37 Dodge sedan IFS

Has anybody used a Fatman IFS on a 37 -38 Dodge sedan?

 

Why not contact Fatman. They would know if they supplied one and maybe you could get some feedback from the client...I have one of their IFS in my 41 IHC

 

How do you like their kit on the 41 IHC? How much did it lower the front end?

I've talked to them a couple few times and got information that I'm having a hard time getting my head around. My questions involve how much their IFS kit is going to lower the front end. I understand that there will be a drop kinda built in to the system because of the hump in the frame at the front axle centerline. Their crossmember does not require the frame to be modified. Some require the frame to be modified to remove or at least flatten out the hump. I would rather not cutup the frame rails.

1st answer was it will put the front bumper 7.5 inches off the ground with a 225/70/15 tire. Thats a little low with the grill shell about 4 inches below the bumper. I want to be able to drive it without my sphincter puckering every time iI hit a small bump in the road. As it sits now with F70 14s and the stock straight axle the front bumper is 13.5 inches off the ground.

2nd answer was it will give me about a 3 inch drop. This sounds more like it will work better but does not compute to the 7.5 inch bumper measurement I was given first.

3rd answer was the spindle center will be at or slightly above the bottom of the frame.
Again as it sits the spindle center is 4.75 inches below the bottom of the frame. This works out to be a 4.75 inch or slightly more of a drop.

I need to know what the actual drop will be before I can drop 2 grand on a IFS kit. So I was hoping someone has used a Fatman IFS kit on 37-38 dodge specifically and could clear up these dimensional differences.

 

Here's a stage 3 (coilovers) Fatman. Not your car but similar for what you can expect from the Fatman kit. The tires had about 1-2 inches air above them before with the stock leaf spring suspension. This is also about as low as you can go with their stage 3 without drop spindles or air bags. I went to 50 lb higher springs after this pic because the front suspension was hitting the stops on big pot holes. Their springs with the kit were too stiff and I went 100 lbs less which was too much.

 

Man that's one sweet Dodge truck...^

 

GREAT looking Dodge Dane!

 

Dane thanks for posting the pics, thats a real nice looking truck. I have got a few questions.

• Does the truck frame have a hump in the front over the the axle centerline like the straight axle dodge car?
• What size tire?
• What was the overall drop?

 

I will be starting this 37 Ply coupe on Monday I think. The owner thinks it is an older FM front end, and it uses new Ford control arms/spindles, etc.

A quick look at the front crossmember, shows they built 2 short stands to fit under the front frame kick.

Maybe by late next week, I will have the body on, and one fender on, to see how it all mocks up

 

Thanks F&J, looking forward to seeing those mock up pictures and getting some actual dimensions of the spinde center to bottom of frame.

 

Any progress on the 37 Plymouth?

 

Body shell is on the frame, front end was set up and welded in.

I do not have the coils yet, and no parts that I need to install the motor.

So, I can take some pics with the A arm angle set about where I think they will ride...and try to get that measurement you want.

He did bring one fender and it's brace, but the brace attaches to another bracket that is not here....so I could only guess as to how high I should lift the front of the fender. I mainly wanted to see if the wheel opening was centered for now.

I will edit/add the pics to this post #11

EDIT:From what I can see without a fender properly installed in the real place, it looks very low...street-rod or pro-street look IMO. Not really hot rod look in my opinion.

Best I can do for pics. I can't easily get a spindle height to the bottom of the frame in the middle of the chassis. But, with the A arms, tie rod, at what I think will be ride height, the centerline of the spindle shaft is about 1.5" lower than that upward curve directly above the old axle. 1.5" would be to the bottom of the frame, underneath that curved section.


The current owner got this front end with the car. He was told it was an old FM. That info is 3rd hand at this point, so do your homework on what is available these days.

 

Here's a pic of the frame when I was making the boxing plates -



Here's a pic of the stock crossmember. It's behind the new rad support being fabricated -



I used to have some before and after pics, but not on the WWW anymore. The total drop was 4-6 inches in front.

Tire size is 255/60/15 on 8" rims from www.thewheelsmith.net. They did a custom offset and powder coat. They also made sure the Dodge hub caps would fit proper.

I did an axle flip in the rear by modifying a TCI Ford truck kit.

 

Thanks for the replys and pictures. All the information is very helpful.

 

Fatman M2 installed. Thanks again for all the information from your experiences with the M2.
When I figure out how to post a picture I will put one up here.

 

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