My bone stock 1941 Plymouth 2 door sedan rides WAAAAY to high. How low and how can I lower it using the stock shock absorbers on it? Cut coils in the front (how many)? Lowering blocks in the rear on the leaf springs? Any help would be greatly appreciated!
This was my 1941 Plymouth Coupe, one coil was cut from the front end which dropped it about 2"and 2" lowering blocks installed between the rear spring pads and rear axle........you could go lower if wanted but this was enough for me..andyd
You can also drill out the rivets that hold the spring pocket to the bottom of the lower arm. Make a 1" spacer, bolt it back together, and voila, dropped front end with an easy change back to stock if you like. Also, may I suggest sourcing a good spring shop in your town? They can re-arch your rear springs to any height you want. Keeps your axle from getting too out of geometry if you intend to go super low with taller blocks.
I'm also looking to lower my stock 41 coupe. I'm going to cut 1 coil off the front springs and then put lowering blocks in the back. I'm going for a real early tail dragger kinda look with white wall crossply 600s and fender skirts. The cars black so I'm hoping it'll look quite mean when I'm done
I like this idea. Keeps everything where it's supposed to be and maintains the ride quality by using the factory length springs.
What it is doing is providing less spring preload, so the front A arms settle lower. It would be the same as a shorter spring with the same rate, or kind of like cutting some from the spring. If you have seen those sales aids for replacing your springs in repair shops, it shows why the stock suspension being lowered is why suspension parts and tires wear more 'lowered'. The arc of the upper and lower control arms are designed to be at a certain point in those arcs at ride height. Most of us understand this and are willing to sacrifice for the look. However, any mod that uses the stock components (upper and lower arms at stock mounting point and spindle/upright) and sits lower still does this. No free lunch here. You are also talking about a suspension that was designed for tall, narrow bias ply tires. Just like going with big wide tires, any change from stock will probably add stress. You can swap to a lowered upright (high stress, forged stuff, lots of cost and liability), move the pivot points of both a arms up on the chassis (High load again), or swap to a different suspension and mount it at the desired height (we aren't going to talk about this one). Have car enthusiasts done this before? All the time, but just be aware that camber, scrub radius and bump steer are all affected.
I think I can help here. Pictured is the front suspension that was removed from my 48 Plymouth coupe (the frame was rotted through junk, this suspension went on to live under another Plymouth). This suspension design was originally installed on Plymouths from 1939 to 1950 something. What you have may have slight differences, but it is pretty much the same stuff. This one happens to be the the left (drivers) side suspension. The "spring plate" these guys are talking about moving is the flat plate with the bump in the middle of the lower A frame, in the picture. The plate in this picture is in its original position and that plate is riveted to the the channel of the lower A frame below it with 4 rivets. The modification is that you cut off the heads of the rivets, remove the plate, rid the lower A frame of the rivet remains, flatten the outside edges and move the plate to under the A frame, and bolt it back up with the 1" spacers. That lowers the front suspension 1" if you add a 2" spacer between the plate and the lower A frame, you lower the front end the additional inch. Use grade 8 bolts and nuts. If you move the plate, you don't need to cut the coil spring. It is not advised that you lower the front suspension more then 2" total, 2" is a lot. If you look closely, you can also see that the factory shock is mounted between the upper control arm and the lower A frame. If you move that shock mount from the upper control arm and add a bracket so the top of the shock can be bolted to the frame rather then to the control arm, the car handling will improve, but the ride gets a bit more stiff.
correct me if i'm wrong, but it looks like moving that spring plate under the a arm will lower the spring aprox. 2". and that will lower the car aprox. 4".
My car is a -48 Dodge,but I think it looks pretty much like the suspension on a -41 Plymouth. Drop spindles and lowering blocks.
J. Hanson, that’s gotta be one of the best looking Dodge business coupes ever built. I admire it every time you post a picture of it…
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