LOWERING a stock 41 ford chassis

i'm looking at this 41 ford coupe for sale.. it is all stock chassis except for the front disc brake upgrade.. it is lowered by using longer shackles on all four corners.. i don't know how long they are but i'm guessing at least 6 to 7".. has anyone done this before? would the handling be effected in any way?

 

here's a pic of the front

 

That just don't look safe to me!!

 

here's a pic of the rear

 

Bad idea! I believe '41 was the last before panhard rods were standard on Fords. The early Ford cross leaf suspension requires that the shackles be at a 45 degree angle to mantain their "built in" panhard effect. If you go beyond that, say the close to 90 degrees in the picture, the frame and body swing back and forth on those long shackles. Take them off and throw them as far as you can!

 

i already told the fellow i wasn't interested, but for conversation, would they work on just the rear if a panhard bar was added

 

Looks like a very poor method, why not just take out some leafs if you want to do a cheap lowering job?

I guess some people just overthink things and feel the need to "build shit"

 

Wow, if he botched that up like that I would wonder what other suprises the car has.........

 

Without a panhard bar that thing would go down the road like a hula dancer !! But guess what thats the way we did it in the 50s-60s . Pre Ford's installing a factory panhard bar they were known for swaying their hips ! LOL

 

Well there's only two ways to lower a car :
1 get the frame mount for the spring sucked up above its current location and further away from the ground
2 get the axle mount for the spring closer to the ground

There's a bazillion ways to get to #1 or #2 some are good some are like these pics.

Great for mock up to check looks and clearance before the real work starts

 

longer shakles on the rear will work with a panhard.my 36 ford had this done in the 50s.rides good.

 

Holy crap, and here I was worried about using 1" longer than stock shackles with a slightly shorter main leaf that should maintain proper preload.

Sent from my DROID device using the TJJ mobile app

 

I second that... Those are death traps.. Those will magnify any type of road conditions causing death wobble and steering play. Yikes!