Ok I'm ready to lower my 32 fordor i have everything i need for the front my question is on the rear. the front will come down around 5". How low can i bring down the rear with stock rear end setup? Do i just reverse the spring eyes and pull a few leaf's what do you guys recommend? thanks, adam
You could reverse the eyes, but just flattening a bit might do it too. I slightly flattened the main and second leaf on a tudor and it sits about right. Could go lower for the "sinister" look, but there's only two inches between the axle and the bumpers. I think I removed one of the middle-ish leaves as well. I use 33-34 axle bumpers because they provide a bit more rubber to cushion the blow than the stock 1/2 inch thick 32's do. .
I cut and shut my rear xmember or 'raised' the centre about 4" that was after playing with what you had, so reversed eyes, and only 6 leaves in the spring pack. this photo while looks gastly will show you how flat my stock rear X member now is, it just allows me to run the fuel line over the rear x member like it should do. heres the stance of the car, few different photos as in time frame but all after the surgery was done.
There isn't six inches to "drop" on a stock 32 rear axle and frame. That would put the axle above the frame. There's really only about six inches travel stock. If he's got a full fendered fordor that he'll probably want to haul a passenger in, he WILL need a couple inches of travel. Or he will be sorry, and the guy in the backseat will be sore.
Many years ago I heated the arms for the spring eyes and bent them to hang down. I cut off the shock ear too.for shackle clearance. You must adjust the angle of the hole to match the curve angle of the stock spring. Its free and has lasted many years with no problems.{5 window with rumble} Dick
I did it the traditional way with 4" shackle plates. People will try to say that this causes severe body roll.... I had no such problem.
I am at this point also on mine. I am bringing my rear spring for my 3 window over to a major spring shop near me on Monday to see if they can dearch it some. He said it should not be a problem but he has not seen it either yet, as I have had them do this before but its been on all straight leaf springs not curved like the '32 so will see what happens. He says once he sees it will be a yes or no and about how much they can dearch it might not get the full 2-2 1/2 inches I would like so will see. I can lose a couple top leaves and little longer shackles for a little of it I would think beyond dearching. I really do not want to go the aftermarket route as they do not look period correct for what I'm building. So I would also like to here some other options.
my spring guy will reverse the spring eyes for $100.00 but he told me if i dearch it it will grow in length so this is why i posted the thread to see what people are doing.
What would he charge to build a new main leaf with reversed eyes and a bit less arch, maybe a bit shorter as well? I would hope you could get a whole new leaf for $100.
'my spring guy will reverse the spring eyes for $100.00 but he told me if i dearch it it will grow in length.' ocfab - guess I did not think that thru for a '32 spring as all the others I had done were 2 leaf cars where it did not matter if the shackles in rear sat at more of a angle. alchemy - Having a '32 spring made might not be as easy as it sounds because of the contour of the spring, I was also told just doing the bottom spring and not the rest will not work because of them being different shape the top 9 will pull it back up and possibly break at some point??
Same question, but on a '34 pickup. So the best solution is to get the reversed eye buggysprings, lengthen the shackles just a little, possibly remove a leaf and let tire rake do the rest? Did I get that right? Any other suggestions? Thanks.
If you plan to run the stock stuff simple have your spring eyes reversed and de-arched. Any good spring shop can do this for about 40 bucks. The spring shop should know how to re-roll the eyes, de-arch the spring and still maintain the correct spring eye distance. This will bring you car as low as you dare go and not hit the frame. We use a spring shop in El Monte. The Kennedy boys do this all the time. Posie also sells a new spring for your application.
if you buy a spring from posies be prepared for it to drop about 2 inches after a few hundred miles all his rear springs do it.
So how much i can lower it with C-notch Rear crossmember lowered 3" and spring 2,5".... makes 5,5 total...will be ok or to much? The front looks like: Axle 4"drop Spring- reversed eyes Crossmember 1" =total about 6" The car -32 roadster Wheels front 5,50x16 bias Firestone Wheels rear 7,00x 16 bias Firestone
I have had about six stock `32 frames, every one of them had bulges on the sides from the rear axle bottoming into them. So, in reality there is no room to lower the rear at all. If you want to get serious about lowering the rear end, take a look at the Bob McGee car. The cover of a late forties Hot Rod Magazine and notice the frame is cleanly "Z'd" to move up the rear axle. His may not have been the first, but it set the bar for all the well built `32s that followed. That car was "Z'd" so cleverly it's almost unnoticeable. You rarely see any photos of that chassis without the body on. There are several side view photos of it when Dick Scritchfield owned it that show the stance.
@ct1932ford I have made my own 32style crossmember lowered about 3" and the spring will be 2,5" I can order main leaf with and without reversed eyes so i can play a little bit + or - 1" The question is how far i can go and when C-notch will be not enough... @xix32 thank you for tips. I have found the picture of Bob McGee chassis. It looks like he used stock 32 crossmember and reversed eye spring..
There is still minimal clearance stock and any lowering/removing leaves will have it bottoming. My car is lowered some. I put some serious rubber bumpers on and it still hits the frame. My 3W rear spring was heated and the ends bent up. The frame was resting on the axle. A lot of frames had notches cut for clearance. I did that once but used some 1/2” thick pipe to try to retain some strength.
My Tudor had this done by the original builder many years ago. The ends were trimmed to shorten it. I forgot the exact difference in height, but it is 2 1/2 to 3 inches. They also used a 37 spring which lowered it another couple of inches. The spring had to be ground on the side to get it up in to the curve in the crossmember. It does not have reversed eyes which would give up another inch. This side shot will give you an idea of the comparison of the 7.00-16 tire in the wheel well and fender opening.
The McGee / Scritchfield car here shows the result of the nicely "Z'd" frame where the rear frame horns end up back in their original location relative to the front section of the frame. None of this shows in this finished side view of the car. Notice how high the tire is in the wheel well, with plenty of clearance between the axle housing and the frame. V8-m ( previous) posted the only known photos I have ever seen of the McGee chassis that shows this detail, but it is a distant shot that still leaves a lot of questions unanswered.
Not that anyone cares, but since I posted way back in ought ten, I have reworked the rear spring in my tudor. I dearched it a little more, and replaced the one leaf I took out during the initial build. Now it sits nice, but it is a bit firmer and never hits the bumpers except on extreme cases. I also replaced the bumpers with 48 Ford rear units, as they are softer and absorb the hit more than the 34 bumpers I initially used.
Thank you guys, It means there is no way to do it without changing the schape of the frame if Z or other form but anyway must be done. In case of 32 crossmember (spring behind the axle) it is even worse becouse the force measured on the notch will be bigger than on the spring over the axle (applied force+lenght of the arm).
No, it’s not. Haven’t bottomed out (yet). I can measure, but I remember having about 2” of clearance.
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