O.K. my '47, as I am sure you all know when seeing a post from ME you know it is either about So.Cal. or my '47 Chevy. Well here is the scenario... My fenders were not on the car when I brought the car home, I installed a '53 rearend into her, (thanks again Jeff) I mounted everything where it should go and made SURE the rear end was lined up with the "kick-up" of the frame. "good to go", drove it around the neighborhood that way just to make sure the rear end was good, the brake job was good, and basically I did everything alright! Fast forward to yesterday, after doing all the bodywork on my 2 rear fenders..they are SWEEEET!!! and welding them on, They are alighned and perfectly welded to the body, (how do I know you ask?? Because I bolted them on BEFORE I welded them) But last night when I stepped back to take a look at my work, after I drove her out into the street, (all this work has been done in a confined garage area) The rims are NOT cented in the fender openings!!! They are to far forward by 1&3/4 of an inch, now you say "that isn't much", well yeah in a woodworking project that may not be , but on my '47 it looks TERRIBLE!!! I have checked and double checked EVERYTHING!!! The rear is lined up perfectly if it was to bottom out it would hit exactly in the center of the rubber frame snubbers, The fenders are EXACTLY where they should be! My rims are small 13X7 Supremes and I am wondering if my "goofy look" is because the car originally came with big huge 16 inch rims that "filled up" the fender opening, and this is just a "optical illusion" because my rims are to small.....ANY advice...Ken
The axle snubbers or "bump stops" aren't always exactly over the centerline of the axle at ride height because with some suspensions, the axle doesn't actually go straight up and down. Like if you have leaf springs in back, they might have fixed pivots at the front and swinging shackles at the rears. That makes the axle swing through an arc as the bow is removed from the leaf springs and the axle gets up closer to the bump stops. So you can't assume that straight below the bump stops is where the axle is supposed to be when it's up at normal ride height. Maybe you can make some custom lowering blocks or something to offset the axle from the center pins in the leaf springs to fix it (if the driveshaft length will still be okay).
Had the same issue happen to me with a 40 chevy once. Then i started measuring other 40 chevys and other cars. MOST wheels are not in the center of the wheel opening and many are not the same fender clearance from left to right. Yours may not be a problem . show us some pics.......
I will as soon as my kid gets home! I don't know how to transfer them from my phone to the confuser!!!
move your diff and make centered, nothing looks worse then a diff thats not in the correct place even if it came that way from the factory, i moved mine rearward 5/8" just because i`m like that.
to fix that drill another hole half that distance 7/8 " in the spring pad and move the rear end on the spring. or speedway make adjustable lowering block`s in there dirt track catalog that move back and forth on a threaded rod.
Most old Chevys are like that. I've made homemade lowering blocks that work great for 32 and 41 Chevs. You can make them as thin as 1/2" or a thick as you want to drop the car down. The head of a 3?8" allen cap screw is usually the same diameter as your spring centerbolt's head. Cut a piece of steel the thickness you want to the width of your spring and drill a hole through it for you centerbolt, then drill another hole and tap it for the 3/8" cap screw, whatever distance you need to center the rear end in the wheel opening of your fender (seems to me the '41 was about 3/4" to 1", but that was at least 12 years ago and the memory fades). You may ned to buy some longer U-Bolts, but they're available at any spring shop and fairly cheap. Pretty easy swap and a lot cheaper than buying store-bought ones + you get the satisfaction of doing it yourself.I'd make them about 7 or 8 inches long and grind a bit of a radius on the ends so there's no sharp corner digg'n into the spring leaf.
I used 5/16 cap screws to do the same thing, check the size of the spring bolt head, migth save some grinding.of cap screw head.I learned the hard way.
Measure your springs: Front eye to center pin and compare it to rear eye to center pin. Many springs have long and short ends- maybe yours are swapped front to rear. That is assuming the mounting eyes are the same size... Dan
Typical '47/'48 Chevy....you didn't do anything wrong...you just did not know when you put the rear end in that you'd need to move it rearward...it's an easy fix...just requires a bit more work...follow above recommendations... R-
Thats what I was thinking, Plus forgot to mention it is lowered about 5 inches in the back so it looks a lot more "dramatic" than if it was stock height, but wanted to ask some peeps for advice first! I will pull out the mounts and re-drill them to move it back, Thanks all!!!...Ken
it is the same on my 51 chevy you have to move the rear axle back. It is not centered at all from the factory
37-48 Chevrolets are factory mounted forward in the wheel arch of the fender. Back in the 70s it was common for rodders to redrill the rearend mounting pads in the new open drive rearends and get the wheel centered. Rod & Custom or Streetrodder or Rod Action or all of them did how-tos on this common "problem" with older GMs.
how did you mount the rear end?? were still talking torque tube here correct? did you use the stock parts with the pivot?
Two questions to ask as in the last post. Torque tube? it will be hard to move the axle back without moving the engine back or lengthing the tube & shaft. Open drive shaft check how much front yoke spline is left in the trans. I like to redrill a new hole in the main leaf when recentering a rear axle (usually only a 5/16 hole thats already clamped under the axle pad & secured within ubolts so no loss in strength). Then I reuse or redrill the other leafs centering hole to match the spring rate & strength to get my ride,center & height. I always keep a reserve of different width, length and thickness leafs around. By redrilling the main leaf the bottom u-bolt plate stays aligned with the u-bolts & the usual shock mounting point. If the axle is redrilled & offset too far the stress on the front & back of the u-bolts & axle pad is ueven
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