I'd like to lower the front of my '49 F1 at least 4" or so. There's only about 2" from the axle to the bumpstop, so I'm su****ious of reverse-eye springs. What can I expect from a dropped axle, 3" or so? I suppose that I could run a dropped axle and reverse-eye springs, but it looks like I would have to notch the frame. What have you guys done to get 'er down low?
brian, i'm prolly not much help, but might save you (or someone else) a bit of grief. one of my friends ordered up a new set of reversed eye spring which were also "de-arched" in order to lower his '56 f-100. spent a lot of time and $ and the truck ended up about 2" higher than it was before. no one took into account the fact that 40 year old springs have sagged. anyway, keep this in mind if you order new springs. as for a dropped axle, check with elpolaco &/or tuck. i think they are both dropping f-1 axles. of course i'm prolly wrong about this last bit; my memory's not what it used to be. oh, yeah: on the dropped axle keep in mind that a "4 inch dropped axle" won't drop the vehicle 4 inches. if the factory axle had two inches of drop in it then the 4 inch dropped axle will only drop the vehicle 2 inches. so to figure out how much it will drop your truck you need to measure the drop in the original and the drop in the one you plan to use and take the difference. i don't know how much his truck is lowered from factory height, but check out AV8's truck. last i heard he is using the factory beam axle or a dropped axle and his truck sits dead nuts on the money.
Brian, I just thought of something -- Chopolds has an F-1 axle, spring, & disc brake setup that he's trying to sell. I'm not sure if the axle/springs were lowered, but it's worth PMing him. Ed
Thanks for the leads, guys. Good advice on the sagging springs, atch. Over on ford-trucks.com, there were a couple of posts on the possibility of flipping the front axle. Anyone ever seen that done?
F-1 axles reside under the leaf springs, so there is no possibility of using the lowing block technique- i think "flipping" the spring refers to changing this arrangement so that the axle is moved above the springs........i have known no one that has had success with doing this. Most of the stuff talked about above has refered to "traditional" lowering tech. in the F-1. stuff like reversing the eyes, de-arching springs, and dropped axles will all get that thing lower for sure- bare in mind this will not get you that "in the weeds" look without extreem measures in fabrication, and or a serious compromise in driveability. When using a dropped axle there are two major points to think about, and that is the scrub line and the tie-rod. the scrub line is basically where anypart of the undercarrage ends up in relation to the ground if -god forbid- you get a flat tire. if something like a extreem taffy pulled axle is touching the ground when that happens, lets hope we weren't actaually driving when we got the flat.(please forgive the above explanation if you already know what scrubline means- i also know it's on the trad rodders vocab list) the tie rod is another thing you gotta think about when lowering the F-1 cause the lower you go the closer that thing is gonna get to the oil pan. the smartest thing to do (imho) is lower the stearing arms on the spindles. (there is a definite technique to this that i won't go into here- see the Tardell/Bishop book) i know a few f-1/ f-100 owners that have had good luck using mustang II and volare front ends. gets the thing REAL low. something to think about as an alternative. see that 51 progress pics post that's on this page now, and talk to tiny or brewsir- those guys are geniuses! i'm sticking it out with trad. straight axle methods on mine, but i don't care if i'm that low- i know i'm still cool......=)
Hi,Iloweredmy old 51 F1 by getting a reverse eye leaf from a place in Minn.and put in a few other leafs also.Worked pretty good and lowered it close to 4 in.It would bottom out on a good bump but you could cut the stops down.Lowered the rear by reversing (flipping upside down)the part that bolts to the frame and to the shacles.Really lowered the back.The truck was stripped down with no fenders though or hood so it was a real light truck.
PM Elpolacko, he has what is needed to lower the F1 the right way and have safe steering and suspension. He can hook you up with a dropped axle of one of his own kits for installing a Dodge Dakota front suspension. Frank
1985 cutless wagon frt. clip, switched rear spring perches side to side, notched and shortened the frame (F-3, with F-1 fenders and running boards).
