Hangin to the left a bit

Ok, so here is the situation...I will try to explain it the best I can. Standing behind the car (1950 Ford basket case) the car has a pretty good lean, about 2 inches lower on the drivers side. Leaf springs have had about half of em removed, so Im thinking maybe thats the issue. I put some jack stands under the car, in front of the rear wheels, same height, same placement on both sides, body is still lower on the left, but the rear axle is straight resting on the ground. So I put a jack under the rear end, dead center...when I jack it up, it levels out with the car (passenger wheel about 2 inches higher than the drivers side). Any idea of what is going on...Im sure it is something really simple and I am just overlooking it. Could it still be the front end? I would think that jacking it near the rear of the car would take the front end out of the equasion. Thanks for your help.

 

maybe you body mounts are all rusted out and the body is sagging over the frame

 

Sounds like the frame is trying to get up through the floor. --------I type too slow

 

Just looked at the mounts again, to make sure I wasnt missing something...and they are all there, in great shape. Am I missing something when I assume that if the car is up on stands that are the same height, in the same place on both sides...shouldnt that take the front end out of the equation?

 

is the ground level where you are using these stands??? that would be a big doh! moment. try this... put a stand underneath the frame in 4 spots that are level or even.. that will take the suspension out of the equation (which means your suspension is the problem if it jacks up evenly). Your body mount rubber might be rotting away or gone

How old are these leaf springs? It could be even though youve removed the same from each side that one side is bad and needs replaced... id replace both if that is the case

frame could be bent as well.. best way to tell if the jacks are the same is jack it up and place the stands under the frame.. take a level and you should have your answer

if the floor is uneven then take those jack stands and a piece of wood that you know is straight and place a level on it and see what you get

 

i will toss a few more stands under the front half tommorw and see what I come up with. The springs are old, but if it is on all 4 stands, that should not matter it seems like? If the frame on this thing is bent Im going to be pissed. oh, and the ground is level!

 

my 55 pontiac leans on the same side, i also have a broken leaf on the drivers side

 

if the frame is being supported and the car evens out then its your suspension that is your problem... make sure your stands arent under ANY part of the suspension

if it does NOT even out and is still slumping to one side and you KNOW your floor is even... then that should indicate the frame being bent or the body mounts going through the floor... as you have stated, the body mounts are in great shape, but how is the floor??? if it too is in perfect shape then you have a bent frame or the floor is messed up on one side causing it to have the slumped look. Are your rubber body mounts any good? how old are they?

do you have a floor drain in your garage? if so the garage floors are meant to slant so water runs to them, if not then start your frame check

 

I had a pickup truck with that problem once. Finally found out they had one more leaf spring on one side. WTF??

 

Virtually every old vehicle will have a lean to the left due to the fact that there is always a driver aboard but not always a passenger or passengers. Depending on the mass of the driver/s, that lean will be more or less pronounced in any given car/pickup.
The springs, leaf or coil, will be weaker on the left than the right over time.

Have the leaf springs rebuilt, re-arched, or buy new. If coils, always buy new.

 

And if the driver is overweight it compounds the situation. When a cop who had stopped me in the 48 asked why it leaned to the left a bit I told him "fat driver" as I weighed about 280 then it was pretty well the truth.
Years of having just the weight of the driver in the car 90% of the time can cause that but I would put it level on 4 stands under the frame and then see if there are differences.

When I was doing front end work at the Pontiac dealership in Waco in the early 70's I put a lot of "air conditioning" spacer on the springs on Pontiacs to level them up.

And lastly don't forget to make sure that the tire pressure matches in all four tires and that the tires on each axle match in size and height.

 

got her jacked up on all 4s last night and things straightened out pretty well. Thanks for the help guys