lowering blocks

hi there does anbody have any advice on lowering 49 chevy using leafspring and lowering blocks cheers

 

Fairly straightforward operation. You will need to buy or make some spacers for the spring perch and obtain or make some long "U" bolts. The spacer blocks will have to have a locating hole drilled in the side facing the spring for the spring center bolt to locate in and the upper side should have a bolt sticking up to locate the block in the spring perch. As for the depth or thickness of the blocks, kind of your call, but to retain any reasonable amount of ride comfort, probably shouldn't be more than 2 1/2".

Ray

 

Is it all stock with the torque tube still? i had problems lowering mine in the rear because all the blocks i found were too wide for the stock leaf. the leaf wanted to tuck inside the opening in the aluminum blocks...

 

De-arch the springs ...

 

You can easily make your own blocks. If your springs are 2" wide, then you could use 2"x2" square tubing or 2"x3" tubing or whatever. The key is finding the longer "U" bolts.

 

National Chevy ***ociation sells a kit with everything you need.

 

another thing to keep in mind is the pinion angle.. on my ch***is, lowering the rear 3" i had to raise the trans 3/4 " and had my machine shop cut a 3 degree angle into my blocks. by cuttin the angle into the blocks you eliminate the hazzards of stacking bloks on to angled shims therefore eliminating a possible weak link in your rear suspension .there is a formula and other great info on jagsthatrun.com . hope this helps

 

Jamco can get you the U-bolts in the length you need. Another note, any block longer than 3" will go past the scub line with 15 inch wheels. Not that big a deal, but some inspection stations will look at that. Trick is to raise the shock mount somehow on your bottom plate.

 

Use "fordcragar's" method. If you have a sheet metal place around you, just ask for "tow hitch" square stock. its stronger than normal square stock cause it has no seams. Take the stock and stand it on end. Being open in the middle it will leave room for your leaf bolt in the middle, and its narrow enough to not hang over the width of your leafs so your u bolts will fit like they should. Then just have the U bolts made. if you have to go on line for them try Mac's suspension in Highland ca. Me personally I would drop it down to your rubber stops. It will bounce but it looks cooler. Leave the rubber on even though it robs you of three inches cause metal to metal will get old after a while. The trick is getting the right combination of the lowering the front and rear to the right hight because lowering on counteracts the other like a see saw. So as you lower one you will be raising the other.

http://www.macsspring.com/home.aspx

 

does that car have 2" springs? I'd think they would be 1 3/4".......

 

Chevy ,s of the 40,s also as a kit

 

I went to the boneyard and found a 4WD SUV with a recently installed lift kit. The U-bolts were just the right length, and almost brand new.

 

Good suggestion for open driveline, but this would not apply to closed (torque tube) , though while not specified in OP, is what this car had when built. On Chevys with closed driveline the rear spring perchs have a built in "pivot" that allows articulation between the spring/perch and the axle housing

Also, Zombilly's post suggests using home made blocks from tubing and "putting the open end down".........NOT a good suggestion in ANY leaf spring application, as you really need to positively locate the spring and perch to one another. Thats why the spring center bolt "pilots" into the perch or crossmember (early ford) in ALL leaf spring mounts I can think of.

Ray

 

Ray, I agree with you on both points.

Use "fordcragar's" method. If you have a sheet metal place around you, just ask for "tow hitch" square stock. its stronger than normal square stock cause it has no seams. Take the stock and stand it on end. Being open in the middle it will leave room for your leaf bolt in the middle, and its narrow enough to not hang over the width of your leafs so your u bolts will fit like they should. Then just have the U bolts made. if you have to go on line for them try Mac's suspension in Highland ca. Me personally I would drop it down to your rubber stops. It will bounce but it looks cooler. Leave the rubber on even though it robs you of three inches cause metal to metal will get old after a while. The trick is getting the right combination of the lowering the front and rear to the right hight because lowering on counteracts the other like a see saw. So as you lower one you will be raising the other.

This kind of thinking is wat way off....

 

Get a three inch kit from Nightprowlers and de-arch the rear stock springs and you're done.