1939 Ford 4" drop axle too much??

I have a 1939 Ford deluxe coupe I am trying to build, will a reversed eye front spring and a 4" dropped front axle be too much? I plan on splitting the wishbone, not sure what steering gearbox to use either. It has 408"- Ford 351c with a toploader.I installed a 8.8 rearend with parrellel leafs in back, 4" lowering blocks. thanks.

the last picture is of the 1939 Deluxe coupe I started with. a real pile of junk by anyones standards, but I am not sorry I am building it. wanted one since I was 10.

 

Heres my 38 4 inch axle reversed eye stock spring with a unsplit wishbone, rear has reversed eye spring two leaves removed and longer shackles

 

your 38 looks great, what size tires?

 

That 38 sits nice. Also search 40 standard Tudor build. Cory Taulberts 40 sits right also. Not sure how much difference in weight there is between your eng and the flathead. That could change things somewhat.

 

7.50s and 5.00/5.25 x 16s

 

The 4" dropped axle will only get you about 2" lower than stock and the reversed eye spring another inch or so. I think it will be fine.

 

I ran that on my 39 Ford Convertible,,you'll be fine. HRP

 

The car I'm building is much much worse than yours so don't worry and your front axle plans sound perfect. Im doing the same thing plus longer shackles

 

You can always start with the dropped axle and a stock spring- then reverse the spring eye if you need more.

 

I am also running a 4" dropped axle with reversed eye spring. un-split wishbone with t-5 trans. I have 24" diameter front tires and plenty of fender clearance.

 

Thanks for all the help guys, I have my grandson over xmas vacation to help me with it. gonna be fun.

 

A 4" drop is not an actual 4". It's actually 2" over the stock drop of the axle.

 

I used one, but I also did a lot of "other" subtleties

 

can you enlighten me on the "other" subltiities?? maybe dropped steering arms, split wishbones???

 

If you click on my build thread in my signature, you can see what I've done. But, basically to get a 39-40 "in da weeds" so to speak, you will need:

Dropped and narrowed axle- There are thousands of 40's with a stock width axle but to really get them down with fender clearance some guys use a narrowed axle. If you go this direction, the wishbones will need to be split and the spring perches heated to compensate for the narrower axle width.

Steering arms- need to be bent and heated to compensate for the drop of the axle. You can also buy bolt on dropped arms if you want to go that route.

Reverse Eye spring- A new lowering spring can be bought, or a spring shop can reverse the main leaf, and take a few more leaves out of it for the desired drop. There is a tech article here somewhere about reversing the leaf yourself with a bottle jack and hammer.

Tube shocks/Sway bar. a good idea for handling.

The bones only need to be split if you're going to run a modern transmission for clearance, or if you use a narrowed axle. You don't have to split the bones for a narrowed axle, but it's what most guys do. If you look a ctaulbert's thread, he did NOT split the bones, and his axle is narrowed, but he did rework his wishbone to fit.

If you want to keep it simple, Get an axle from Nostalgia sid, he heat -drops stock axles, and a reverse eye spring along with smaller tires and 15" wheels you can drop it 4-5 inches in the front.

 

Before purchasing a 4" drop axle, make sure the axle doesn't hit the ground if you get a flat while driving, it can get ugly.

Just something else to consider.

 

It's a 40 standard, 4" axle in front stock wish bones, and reversed eye rear spring. 15" wheels. Been like this for about 20 years. Tried to make it look like the 40's in the little books.

chuck

 

You got it perfect there Chuck R.

 

that's what I want chuckR, looks like a 50's rake

 

Perfect stance on that 38 yngrodder!