Technical Transverse Rear Leaf hung forward of axle housing.

I have seen a few pictures of a setup like this but is anyone running this? If so what are the pros and cons. Looking to gain a few wheel base inches.

 

A pro would be that the hump in the trunk floor would be further forward, making more useable room for stuff.

 

pics?

 

A con would be that it takes more spring before the axle then it does behind the axle. So plan on a heavier spring rate to do the same job.

 

I'm building one (HERE). Have not run it yet though. Frame was cut and shortened to go to about stock Model A WB with reversed bells and a 54" TT.

 

I have a rear suspension set up like this. The only difference is, that on mine the radius arms and brackets are mounted to the rearend on the outside of the spring perches.
There's a couple of things I learned the hard way.
1) Make sure the rear edge of the crossmember does not contact the pinion or the front of the pumpkin when the spring deflects going over bumps while driving. The distance vertically between where the crossmember contacts the rearend itself IS your actual suspension travel.
2) If your spring shackles allow any side to side motion of the rearend you may have to get inventive if you want to put a panhard bar behind the rear axle to the frame. Nice start to your project I would like to see more.

 

Also, you want a nice spring spreader that will clear the pinion.

I have a straight one that I made and it's a CHORE to use because I have to start it high and let it bend against the housing. It is probably not exactly safe for this application (fine for non reversed bells though).

 

I had a old friend that built a Hot Rod in Detroit after going to the very first GNRS,.... When he came home he said to himself I can build a better car than that roadster that won...... And he did, He built a 27 T Roadster That was on a Model T frame,... In the rear he took apart a 1934 Ford axle and mounted the trumpets left to right and backwards to put the spring in front of the axle,.... ( something he seen in a old 1940's cowboy movie gave him the idea ) .........

The car was in Hot rod magazine in the 50's and won a "Best Engineered" and "Best of Show" trophy at one of the the first all time great Hot Rod shows ,... And quite frankly was one of the best riding and handling hot rods I have ever ridden in.... Yeah.. Done right this system works very well !

( And in the barn, I still have the spare 34 Axle he built for this Hot Rod .... Just in case )

 

I built my roadster this way to get the rear crossmember away from the rumble seat lid. It's been working fine for at least fifteen years.

 

Here's mine. I did it to showcase my quick change.

 

I set up a Model A with the spring in front on an 8" Mustang rear by moving the rear cross member forward 8" and used a Model T spring. I used a 37 front wishbone turned around backwards, stiffened with flat bar inside and made my own mounting points similar to a 35-36 rear mount.

Issues were spring stiffness, u-bolt plates had to go on top to give clearance on the dropout. I had to heat and bend the rear flange down on each side to have enough clearance to get the shocks between the axle and the cross member. So far it seems to work after we added a couple extra leaves to the spring. Every Model T rear spring I have seen has one side or the other of the third leaf down broke and this is where a lot of the stiffness is lost.

 

Here are some pics of the rear end set up.