Technical Help my 40 ford ride better?

My lowered 40 rides like shit. To be expected no doubt but I think I can make it better. The back is the worst!

I have a posies front lowering kit and rear spring/shock kit. I don’t think my shocks have ANY travel making the ride really bad when I hit certain numbs. Makes me cringe every time. It seems as though I need to make the shock travel longer? Any tips for how to do that? Here’s pictures of my set up.

when I push down on the back of the car, I get zero movement but I can lift it up and get movement.

 

To verify if bottoming out
If @ shocks have a cover , use / make a Tattletale around lower part of shock with Zip ties to see if bottoming out,
If overextending try what @Moriarity
Said ..
Also to teller your ride, you can move the spring packs leave's around or remove
On a 32 , I used the Poise main spring & pack ,
& then I played with Posie main & the Original leaves.
It was a Pain In A$$ , 4-5 in & out

 

Like moriarty said, likely the shocks are too long if no down travel but you can lift it up.

I’m surprised those upper shock mounts haven’t broken off.

 

Ahhh, now I can see it with these tired old eyes.

Hello,

The dark rear shock photo was difficult to see. But there is one hole longer to give you some movement. If that is not enough, the shocks may be too long anyway.

As far as the front end set up, no photo, but if it is a standard Posies unit, it should have everything made for what you ordered. The right length shocks, etc.

Our old 327 powered 1940 Ford Sedan Delivery had a lowered front end, but the shocks were the lever type and were easily replaced with tube shocks. That made the difference for us. Then a total replacement the suspension parts that were old and worn, plus perfect length tube shocks made the ride great.

Jnaki

The lowered front end handled well after our wheel/tire/alignment guy did his thing. The new shocks were the most noticeable of all of the repairs that were done. YRMV

 

Oh yeah inhad the shocks in the lower holes but had moved them up for testing and that’s when I took the photo! Usually they are mounted to the bottom hole.

Yes I think 4ish springs I moved to the bottom to lower the car more.

These shocks are pretty short. I’m Not sure they make a shorter shock that would be strong enough? How can I look at shocks? Anywhere online with specs?

I thought about extending the bracket to see what that does.

 

The front is usable and fine. It’s the back that I have issues with.

 

I would bet when he takes the shocks off it will drop the rear-end even more.

I would bet most of the weight on the rear of the car is being supported by the shocks vs the spring....

Look into empi shocks for a lowered vw and they are a lot cheaper than lowered "hot rod" shock and they would probably be about the right length AND they are oil and NOT gas charged which will make the ride softer too...

...

 

That car should ride like a 1997 chevy Silverado 2 wheel drive truck. I would put money I don’t even have that it’s your shock situation.

my rear springs settled a ton over the last decade and I ended up in a similar situation and ended up busting the upper mounts off.

I went back through the car and built taller upper mounts and switched the front to the Monroe 50 Plymouth shocks every body else runs and I was gob smacked at how much better it rode.

the Monroe website has a link to shocks by measurements I’ll see if I can find it later tonight and the shocks you will most likely end up wanting part number.

in the mean time I’d pull them and take a drive, and then I’d maybe rig a plate that bolts to your existing two holes and has a lower hole for a stud to mount the shock with it mid stroke. You need about 3” of compression available I think in the back to be sure it won’t bottom.

this probably gets your into your scrub line but if it’s just for a test drive it’s probably ok.

 

Lay under it while someone jumps up and down on the bumper to confirm bottoming. Might also be hitting the bump stops on the frame? Then disconnect the shocks at the lower mount, do it again and see what the actual suspension travel is.

Measure your current shock fully compressed and extended and then you’ll know the direction you need to go measurement wise. Probably need a couple inches less of length. I believe on Summits website you can search by length

 

Monroe 5752

 

Maybe put a couple of those leaves back in where they belong? Then the shocks may be short enough. Like said above, its probably sittin on the shocks instead of the spring.

Dave

 

Move the shocks down
If no better, yank em and cruise around the block.
That’ll tell ya if they are the problem

 

Have you been under it when somebody is pushing down on it? Step number one. See what’s hitting.

