I mounted the rearaxle today under my '57 Chrysler after I've been painting the ch***is and underside of the car. I decided to put some 3" blocks between the axle and springs aswell, but noticed that I got into scrubline-territory rightaway with this mod. Even with the 15" wheels on the car right now. Now I will be mounting a pair of shocks with helper springs pretty soon, but that won't affect the the lower shockmount position to the ground ofcourse. But damnit this car needs to be low! Guess I'll either be lowering the car just 2" instead of 3, or perhaps look into bagging the rear orso.
I can see a accident waiting to happen. By the look of that first picture your U-bolts and your lower shock mounts extend below the rim. I'm not talking legalities here, but what happens when you have a blow out or your tire just goes flat? I hope it happens in your driveway not on the hi-way. If you keep this set up invest in some taller rims. IMO
Anything larger than a 15" wheel is not really an option for me, so I will most likely shave an inch of the blocks or just replace them with 2" blocks. I don't want to tempt faith with this setup. I could trim the U-bolts a little but that won't be of much help because of the low shockmount.
I was going to run 3" blocks on my falcon, but ran into the same problem as you. So, it now has 2" blocks. Norton
Shave the u-bolts and fab a new shock mount? How's it looking a bit further forward.....up there at the framerail? Tim D.
You might be in better shape if you had new springs or at least had those re-arched, of course that goes UP then with your 3" blocks you go back down... but the car will darn sure ride better.
screw the bolts, your frame rail looks to be below the wheel as well... i would argue even 2" ones wont be ok... so yeah, BAG THAT ****ER! lets not forget the 1" or so of rubber that will be left on the wheel unless you shred it off somehow... if you get a flat and pull over, you might be ok but most guys here wouldnt risk it..
tdoty, The frame to the front of the car is pretty much flat on the underside and is about 4-5" from the 'ground' if I should take a guess by looking at the pics. pasadena That's also why I'm going to use shocks with helper-springs around them, to compensate and increase the overal springrate again a little. The current leafsprings have seen better days indeed. Re-arching the springs won't do anything for the U-bolt height and such, but it will indeed give them some springrate back. It would help the scrubline I would install a differente springpackage with lesser leafs but with more springrate to compensate.
Lab, the shackles can't be flipped on this setup. The rear spring-eye bracket is too close to the floorboards for this.
Ahh, if you have a blow out just enjoy the sparks and say your "layin frame". Make sure to hang your hand out of the window with a thumbs up to allow everyone freaking out around you that its all good.
just another thought... you could always go old school and weld some casters down on the frame.. old lowrider trick taht worked if your hydraulics went downhill mid drive... the caster keeps you off frame and off scrub line.. you can get as low as you want then...
Man, I'm not sure, the scrubline is based on one tire going flat, you measure from the tread surface on one side to the rim +1" on the other side (they presume the tire will remain on the rim). Things can actually be below the rim and still clear the scrub line. Its close, but you may be OK. I wouldn't do it these days, the roads all seem to be ****, but back when I was younger and the roads were better, I might have run it the way it is. Gene
Yeah, bag it. so then a bag can blow and the exact same thing will happen only you'll be out more money.
This coming from a guy with a Slammed Merc in his avitar ... You think that Merc... Or any other Custom built car worried about a scrubline ? Or how about all the Bagged **** out there that "LAYS FRAME " ? You think any of that **** has a scrub line if they blow a Bag ? I would be WAYYYY more worried about blowing a Bag than a tire. But then, I wouldnt run Bags on Anything at my house.
I'm having a hard time telling from the pics but would it be possible to swap the brackets from side to side so the shock mount is above the mount instead of below? It also looks like the frame is just as low as the shock mount but I think that is an optical illusion. Whatever you decide, good luck.
That Merc is my daily driver (when it's not raining) and ya, I'm very aware of scrubline. I spent a lot of time picking out wheels and tires so I would not run in to any problems down the road (So to speak) And no, it's not bagged. I've had a flat tire or two over the years. One at 70mph. It's not fun.
Cut the excess u-bolt off at the nut, cut the shock mount off and weld it on top of the plate - looks like you may be good to go.
De Soto is right on the money. I run 2'' blocks with 15"s 237/75/15 on my '58 - looks fine and doesn't fall into the scrub line 'red zone'.
Mabe a 2.5" block w/ the Bolt's nubbed down a touch. Is it a big job to cut the trunk floor for the shackle's to come up through? Eaton make a custom spring pack for these car's?
It will be a combination of grinding the U-bolts and shaving the blocks I think. The ch***is will be raised up slightly by the springed shocks so that won't be the lowest point anymore, if it was. The shock-mounts are actually removable studs so if needed I could easily remove them and reposition them a little higher. 50dodge4x4, you have a point aswell ofcourse because the 'visable' scrubline only applies when all 4 tires were to become flat at once somehow. With only 1 tire flat or gone the car will be tilted and the scrubline will 'angle' away from the point of (outer) rim-contact with the road. Swapping plates is not that simple because of the stamped design of it. Weasel, the stance of your car looks good. Part of it is also because of the tires I think. Currently there's 235/60/15 under my '57 but I'm thinking of going with a higher tire to fill in the wheelwells a bit more. And some white walls of course.
Tire aspect ratio makes a big difference and using a higher aspect ratio allows the suspension to work as engineered - plenty of sidewall to cushion the ride. Shorter sidewalls tend to giver a stiffer ride. 2" blocks and 70-75 series tires should solved the problems and the beauty of these Mopars is that you can just crank on the torsion bars to balance the visual aspect of the ride once you have the rear end sorted. The 2" blocks should get your rear suspension above the scrub line. 235/60/15 are 26.1" diameter 235/70/15 are 28" diameter 235/75/15 are 28.9" diameter
Looks like you have BF Goodrich Radial T/A's on there? Weasel nailed it, go with 75 series and you're golden.
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