Alright guys, I am running a 33 chevy frame under my truck. It has the semi elliptical front springs. I plan on pulling the straight six and dropping a small block v-8. This, being my first 33 frame and first older build, is there no way to control camber on these front ends? I have not seen any pics of anyone else running this front end. Is there a reason? If anyone is running this front what modifications did you make and where did you mount your shock mounts?
Camber can be adjusted by tweaking the axle itself. Just make sure that the king pin bushings are OK and build your car. If it needs attention after all the weight is on board, a good heavy truck spring shop will be equipped to do the job. Most people ditch it for IFS because of the low eye appeal of parallel leafs. I've even seen one converted to transverse leaf to use all ford parts. Personally, I like a well done chevy leaf front end. Flipping the axle to the top is an instant drop. Underslung chassis are really neat, if you are brave enough to reengineer the whole car. For your setup, the easiest shock mount is to add a plate to the spring clamp with a shock stud or tabs. I did a complete chassis for one of these cars several years ago. The only dislike I have is that they are pretty flimsy. I boxed the rails from motor mounts to gas tank and it really stiffened it up. That customer wanted IFS, so we used a universal kit from heidts to make sure we could set castor and track the way we wanted. It was a full fendered car so it hid away really well. If open fendered, I would trick out the stock suspension. Nothing at all wrong with it and it is getting unusual these days.
i had the same front end under my 37 truck. I liked it and it was SUPER tough. Box the frame though. Camber should not be an issue as they are basically set from the factory. Watch the leaf sprong eye pins with the grease fittings though, those things wear on the inside and can break. I believe chevs of the 40s has replacement pins though.
I have a 35 Sedan I plan on keeping the leafs, have installed disk brakes because in 35 they were cable operated. You can weld on shock mounts and if you want it lowered send the axle to Sid at droppedaxles.com and have it dropped. Keep us updated Gary
I appreciate the information. I am only concerned about it because I want to drive it. Not to car shows and back or a 20 mile trip, but if I wanted to take a 300 mile trip on the highway at 60 miles an hour, I want to be able to... safely.
I'm currently driving a '31 Pontiac with stock parallel leafs using a dropped tubular axle. I run 60-70 MPH on the highway no problem.
Ditto to what rarerodder said, running a tube type axle it was mounted on top of the springs, but scrubline issues were there so now it's below the axle and a few leafs taken out, sits 2" higher, but no scubline issues. Hope to have it back out this week to see if it's an improvment on being above the axle.
I've got a 33 Chevy Coupe and it still has stock type leaf front but I have dropped axle and disk brakes on it and it drives well even at highway speeds and above. I put Jag rear suspension under the back and that made all the difference in the world on how it rides.
All early, pre 60 Chevy pick-ups ran parallel leaf springs as does my 55 and I run 70 to 80 without too much trouble. Speedway sells tapered shims to set rear end angles, you could try to use them between the spring and the axle to see if you want to spend the money to have the axle set up by a large truck spring and axle shop. I would have the axle camber set and not use shims full time as the spring will take an S shape due to the weight trying to bring the rearward slope of the axle to straight up.
The Jalopy Journal