 

I would start by removing the shocks and see how it sits. If the stance is too low, add leaves to the top of the spring pack until it's the way you want it. Once you like the stance, measure the distance between the shock mounts, and find a shock that the middle of the travel matches your measurement.

 

As another crutch, using the shock mounted into the bottom shock mount hole and shifting around the spring pack to allow the spring to provide the suspension and ride height combo you're looking for, you could try moving the top shock mount inward...this will soften the shock action and allow the shocks to extend further in their neutral state.

When designing suspension, you need to have bump stops...and they need to be the suspension movement limiting device, before the shocks bottom out.

 

Understand that the springs support the weight, determines ride height etc. The shocks just control the rebounding undulations of the spring.

Disconnect the shock. Check the height to your liking. Do a bounce test. All good? If so, get shocks that will fit at somewhere near the middle of their travel on the existing mounting centers. It gets a bit more complicated if you can't sort it like that, eg changing shock mounts.

Chris

 

Common ruff ride things,are most often what some owner{ could be before you owned,have done wrong.>
Often it was done,do too some thing they desided to love,with out under standing they were loving some trendy crap= thing being done that were not done to hotrods in the 40s ,n 50,60's. 70's started get iffy n lazy in some cases.
Now and then it sticks out; like low side wall tires,too low with no fender space play left,springs too strong or not strong enough or not lubbed,shocks wrong;bottom out or not stiff enough or too stiff,tire PSI too high,wrong offset of rim used,adjustments out to lunch. Much of that stuff,an there is more,happens; as those doing it,don't read up n learn engineering{ They already know it all }

 

Those shackles look kind of long? With full weight of car on the spring, shouldn't they set at 45 degrees?

 

Did some investigating and experimenting. The shocks as they were definitely were riding completely collapsed. Upon removal, the car did not drop any more but they were at their fully compressed state. No good. After some measurements, the shocks had about 5.5” of travel.

I didn’t want to spend much on this so I made some brackets with some 3” flat bar. Holy shit, it’s like a new car. I’ve been putting this off for 18 months and it was such a simple fix.

In my area, most major intersections go from asphalt to concrete. Where the asphalt meets the concrete, it was always a bone chilling bump. Now it just glides over as it should. Like a 97 2nd Silverado, I spose…

Here’s the brackets I made. I will now take them off and clean them up and make them look good.

 

Ideally sitting static any tube shock should be right at the middl of it's travel. Then you have to figure out how much travel you have without a shock to decide the length of shock you need or where you ned to put your shock mounts to make things work.

In the past 60 years I have seen it both ways. Guys who lowered cars like the one the thread is about with shocks that were bottomed out from the get go and guys who jacked up their trucks to get the lifted look and topped out the shocks. Back in the 90's I worked on a truck that the guy who had lifted at home with blocks and it didn't ride worth squat and after he brought it to the shop where I worked at the time we figured out that he had had to put a bunch of weight in the back of the truck to compress the springs enough to get the shocks back on and then took the weight out. It wasn't hard to see that the shocks were topped out but a pain in the butt to get it back apart. The eyes of the the rear shocks were about 1-1/2 inchs above the studs when the shocks were stretched all the way out with the truck sitting on the shop floor.

 

Is the bottom of the shock below the scrub line?

 

If rear tire goes flat, will shock bracket hit the pavement?
Scrub line as suggested above.

 

I’ll double check. This may just be a temporary solution.

 

Alright. I took some magnets and a string to check clearance. The bottom of the bracket are basically dead even with the bottom of the rim. Too close for comfort? I still have about 1/4 - 1/2” of metal to grind off the bottom of the brackets to clean them up. That will give me say 1/2” clearance, if I ever completely lose a tire.

Went for another drive. I can’t believe how good it drives now. I’m in disbelief that such a small change can make such a difference (though I totally understand they why behind it…)

 

You should be good then. Probably good now as the tire rarely comes off the rim.

 

"Hell I have 1 car with double stacked lowering blocks..."...OMG Mark (@Moriarity )...and your not dead yet?!

 

This is from Nostalgia Sid's dropped axle site. Fairly easy to follow. Important to note that the front and rear scrub line goes downhill from one rim to the centre and then uphill to the opposite rim. It is the thicker line in the diagrams that makes a 'V'.