Technical Lowering the Rear - '57

Hi,

Last summer I lowered the rear end of my 57 Super Chief using 3" lowering blocks. It's not low enough. Other than bagging it, are there any other ways I could get the rear end lower? Maybe remove a leaf from the leaf spring, short shocks or I've seen some guys change to a 4-link. Any ideas and suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks.

Dave

 

De-arch the springs.

 

Pics

but I like dropped leafs/de-arched leafs, longer shackles if possible
Reversed eye springs

 

Reverse Eye the top leaf is dead easy with a BFH [and deaf neighbors]
Easier in a press
But the leaves cannot have the swage in them [mid 50's GM cars have this]



I made a spring arching press from junk that uses a bottle jack.


here I'm re-arching a trailer spring

 

Removing leaves eventually is going to cause the springs to sag down until there is no room left to sag. Re-arching /de-arching is the proper way to go if reversing the eyes isn't viable.

 

At some point the driveshaft will contact the floor pan. How much clearance do you have currently?

 

Thank you everyone. Sounds like de-arching the springs is the way to go. I've never heard of it before (rookie). I'll have to look into how it's done. The advice is appreciated.

 

With 3" lowering blocks, how far from the bump stops is the axle from hitting them now? You will need at least 2 1/2" to the stops for normal driving on our roads, or you will be bottoming out on every bump or pothole.

 

What's involved in reversing the eyes? Is it difficult? How much drop will it give me?
No worried about the trans contacting the floor. I can cut out and redo the tunnel.

 

What's the risk of taking out a leaf or two?