Hot Rods Did I do this right?

Is that really the angle of the spring shackles or are they to long? That's a speedway spring

 

you'll need to put some weight on the spring to know for sure. Put the wheels on it, and put it on the ground, then have a buddy sit on the frame.

 

The spring should be tight with no weight on it. Shackles should be parallel to the ground.

 

That's kind of what I thought

 

How far apart are those spring hangers?
What Speedway spring is that?
What size are the shackles?

(but no, it doesn't look right to me either)

 

Maybe it's the angle of the pic but the housing appears offset to the right about an inch to much??? And yes, you do need more weight on it to actually tell. Tim

 

My old chassis builders guide says with full weight on the suspension the shackles should be at 45# angle.

 

This is the way the ccr plans say it build it all dimensions are right out of the ccr Manuel

 

Housing is offset it's a Ford 9 inch

 

Pinion and yoke is offset.Housing should be centered. It'll look better too!balance.....

 

Here's my T spring without and with weight

 

The whole assembly looks like its off about 3 inches? to the right. make sure your top spring mount is in the center of the frame. Then drill a hole in the center of the plate, top & bottom piece so the center bolt of the spring itself acts like a line up pin to center the rear spring to the frame. Then make sure the spring mounts on the axle housing are the same distance in from the backing plates. The housing (pumpkin) should be centered. fine tune it from there & see what you got.

 

On mine the housing is offset because the pinion is offset, can't always center the housing.

 

So do I cut the axle tube and lengthen or shorten one side?

 

Looks like it was installed with no preload, there should be a spec for the perch hole center dimension where they should be welded to the axle. Normally, A rear spring perches are 49" center to center (This is just an example, I don't know what your spring is copied from exactly, looks like a T rear). Then you get your spring spreader and open up the spring until the shackles can be installed. Spread the spring with it installed and secure in the crossmember, that center bolt can snap and become a bullet, or the spring will take off, both which can quite literally kill you or those standing near by. You can center the housing with an offset pinion, not a big deal.

 

Looks like very long shackles. What is the length of those shackles centerline bolt to bolt? The after market ones I us are 1-1/2" like SWADE. 1-1/2" shackles may get them parallel. Swade is also correct about centering.

 

As above looks way out of square. Rear end needs to be in the center of chassis. Decide how wide you want the rear to be and either cut it off or better yet get another 9". There are a zillion widths of 9" ers!
Everything I ever built had the shackles @ a 45 with the weight on it!

 

Some excellent books were written by Tex Smith that could help you out on a lot of details. "How to build a hotrod chassis", "How to build a Ford hotrod", "How to build a Chevy hotrod", and many more. Well written and easy to understand, I used them with my 7-8th grade students in a shop class 15 years ago. Good to have in your library.

 

Only if you are capable of this, otherwise get a professional to do it.

 

As officer Bimbo said in Hollywood Knights, this shit is waaaayy outta line...





You got some good advice already so some sarcasm is surely required