I've done both dropped axle and Volare. Volare is tthe way to go. Its cheap pretty easy to install power steering and disk brakes. Straight axles are no fun to drive trust me I commuted mine for about a year. Hey Justinm where the hell have you been? Did I mention F 1's are the new 32's.
hey does whats his name make dropped axles for 57 f-1's too??? hey what i did on my 57 was pull out the bump stops and pulled out some of the leafs. it lowered it about 2 inchs but i put flat bump stops and it bottems out easy.
I just did a F1 for my friend, I got almost 5.5 inches by relocating the axle ontop of the leaf pack, and reversing the eyes on the main leaf, tossing three leaves out, and notching the frame 3 inches. Also built a dropped center tie rod and a dropped steering rod, to correct any geometry/clearance issues. He just drove it 8 hours away and said it drove great with no bump steer. All this was done in one night, and for NO MONEY.
I dropped mine with reversed eye mono leafs. It took it down around 4 inches all the way around. I'm going to wait until I get the engine back in and front sheetmetal on and give it an eyeball before I think about going lower.
[ QUOTE ] Did I mention F 1's are the new 32's. [/ QUOTE ] Tiny did i mention you were a genius? i've been saying they're the new model a but close enough- great minds think alike............see ya at the SF dog and pony show? =)
I've seen your "IONIA" truck and it's one of my all-time favorites. What do you mean by swapping the rear hangers side-to-side.? Did you use the F-3 rear springs? I have a simular project I'm working on. Thanks.
My 50 with the Mustang II and four of the 10 leafs removed in the back I like the stance some like the rear lower Ed ke6bnl http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v313/ke6bnl/50F1.jpg
Here is a picture of my 48 F1. S10 subframe in front. took the first 3 leafs out of the rear springs.
Well, I pulled the old flathead 6 out yesterday, making room for the 460. For me to get this thing as low as I want, I'd have to C-notch/reinforce the frame for axle clearance. And that ain't a good idea with that heavy 460. I'm gonna have to go MII. I have the tubular control arms and 2" drop spindles on the A coupe. I'll use them as mock-up pieces. I'll make my own x-mem out of 2 X 4 X 3/16 tubing. oldbeet, What flavor x-mem did you use, and how much did it lower your truck? Do you happen to know the dim from LCA pivot to bottom of frame ( TCI is 3.75, Fatman's is 3.5")? Thanks, Brian
I'd like to amend my post above, buy adding that i was thinking only about the front axle. My F-1 has the rear axle above the leaf springs, so that I could go the lowering block route if i wanted. if you havn't already guessed, mine does not have the original engine or drive train. I'm not sure how the orgininal setup is, so you're results may vary...... Brian- if you're going to cut out the stock cross memeber that the petals bolt to, please make a nice clean job of if cause i'm sure there is someone here that would want to use it in a model a that they're stuffing a big auto-trans in. =) Ed ke6bnl i think the stance on yer truck is perfect- nice job.
M II is not the best way to go in my opinion. Volare is about the same weight and size vehicle and dam cheap. But thats just my opinion. I'm a cheap son of *****. Hey Justin are you taking your truck to the SF show?
Elpolacko (Industrial Ch***is) makes and sells a very slick, reasonably priced crossmember set up for those trucks that uses Dodge Dakota suspension. The advantage to this over using a p***enger car sub-frame is that you keep all of the stock mounting points for the front sheet metal, radiator, etc., you keep correct track width, and you end up with suspension meant for a truck. www.industrialch***isinc.com
I just bought a 51 F1 about a month ago for $800.00 with a 390 out of a 63-64 Galaxy 500. Clean little truck. I can't wait to start on it, but from what I can see lowering the front like I want is going to cost me probably more than I paid for the whole truck, lol. I have been throwing around the idea of trying to fab my own front axle, but I am not sure if I want to get into all of that or just get it drivable and worry about that later. I bought a coil for $17 and primed the carb and it fired right up with no smoke or anything. I think I really lucked out finding this little truck. I am already falling in love with it.
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