Ok, this post ought to prove my virginity. I'm looking for some guidance and not finding what I need in the archives. Some background: I have a '29 Sport Coupe. I want to keep the Model A frame, full fendered body, and use '35 wire spoke wheels. Other than that, I am pretty much following the Bishop book. I'll be dropping the rear 5" or 6". I need to figure out where to go from here to get the proper rake. Here come the questions: The car came with a Super Bell front axle. It measures 5" total drop from the center of the kingpin boss to the the center of the perch. Does this mean I have a 4" drop? The frame I want to work with is in excellant shape except it is missing the front cross-member. With what I have listed above, do any of you guys think I need to stick with an OEM replacement, or one of the dropped aftermarket cross members? It seems all the repops have a drop of some kind. Not opposed to it, but I'd sure appreciate your opinions. Thanks in advance
I have seen axle drops measured so many different ways in the last couple of years it's kinda hard to tell. I would guess four inch too. If your Model A frame is a good shape stocker, I would go see Sammy over at Arizona Model A on south Gilbert road and get a good original to go back in. Most aftermarket front crossmembers are made to go into fabricated tube frames and come up a bit narrow in an unboxed stocker. Oh, the phone number is 480 782 0266.
It's worth mentioning that a "4" dropped axle" does not drop any car by 4". If you had a 32 up axle, it already has some good drop in it, and a 4" dropped 32 up, will not be dropped 4" on top of what is there already. If you did have access to a real Model A axle, you could stack them to see how much you will gain. Or someone here might have that spec on the stock A. You can also gain a little more that 1" lower with reversed spring eyes.
FYI a model A axle has pretty much no drop to start with..... or maybe 1/2", depending who's measuring...
It looks like in the Bishop book, he used the stocker front cross member with a 2-1/2" drop front axle, then got whatever else he needed by using a reverse eye. The thing is, I don't see how he got the front to drop anywhere near the 6" drop he got in the back. Seems to me it would be raking backwards.
You can get a inch of drop out of a reversed eye spring. Pete & Jakes sells a reversed eye main leaf for $40. A deal.
Tires help. To me an AV8 shouldn't have a large drop only in the front, with a frame comparison to the ground that looks like its doing a nose dive. I think bringing the wheels closer to the body and frame with a proper pitch to the front, makes the car look like it's going fast when it's standing still.
If you buy a four inch dropped axle and replacing your stock A axle, I believe you are gonna lower it by four inches. If you are swapping from a 32 heavy axle, it is only about 2 inches lower. I bought a super bell 4 incher with a reverse eyed spring from speedway. Over all from stock it lowered it about four inches total. I believe that is because the original spring being 80 years old probably had about an inch of sag from when it would have been new. On a different note for the rear, I used a T spring and reshaped the rear crossmember up, across, and back down more abruptly and higher by two inches, thus lowering the rear by about 1 1/2 by the spring alone and 2 more inches by the crossmember mod. With the end result being about four lower in the front and 3 1/2 in the rear, combined with big and little tires, it looks really good to me. http://jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=626730&page=4&highlight=stocker+hot+rod
OK here is an example I did..you dont need a heap of drop with 16" wheels and 5.00 or 5.50 tyres (these are 5.50s) if you keep fenders on. this front end is a reverse eye spring,with two short leaves removed,original A axle dropped 2 1/2" over stock,and the original crossmember.why 2 1/2? and not more? becuase it is running A model spindles and steering arms, and I weld the balls on upside down on the arms, which correspnds to 2 1/2"this way you can still run the tierod OVER the wishbone. As you can see it tucks pretty hard. This is as low as you can go and still retain some travel with these tyres. this car will just touch the tyres under the gaurds at full compression.maybe three and a bit downward travel. If you use a 4" drop axle I wouldnt reverse eye the spring just yet..put it together with it normal, you may find thats all you need. Oh, the rear end is just a reverse eye spring and two leaves out. I think this stance is Nails.
^^^^^^^^ that's super nice bitchen! I would be happy with that if I had left my fenders on, with them off I just wanted it a tad lower. Very nice car, I like it a lot. Reminds me of Chris's old coupe.
Awesome Sports Coupe! That's kinda the lines I'm thinking about for my Coupe. Great to know what you did to compensate for that 2 1/2' drop. Did you end up changing the backing plates? Also what is the rear tire size?
If i recall right the B_T roadster got about a 3-4" rear frame kick not the 6" you think. They tuned the stance with reverse eye spring and leaf removal.
This is a Model A axle with a 4" drop, sometimes refered to as a 4" dropped axle, not a Model A axle that has been dropped 4"... The aftermarket front crossmembers that advertise 1" lower than stock usually are refering to a stock '32 crossmember. A stock Model A crossmember is also 1" lower than a stock '32. Most aftermarket crossmembers are designed to weld between the boxing plates on a boxed frame. Both So-Cal and Shadowrods have a front crossmember that will work with stock rails if you don't want to deal with the stock motor mount on the original.
posted this a few times all ford stuff with a reversed eye spring front t spring rear with a leaf removed 16" 525 front 18" 800 rear
Thanks, all. I appreciate the responses. Lowsquire, Chopt, and Tub, thanks for the helpful pics. Off to pick up a new rear end this weekend. I have a perfectly good '42 that I found is going to be 2" too wide for a full fendered A. Oh well, there's always the next project.
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