42-48 ford slammed with straight axle

does anyone have any pictures or information of how they did it on lowering one of these era cars and still have the in the weeds stance and keep the straight axle without going ifs

 

are you serious?
maybe you are 16 years old?

 

Dropped axle with reversed eye springs for starters. Plus tires with a bit lower profile than the original ones. No photos but there are/were plenty of them around that were very low.

Manyolcars, I believe he means "I beam" axle an not necessarily a "straight" axle. A bit of a misnomer but lots of guys seem to call any solid front axle a "straight" axle.

 

You gotta have tires.
So buy small tires and get that much lowering for free.
Tell'em you want 1973 Volkswagon Bug tires
Next reverse the mainleaf so the eyes are on top.
Thats another inch and its also free.

 

i have a 40 ford front axle and spring to give me the narrower width for tire clearance and the spring im sending off to have the eyes reversed and take some leaves out

 

no im not, this is my first hot rod because im getting out of mustangs and into hot rods. ive searched and have found alot of pictures but there most of the times isnt a description on what is done just a picture. i dont know how to acheive this thats why im asking for help. i have a friend that introduced me to this sight and got me into hot rods, he is helping me with mine

 

Speedway Motors sells a front crossmember that will drop it another 3"...

 

thats what i was wanting to do but i cant find out enough about them or people thats used them. ive been told that i can modify the 4 bar set up from speedway for a 40 to work

 

The frame is too wide for a 4 bar, you'll hit it...

Go to the Posies website and look for the In da dirt kits, reverse eye spring, 4" drop axle, take 3 leaves off the top and put them under it and you'll be almost to the scrubline with 15" wheels...

 

Section the stock crossmembers they are both very deep and can afford to loose a few inches.

 

im on a budget thats kinda small right now. wont split bones hit the frame?

 

On a budget? Reversed eyes, homemade flattened front crossmember, split the wishbone and heat it so it bends out to the frame rails = as much drop as you want for minimal cost. You dont even need a dropped axle, building a new front crossmember (I said "building"... not buying) will give you as much drop as you can handle. Realistically, you probably only want 4-5" drop, any more and you'll be scrapin'.
Dont buy anything.... buying costs $$$$.... the way to a budget build is to do it yourself. Cant do it? Learn. That is the essence of traditional rodding!

 

ok when you say reverse the eyes on the spring are you saying to heat them and reverse them myself? and your saying split the bones to the outside of the frame rails?

 

hi go find street rodder magazine sep,2007 no welding no fuss drop a 37 to 40 ford hope will help you Welcome to the hot rod world

 

also order you a chassis enginerring catalog

 

well this is a subject close to my heart
I have a 48 Ford 3 window coupe, 4 inch dropped 41 axle, Posies indadirt reversed spring, chassis engineering raised front cross member, and am going to channel the bitch another 2 inches to get it down where a daily driver should be.

 

dang that sounds pretty low. im hoping that i can use the 40 ford axle and spring i have.

 

You don't say?!

 

if you heat the eyes to roll them the opposite way you'll murder the spring..... spring steel + heat is a no no , do a search on here i know theres a tech on reversing spring eyes, its not that big of a deal

 

if you can't use hat axle I'll be more than happy to buy it.....but I believe you'll be able to. Keep me in mind though if you decide not to use it.

 

You cant roll the eyes the opposite way, the spring steel will not handle it. What you can do is to re-arch the spring the opposite way, thus putting the eyes on top. If you do a search on here, you'll find thread on how to do this yourself for no cost.
The wishbone can be split by cutting the yoke off, then pie-cutting and welding the bones so they run to the frame rails. They could also be heated and bent to achieve the same thing.
I dont think you want to remove any leaves. The spring is already nearly 70 years old and has sagged some, plus the 47-48 is heavier than the 40.
The 47-48 front crossmember has huge depth , and reworking this is the no-cost way to as much drop as you want.

 

What have I been telling you Pie??????? I belive it's pretty much what has been stated here. I can't help if you don't listen.

 

i am listening i was trying to get a few pictures of cars that sat like want and how they acheived it.

 

Oh, no money... OK

The 42-48 wishbones have a jog "up" at the end that the '40's don't have... if you have the originals, you may want to go with them, just to get that jog...

Any limitations on what you are using for steering?

 

well sometime this week or next im going to get what i think is a 525 box out of a 66 or 67 chevy. thats what i have been recomended on using

 

I'm working on a 47 long door coupe for my daily driver. A friend hooked me up with a dropped axle for a 40, and I had a 40 spring. Put it all together using the 47 wishbone and it fit together pretty good. Had to squeeze the wishbone in slightly to get the axle pins in, other than that, just have to narrow the sway bar slightly so it all fits back together nicely.

 

here is the before

 

here is the after...both are with out the engine installed

 

This is my old 41. I had a 2 1/2" dropped axle, reverse eyed full leaf spring and 1" longer shackels. The axle was about 1" from the shortened bumpstops, so I would say it is about as low as you'll want to go. I did not split the wishbone, it all bolted right in.

Also had 6.00x16's on it....pretty big tire. I loved the look of the bigger tire, but a smaller tire will get it lower.

 

Actually, the 42-early 47 Fords have straight front wishbones.
The "dogleg" ones are used on Mercurys and late47-48 Fords.