it has anything to do with it, but what’s the deal with those rear shocks? And I see a steering rack on the straight axle. Is this leaning something that has happened over time, or was it this way when you got it. Did you build it, or buy it this way?
Its hard to tell from the pics but, you are only a little over an hour drive from here, bring it over some day and we can get under it and take a look.
To the OP, This is the absolute best offer you could ever get^^^^^^. Dale is a long term expert, especially on '40 Ford suspension issues. You would be wise to take advantage of his offer and give serious consideration to having him address your issues.......Don.
So if the steering rack is mounted to the beam axle.....how the heck does the steering wheel shaft attach? What happens as the axle goes up and down?
You need to see what was modified and how , check if any thing is worn , bushings , mounts , cracked springs etc. body mounts, bent stuff, simply worn out stuff , Ideally get the unit up in the air so you can get under it but with the weight of the car supported by the wheels . a drive on hoist or blocking / cribbing blocks are great for this . this way you can actually inspect the suspension at ride height .
That's not the stock 40 rear end. Has the car been changed to open driveline? The rear spring doesn't look like a 40 Ford and the spring center bolt that attaches and center the spring (left to right) inside the cross member looks "home made". Was a torque arm installed to compensate for the elimination of the torque tube? I am not an expert but, it appears that the drive line and suspension of your car needs a complete rennovation. You may have several broken rear spring leafs also as a trmendous amount of torque (that will destroy your rear spring and rear end) and radius rods is put on the rear spring and rear end once the torque tube is removed. The rear radius rods are not strong enough to absorb all that torque originally handled by the torque tube. Can you post more photos showing the drive train of your car from the transmission to the rear cross member.? Read this; https://www.google.com/search?q=fun...i30j0i390l4.5649j0j4&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8 and this https://www.google.com/search?q=what+is+a+torque+arm+suspension&sxsrf=ALiCzsYwXXDudHFc-AFb7adIarn-kju4Uw:1651582902570&ei=tidxYsO3IrKrqtsPqaCIgAw&oq=what+is+a+torque+arm&gs_lcp=Cgdnd3Mtd2l6EAEYADIHCAAQRxCwAzIHCAAQRxCwAzIHCAAQRxCwAzIHCAAQRxCwAzIHCAAQRxCwAzIHCAAQRxCwAzIHCAAQRxCwAzIHCAAQRxCwAzINCAAQ5AIQsAMQiwMYATINCAAQ5AIQsAMQiwMYATINCAAQ5AIQsAMQiwMYATINCAAQ5AIQsAMQiwMYATINCAAQ5AIQsAMQiwMYAUoFCDwSATFKBAhBGABKBAhGGAFQAFgAYIgVaAFwAXgAgAEAiAEAkgEAmAEAyAENuAEBwAEB2gEGCAEQARgJ&sclient=gws-wiz
man... I can't think of 1 good reason to put a rack and pinion on a 40 ford, especially not one mounted to the axle....
Are hose clamps on the springs a "thing"? I concur on the rear shocks, and having just recently converted a 39 to tubes it really is uh, shocking. 35 degrees is max and past that they're practically useless. Take up the offer from @Weedburner 40 . Best move you can make seeing what you have.
I would like to see how it’s mounted to the column ! Gotta have one hell of a slip joint or 8” thick soft fluffy rag joint !
I wouldn't be surprised to find out that the steering column holding the car up was the cause of why the car is leaning to one side
Lol , quite possible . I drove my 40 all over the place last season and it drive absolutely fine . not sure why anyone would bother “ upgrading “ the front suspension . mine has a disc brake kit in the front , it stops great but I’m not happy with the fact it pushed the wheels out 1/2” to 3/4” towards the fenders . I would like to get front and rear sway bars for it for this summer . some cars benefit from upgrades , others don’t .
