OK my 56 has been held up off the tires by air shocks for ever however I tried to use a new set of airshocks (monroe not Hijackers) I needed to use extenstions on them howeveer it snaped the damn shock at the top.Maybe it has something to do with the angle however its got shackles but I still need to raise the damn car about 6 inches or more,without breaking the bank,IDEAS???
Flip the axle on the other side of the spring (the opposite of how everyone lowers their trucks) $12 for new spring pads and an afternoon of work.
X2 on that one I am sorry about my prior comment I didn't know it was a straight axle car. Mr gasket sells new perches
thought about that ,however then the ladder bars wont work and the spring wrapup would be serious when I get on it............I think
There is a Spring Place on Grant ( across the street from where the Harley Place used to be ), I'd ask them if they could put a little more arc in your springs. Adding leafs or using Wagon springs could work too, but that would raise the springrate a lot and that could mess up your ride and handling.
Ride? its really stiff now but I need to check on the re-ach,just thinkin its to much cash right now..........
i run lift shackles on the ranchero, it changes your pinion angle drastically though so you have to put new perches on the rear end.
my son was telling me about this the other day,remove springs,pull apart leaf pac,put main leaf in press use angle iron to bend the spring every 2" do the whole spring that way and you will be surprised how easy it will bend and re-arch,lay it on its side on the floor and draw the arch so you can make them both the same you dont need a super big press to do this ether
this is kinda where Im leaning now,maybe a combo of a couple of ideas.and yeah I gotta confirm the correct pinnion angle also..........
Just a idea,why not check with some of the 4-wheel drive shops,alot of the off-road companies make alot of different length shock applications,but it looks like adding leafs to the spring is the cheapest way to go.
change the shock location and use the air shocks without extenisons,but the best is a new set of springs with bigger arch a good spring shop can make you want you want
yeah springs are the best but $$ I dont have right now,the extenstions was really a bad idea cause of the angle.I am making them more straight up and down as there is a beam welded into the frame there.so something has to happen............the top pics are the height I need to be at and that was woth the old airshocks (hi jackers)
Why won't the ladder bars work? You'll maybe need to drop the front mount a bit. Coil springs on top of the axle works or get the leaf srpings arched. Firestone makes an air bag setup that's pretty cheap for leaf spring pickups that should also do the trick for you. Flipping the axle will get you about 3 inches BTW or the basic thickness of the axle tube +/-.
Contact St.Louis spring. They are super affordable and really fast. Ask them about adding leaves. Have you flipped the shackles yet? On my 59 Ford, I put a cheap floor jack on the spring(wheels strattling the leaves) then cranked on the jack so that it lifted on the frame. POP! The shackle pops down and I had at least 2 inches more height in the rear.
I think you should check on the price of getting the spring re-arched before you say its to exspensive.... a friend it done a while ago... and it was under $100 And it wont be a band aid, it will be an actual fix.
No, they will screw up what springs he has in a few miles and that may be the cause (or a big part) of the problem he is having now. Any of us where around in the 70's remember all of those jacked up cars with extended shackles and the springs ending up loosing all of their arch. Some scary sights when they go around corners too. The correct way to do it is to have a spring shop re-arch or rebuild the springs so they raise the car up where he wants it. To keep the look he has that is. Probably the truly correct thing is to narrow the axle and tub the thing. But it wouldn't have that stupid 70's look with the rear tires sticking out of the wheel wells like a 4x4 then and loose all of it's 70's flavor.
I had a 57 Chevy back in the late 70s that was lifted pretty radical with longer shackles out back. A lot of jacked up street machines had longer shackles to raise the rear. They (longer shackles) used to be sold by JC Whitney or your local auto parts store. I had heavy duty wagon coil springs up front.
COrrect to tub,yeah and look like POS 80s pro-street car that wouldnt track if it had to (had one!).as far as handle it is/was so stuff I had zero body roll in corners.So I guess I will keep that 70s "stupid" look on my car that was built in the 70s........thanks everybody for the input.and yes Im redoing it right and not just woth airshocks this time
shackles,new station wagon springs.7 leafs.i think? do you have the shock mount on the top that goes from frame rail to frame rail? or still bolt thru the trunk floor?
OK its got shackles (they might stay) and the shock mounts on the top are a cross member welded into the frame aligning with the bottom of the frame rails,and I gotta flip the bottom mounts Im sure to gain about three inches there,only thing in the floor is two access doors to reach the to of the shock
I belive i used 57 station wagon and got about 2in .back in late 60's early70's .wish i had that car back....damn
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