Hey fellas, I have a 51 shoebox ford that I want to lower about 4". I have 3" blocks out back and the front a arms have spacers good for an 1" drop, are there any reputable spindle, leaf combonations out there. Thanks.
is that an obsure beastie boys reference? haha Ive got a 51 too, and have checked into every option out there, and have lowered lots of things in the past (including a mini moke and a toyota crown!!) I dont think there is any value in the commercial drop spindles..they are WELDED and I dont trust other peoples Welding on my car,(i barely trust my own!!) full stop. To me that is never going to be as strong as an original ford forging...so FLIP your original spindles at the front (check rockys tech post on this in the TECH pages)and cut about 1 coil off your spring, and take the spring pocket spacers out..they are dumb and just take away spring travel,and look **** hanging down under the car. This will get the front way down,and you should still have a good two inches free travel before the bumpstops, which you can shorten an inch or so, just make sure you sand them back into a cone shape, squared off bump rubbers dont work!!(ask how i know). This will set a 15" tyre about halfway tucked under the gaurd lip...perfect. another thing ..fit a big fat sway bar.I had a 64 lincoln one and just tweaked it a bit and it worked great. its 22mm (about 7/8") the difference in handling AND ride is amazing,it isnt commonly mentioned, but sway bars also help in straightline ride control as well as around corners. Now the rear end...if you are retaining leaf springs...the issue on a 51 ford is not so much how low you can go...but can you still get the tyre off when you get a flat? 3 inch blocks are about the limit unfortuneately, but bigger blocks are scary to me anyway, and you run into the scrub line with stock spring hangers anyway. soo the best option is to move the spring hanger points up in relation to the body...the easiest way to do this is move them inboard of the frame rails BUT on a shoebox that will mean clearance problems with the fuel tank and spare wheel well. SO my idea is to "sink" the spring hangers straight up into the frame rails two inches and do the same for the bump rubber above the axle. simply put, this involves cutting a chunk out of the ch***is around the spring hangers, front and rear, and fabricating a "box" for them to sit in up into the depth of the original rail. if done properly with appropriate boxing this shouldnt compromise the rail strength at all. NOW..I havent done this yet...so it is conjecture, but Ive spent many hours staring at the rear of my shoebox, and believe this to be the best, safest solution to having a WAY low shoebox without bags... you can still retain your three inch blocks, so overall drop will be around five inches.the only down side is you will probably have to drop the shock off its lower mount to remove a wheel if you get a flat. OH and while you have the rear springs out..seperate the spring packs, clean and paint them, and stick that poly leaf stuff between the leaves and leave the shortest leaf out...I did this and got an inch drop instantly! Well that was a ramble wasnt it?! I actually just needed to write all that out to get it clear in my head what im doing to mine next week. DONE. good luck, and feel free to ask any questions ..
Wow Lowsquire that was a great reply! I was just wondering myself as I saw the ***le if he was referring to that Beastie Boys line too!! I see I'm not the only one!
I'll do a tech thread on the rear when i do it.my digicams all better now. ..and we're puttin it on wax...its the new style!... FOUR AND THREE AND TWO AND ONE..... getting carried away now, time to stick pauls boutique on the 1200s and spin it.
Depending on how crazy you wanna get with metal work I have a nice solution for slamming the back with no bags. I replaced my leafs with Durant mono-leafs and ******* bars, and put 3" blocks on top of that. All told should end up with close to 7" drop in the back. Now here is the tricky part. We stepped the frame (c-shaped boxes using 1/4" cold-rolled plate) nearly 8" from stock and replaced the bump stops, this gave me all my travel back. We just did the step today. Now we will be channelling the rear axle area 8" and tunnelling the floor as well. So there goes the back bench seat. Oh well, I plan on running mid 60's T-Bird buckets front and back anyways. Up front I am planning on Fat-Man drop spindles and steering arms with Jamco 3" dropped coils. This will give close to 6" in the front. This may mean notching the inner fender wells, we shall see. I will have pictures of the step if anybody is interested, It turned out pretty damn cool.
Here are some work in progress pics of my 50 after the 3 inch drop in front and 4 in the rear. I can still get another 2 or so with dropped spindles down the road but may have to go smaller than 235's. The 235 actually has plenty of room at this point. Rod http://s56.photobucket.com/albums/g195/RODMAN58/shoe%20box%20pics/
I will say if you want to save a money you can cut the coils and use blocks. I was really impressed with the parts (springs, coils, gas shocks and bushings) and quality of the jamco stuff. I really do want good handling out of this car and didn't want to clip it and could not afford to bag it. That's another day.
Easy way to get a good non life threatening result I find is blocks out back, no more than 3", spacers in front (maybe 1 cut coil too). I did it on my 51 and hopefully, if I get my new 51 this wk same route. What about removing a few leaves from the rear? That shouldnt affect removal of a flat tire anymore than it would be with just blocks no?
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