Take the offer of help! From WEEDBURNER 40 a in the know hotrodder. Most frontend shops have no idea with old straightaxle cars. Some underside ugly work was done by some one the photos show. . That's the hard facts. Your looking for the why it leans; One check that maybe can point too were to look even closer ; Jack up each axle,One at a time this way*to find if prob is only at one end of car.? *Match tire PSI,park on a flat level hard spot,get floorjack and put a about a 6in. long peace of about 1x1in. angle iron on the jack pad with point up ,and so when this is front to back of car. {Jack witch ever axle} dead center between tires tell both tires of that axle have light under them< Note,one will be higher off the ground then other=note that amount{if both look close to same/like only 1in.=prob may be with other axle;So now do other end of car,looking for same thing. If one end of car has a big lift of one tire vs the other tire>that's the axle most likely to have had mistakes done to it. At least it gives you idea of how car is balanced,often tire tread wear will also show this type of out of balance{ In a good set up,both ends of car should be very close to even lift,when that check is done.
You need two new springs. The rear spring at least, i know the camera is at an angle but it appears to have less arch on the driver side of the rear spring than the pass side. It looks like it may have contacted the drivers side exhaust pipe as well. i had a very similar thing with the rear spring on the rear of my 39 last summer. It appears you have aftermarket replacement springs (they look like Posies) front and rear. My 3 year old posies rear spring went flat and leaned hard to the drivers side during my trip back from the salt last year. Looking at what you have there I would seriously consider a rework of the the rear suspension and steering. The rear suspension looks to be 35 36 rear wishbones. which work great with the transverse rear spring. However, they are not intended to be used how they are set up in yuor car to transmit torque to the chassis, the torque tube was. Used by themselves as they are in your car, the tubing can and will flex, causing the spring to twist, which will accelerate spring weakening. By adding some tubing to the top of the rear axle and extended forward as close to the pivot point on the wishbone as possible, you can effectively convert the rear wishbones to ladder bars and eliminate that twist. On the front, that rack and Pinion is truthfully kind of dangerous. Hanging of the bottom of the front axle all you need is one big pot hole, or debris in the road to catch that mount hanging down to pretty much rip it off the mount. Once ripped off (not even all the way off just one side) it will be very difficult to control if you are able to control it at all. You obviously don't have the stock column in it, most likely a GM column, so that makes updating it pretty easy. id look into a Saginaw 525 steering box to replace the rack with. Bolt in mounts are available for 35 to 40 fords for cheap and the boxes are easy to find and relatively inexpensive. If you need power steering, as long as you have room for the box, you can fit a GM 605 power steering box to the 525 mount, but its much larger and space is premium there. Replace the springs, front and rear, Relocate the upper rear shock mount closer to the frame rail to get rid of a bunch of that angle. Convert the wish bones to ladder bars in the rear, and swap all the steering stuff out and you will be blown away by how much better the cars drives and handles.
To the OP: If you are only an hour or so drive from weedburner 40, the smartest thing for you to do is take him up on his offer. He knows what he is doing and will steer you in the right direction. ( no pun intended ). We are not here to bash your car based on what we see, just want to help you correct the issues.
Mine would lean like that after taking a curve and not straighten up, so If I pulled into a parking lot after turning right, the car would be listing to the left. I'd grab the roof and give it a shove to straighten it out. I installed a Pete & Jakes front sway bar and not only does it drive better it solved my lean problem. But, as others have said, there are other things wrong, springs probably wore plumb out.
Agree that you should contract Dale. He knows his stuff! Have bought many parts from him over the years and referred people to him. He corrected/fixed their issues-they were very happy. That front end stuff needs to go! Get a nice stock 40 column and 525 box-will drive great. Also aftermarket spring sag quickly. Had a 40 I was building--installed a new spring etc. It dropped 1 1/4" just sitting-never driven-junk! I redo stock springs to fit.
You use a shaft that is made so that one part slides in and out of the other. Borgenson makes one. Doesn’t mean this car has one though.
I don't like that rack and pinion setup. That's not the way it's done and it's dangerous. The mount should be on the frame, not on the axle. I would have the springs re-arched and put the steering back the way it was originally. There's a chance that the rack mount has caused the spring center bolt to shear off and shift the axle to one side. New shackle bushings wouldn't hurt, too. As for that thing in the picture you asked about, there's no telling what it is. Sway bars front and rear are a good improvement if they are installed correctly. Just my opinion but I don't understand why someone would think something like that could possibly be an improvement.
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