Lowering coil springs for 64 Galaxie?

Stacked 65, dude if you want to cruise that AWESOME Squire, I would raise it back up a bitso that you're not ruining everything underneath. Personally I love the look but the function isn't there. I may sale my Aerostar coils and just cut a 1/2 to full coil off my original springs or may just place them back in w/o cutting. I'm still doing some research on quantity to cut. Sounds like 1/2 coil is around 1" and full coil is around 2". My car has a 390 so it's a quite bit heavier than yours. Great looking car.

 

I installed weight jacks on my '64 Gal using the stock springs. (trimmed to 11" free height) I can now adjust the ride height where ever I want it with a 1/2" ratchet.

 

Drive Em, Tell me more about these weight jacks. What do they look like and where did you purchase them?

 

Anyone use weight jacks to lower their car/truck?

 

This is my goal stance ... any suggestion on how to get it looking this way?

 

This is a 63 which should be close. Started with stock coils. trimmed 1/2 a coil at a time. I ended up trimming 1 1/2 coils by the time I was satisfied with the height. It does have granada spindles which are 3/4" or so drop.

The wheels are, I hate to say here.. 17" so the tire may look a little closer to the fender lip.

 

Nice stance ... thanks for replying.

 

Did anyone point out that old worn out springs can sometimes have a 2"-4" drop over stock but a crappy ride. Using new springs even though 2" shorter, may actually raise the ride height of some cars with old bad springs.
EX: I installed new springs in the back of an OT El Camino some years ago. The new springs raised the ride height by almost 7"!! Installing the new fronts brought it up almost 5". Some vehicles look surprisingly RIGHT when at factory ride height rather than dropped and many 60s-70s ones do.

 

pasadenahotrod, yes, I was thinking the same thing. I know that my coil springs are wore out and probably giving the car a 1" - 2" lower stance in the front. But the stance is what I like about the car so that's why I wanted to look into purchasing 2" lowering springs. Someone suggested to me in this thread to buy Aerostar coils in which I did because they were a lot cheaper and would give the car a 2" drop. They lowered the car too much. I'm exploring some different ways I can lower the car without having to purchase $200 lowering springs. It may just resort to that though.

 

Weight jacks are standard stock car parts, Speedway has them for about $50.00 a side. You will need to do a little welding, and you will need to relocate your shocks, but it is not that hard. I install weight jacks on most everything I own or build because the customer always wants the ride height a little higher or lower, and I hate cutting springs.

 

I think i am going back to the stock height, the factory rear springs sit good with the length of the wagon with the new shocks its should ride good and smooth.
Would like to take my family out in it and its so low it would not be safe.
So the car was low for one night, pulled it back into the shop jacked up the front pulled the shocks, disconnected the sway bar, getting a coil spring compressor Saturday and putting the stock coils back in.
So the new Aerostar springs and brand new 2" blocks /ubolts go back in the box.
Its been 8 months of tinkering time to get her on the road.
She has not been on the open road for 40 years so its time for her maiden voyage in the next two weeks. Cant wait till then.

 

Stacked, I think that'll do the same. The stock height of these beasts are already low enough in my opinion. If you want to go any lower I'd recommend putting it on air. Does your year model have the offset shaft that hold the lower arm to the front cross member? If you do, I strongly suggest purchasing an anti-toe in stabilizer bar from Greg Donahue. It helps taking away the wishy-washiness of the front end by locking the offset shaft together. Good luck and take pics of the maiden voyage! Enjoy it it with the fam as well!

 

Well, kind of started the work on putting the factory coils back in.
Man a pain in the ass finding a tool rental Advance Auto got the first one, got home started compressing the factory spring and threads where missing . Had to take it back, the second one he showed me the head for socket wrench was stripped and cracked, went to another store got a brand new one. Pulled the Aerostar coil out of one side, then attempted to install the other one no way doing this by myself, got pissed off and put the Aerostar coil back in, reinstalled the shocks / sway bar bushings.

