How did old schoolers lower Model A rear?

As title implies, how did the guys "back in the day" lower their Model A Hot Rod rears? I have a 4" drop front axle. Car will stay spring over in stock frame. I am arm chair building a 40's style Model A Hot Rod.

Thanks HAMBer's

 

From what I have gathered, a T spring does the trick and you can take out some leaves if you need it lower.

 

They did a small z in the rear of the frame look it up ..

 

OK, Good info. About how low would a T spring with reverse eyes get it?

Thanks Guy's

 

z the rear, thats what mine has

 

I have not done this myself but the early guys did infact use a model T spring to lower there cars. There was not mush in the way of welders around back in the early days. Rule of thumb is you drop one inch with a reversed rolled eye on a spring and for every leaf you remove you drop approximately one and a half to two inches in ride height. If I am wrong I am sure someone here will chime in and correct me.

 

Sounds like I need a new T spring with reversed eyes...bolt in and done!!!!! Yeah, I know better!

Thanks

 

it's not just a bolt in. the t sping is narrower than a model a spring. You will need spacers at the perches and wedges at the spring mount.

 

Can't the same thing be accomplished with a Model A spring? Reverse the spring eyes and remove some of the sping leafs? It seems to me that this would work using the original Model A spring. Please correct me if i am wrong. Thanks Scott

 

Also longer shackles

 

Wedges?????

 

Longer shackles won't work on a spring over mount on a Model A.

 

I've got a T spring in my deuce framed AV8. It is lower (almost too low with a spring behind axle) and the ride is great. You can get away without spacers at the perches, but it looks better with them or to trim the perches to suit the width of the T spring/shackles. The rear is fixed by the torque tube and will not move on the perches. You will need a shim to match the tighter curve of the T spring to the broader curve of the A crossmember. If you simply bolt a T spring into the A crossmember it will crack. I used a T rear crossmember as well to get around it.

That said, I've seen more than a few old jalopies lowered by heating and bending the ends of the spring down too. Probably not the best method, but seems to be effective...

 

Exactly,spring eyes will rub on the rearend housing!

 

Cruzr, doesn't your car have a "spring behind banjo" under it too?

 

A shim would be a better word I guess. Basically something to make up the difference of the tighter curve like Thunderbirdesq pointed out.

 

I think I understand....how are they made, how are they attached...I appreciate it

 

It would go between the spring and crossmember and are held in place by the ubolts and located by the centerbolt and the centerhole in the crossmember. I think the best solution is to swap the rear crossmember for a 26-27 model T unit. I just picked one up at a swap for $10. Probably equally as much work as fabbing an "adaptor shim".

 

Just rework the stock A spring. Remove leaves 2 and 4, reverse the eyes, and de-arch the main leaves as per the Bishop/Tardel book. This combination should net you about 4" and give you a better ride. A springmaker will do this work for comparatively little.

 

My A coupe has the ends of the spring bent down.
Rides good

 

I am a big fan of the T spring. We made tiny little spacers out of solid stock to take up the shackle/spring eye difference. I was NOT interested in Zing the frame.

 

If I was starting with a bare frame I would....I wish someone would do a tech on this

 

i want to see the spacer
anyone have a pic
tk

 

Wow, thank you HAMBers. I have the Tardel book...duh!

Rick.

 

x-2

 

Mine went down with a torch heating up the ends of the spring. Not the best idea, but it was easy to find another rear spring back in the early sixties after one end broke. I think I still have the old broken spring laying around, looks like it was from a T. the ride was awful, almost no movement.

 

You can see the little spacer on the spring eye side of the shackle, there is one on each side to make up the 1/4" diffrence, basically just a tiny washer but machined specific for the application out of solid stock. I still need to make up the wedges to support the crossmember above the spring, seems like a good project to start tonite.

 

In '55 I was in Odessa, TX and bought a '30 "A" roadster. The rear had been lowered by the 'quick and dirty" method , heat the spring red about 6" or so from the eye and allow to sag till the resulting "V" almost touched the axle housing. The old car had a real good running banger that I've always believed had some internal mods as it was way faster than other A's I've owned or ridden in. I drove that thing all around the Odessa area, had a rumble seat and we'd pile it full and ride around raisin' Hell.
When I left Odessa and returned to GA in late Nov. '55, I drove that car all the way back, 1500 miles with no top, and no heater either! Shit, when you're 18 years old, you're 10 feet tall and bulletproof!
But I drove that car for a couple years around home and it never had any problem that was caused by the spring torch job.
But it is a method almost universally condemned by the "experts".
Dave

 

i understand that
i used sae washers and drilled the hole bigger to fit over the shackle
its the wedge i want to see
tk

 

On the "Stupid Car" we just heated the ends of the main and 1st leaf about 2" in from the end. I wired a 2x4 on its side and let the weight of the car and a little heat do the rest. 1 1/2'' clearance works fine. I got 20,000 miles on it- some not to gentle. The 2 springs together seems to work kinda like a swaybar. The car is much beter in turns than some of my others.