1952-59 Ford Custom guys, What's the most I can drop the rear before I have to start raising the tranny tunnel

@guthriesmith and I discuss this a lot. His 56 sits low and my 55 is under the knife. I have added blocks to it and the wife keeps giving me the stink eye. She wants a tail dragger. It's just the 2 of us, but I am afraid of sawing the driveshaft in half.

You can read about it in detail here.
https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/the-mild-custom-transformation-mamas-55.1119265/page-10

I was thinking about C notching it to make her happy, but it's the other parts of the frame I worry about. Any done a drastic static drop on yours?

 

You know my thoughts. I would suspect that your new springs are stiffer than my worn out originals. So, I would suspect that you can get a away with being lower than mine without having the driveshaft contact the tunnel. And, mine really only hit with two adults and four kids in it hitting a big bump...

 

In most cases it has been 3" but some have done a wedge adjustment to the pinion and gained another 1.5",another solution was lowering the rear and adding air shocks to adjust the height when on the road and driving.

 

I sent Mama Root pics all weekend from CCR and I sent her Voodoo Larry's 55, which sits about like ours. She said "Looks stock". Ugh....

Jeff,B the rear end is loose, so I can set the pinion angle.

 

Just show Kim pics of her 55 before you took it apart to remind her what stock looks like.

 

She says, she knows it's lower, but unless it is sitting next to a stock one, no one will ever know we lowered it.
Anyone else have this problem with your wife?

It wasn't terrible before. The springs were wore smooth out. The front is what came down the most. The back is about the same, except now I have blocks. I may just have to C notch this booger.

 

You might be best served to sit it at a height where she is happy with it and then work from there . My guess is it will require some work to be done to the tunnel.

 

Prolly so.

 

Just coil and bag it so it looks like what she wants when she’s outside looking at it. When you drive it add enough air to keep it off the tunnel. If you need to cut, raise it start at the rear seat kick panel. Might need 2” right at the back. A good upholstery shop can fix the rear seat.

 

I had an OT Nova stock car, we dropped it so low, the entire tunnel had to come out. My dad who was 66 at the time, he went in and fabricated a new one for us. Not too pretty, but functional.

 

I would prefer not to cut the tunnel. I am looking at a half pipe C notch. Something I will have to round up the right diameter pipe for. One round on the chop saw and then cut that in half and you have your pair of C notches. I think for simplicity, I will run air shocks to make it where a guy could change a tire. I'll just have to plumb 12V to the trunk and have a little portable air compressor to add air, if needed.

 

One thought is that it will still be hard to change tires based on your tire size. When mine had 205/75/15’s, I had to jack it up by the frame and let the rearmed hang and still had to flatten the tires. Once I swapped to 670-15’s, they are skinny enough to slide up in without flattening them. The air shocks should help though. Maybe your axle is a little narrower than stock? Or, maybe the disc brakes give a little more clearance to get the wheels over than a drum would.

 

It’s hard to wrangle tires in the hole, even on the lift. The rear is the same width as the factory. I might be able to finesse the lip a bit, maybe trim it up a bit.

I just ordered 3” blocks to try. Maybe that will be enough. It only will be 1/2” more than I have now, but 4” is prolly not doable.

Eventually, I will have blocks in every size.

 

Is this the look she is after? Unfortunately, I have no info on it. It just comes up in a web search.

 

Looks good, but pretty sure that takes lots of cutting.

 

and bagging. But, I think you are spot on....she's gonna hafta compromise.

 

Well, I amended my original Speedway order and added a set of 3.50" blocks as well. Now I will have 2.5, 3.00, 3.5 and 4.0. I pretty much have the lowering block market cornered. We will get there, eventually.

 

That’s bagged for sure.

 

not sure if I missed it, but are you considering fitting skirts to the rear? It may help get the lower look without so much physical lowering

 

I am. She is on the cruiser skirt hunt right now. Lake pipes will help as well.

 

One guy I know converted his '57 Chevy from a race car to a quasi-street car. That had some big slicks on it. He made part of the rear quarters detachable, held on with Dzus fasteners. The slicks could be changes easily. Not pretty on a street car, just another option if you could hide the line under a trim piece.

 

My Mercury in the avatar is running 3" blocks in the rear and I am able to carry 4 adults with out the drive shaft rubbing or hitting. It is close to hitting and I know 4" would drop it to where I would have to modify the tunnel or it would hit on and off.

 

Kinda what I am thinking. I do have brand new leaf springs on mine, which helps.