Versus trying to change the suspension & exhaust I may wait till end of July some bonus money from work and upgrade to 15" steelies and 235-75-15 thin whitewalls this will give me at least 2.5 - 3" raise in the body off the ground but still keep it low.
It sucks I just purchased and installed 215-70-14 TigerPaws white walls and just got a set of super hard to find 64 Galaxie XL Hubcaps the ones with the tribar spinners and beautiful XL center caps, they where stored in his atic 30+ years. I may just sell the tires & hubcaps keep my 14x6 Kelsey Hayes wheels.
I will have to wait another month plus before I get her on the road, but I am tired of dealing with the suspension & exhaust. I will leave it for now and upgrade the wheel & tire size. I may pull it put tomorrow if the weather is good an shot a couple of images its low.

 

Raised ol' Gal back up with original springs and rides great. I have plans to lower it again in the future but I think it looks great just the way she is. She's now sporting the new plates.

 

Glad you got it back together....I too have a 64 and plan on lowering it a little.... Thanks for saving me a lot of trouble...have you ordered the new springs yet?

 

No I haven't. I plan to order them from Eaton Springs. 2" drops are $189 a pair. Pretty good deal.

 

so did you put the old worn springs back in?
or new stock springs.
I have a 59 edsel wagon with an fe, and was also thinking the aerostar springs, but I have to think the front weight would be about the same as your car and it would hit the bump stops.

also, I know eaton is a good company, but i used there weight chart and ordered some m2 springs and it did what your car did. I couldnt even get the jack out from under it.
They gladley replaced them, but had to go through the hastle of taking them back out and shipping them back.
the new ones acording to the weight and length chart should have been about 4" too long, but they worked.
its been about 2 years and my car has settled to about where it needs to be.

 

Well, I got the factory coils back in, took out the blocks so I got new parts used for assembly only & then removed them now they are in a box you live and learn at least it was a cheap leason.
Got her put back together, put the wheels on her and took her for her maiden voyage after 40 years of storage . Filled her with 93 octane drove her a few miles man the exhaust talks to you the 2.5" pipes with the 36" Cherry Bombs sound sweet coming out of the front of the rear wheels.

Not sure If I am going to run the 14" wheels & new tires with the XL spinner hubcaps.
I really want the staggered 15" wheel set up.
15x8 rear with a 275 -60 , 15x7 with a 225-70 front maybe some BFG blackwall of course.
Will see, the dream set up is AR Torque Thurst D 15x7 with 235-70 BFG Red Lines but man the tires would cost $1000 by themselves.
I will get some pictures this weekend of how she looks now at stock height.

 

Dude that's great! I got my original coils back in and and rebuilt the entire front end. This being my first rebuild, I really didn't think that I could do it. But you know what? I did and it feels good. Had the car aligned and drove it down the road proudly. Drives like it should. Cant wait to see how your ride ends up looking like.

 

Hey guys, hate to kick a dead horse, but I have a 63 Merc Comet with the I6 so weighs alot less than your full sized fords. Would the aero star springs work to lower me a bit? I heated my coils and run as low as they go. Running on bump stops. would these aerostar springs work for my car? I am hoping they will lower substantially but still give me actual ride height. Thanks in advance and TTT!

-Julio

 

anyone??

 

Just found this thread, back in the 80's I had a '63 Galaxie rag-top.

I lowered it by fitting '60 Fairlane front coils and had the rear leafs re-built and set 2 1/2" lower but with an extra leaf added.

Gave me a nice 2 1/2" drop all round

 

rad! was it a v8 car though? mines an I6 so i would need something a lil weaker than full size springs I'd imagine

 

I assume these will work on a 63 also?

 

I think you may have to go back and check the thread I think they ended up being too much of a drop for his galaxie. I still have my Moog spring book I can check some other springs. On the GM stuff we usually use a stiffer spring from like a Brookwood wagon then cut it to fit for the desired ride hight. Thats probably the best option for this too.

 

i am running some moog springs from a 65 buick electra in my 63 galaxie. they are about 150lbs stiffer and it sits about a inch lower that it did with the stock springs. about the same price as the aerostars too.

 

Shoebox Central sells a camber adjusting kit for 49/52 Mercs. Call them and see if they will work on your Bird

 

in High School took my '63 Riviera to local muffler shop and he heated front springs until I said stop - learned that hard way that coils do not stop going down just because heat is removed - should have said stop earlier - oh well, it did look cool