1947 Stylemaster/Sedan Delivery rear axle placement

I recently got my '47 Sedan Delivery back from the shop having a new rear end, trans, and driveshaft and I'm noticing that my rear wheels look a bit far forward. They aren't quite centered in the wheel well. At first I thought the shop must have made a big mistake, but after looking under the car and seeing that everything looks kosher with the leaf springs, as well as looking at some photos of the car BEFORE the recent job, it appears it was always that way.

Anyone have any experience with this? I've been looking at pictures of other '47 chevys trying to see the placement on the rear wheel. Some look kind of far forward like mine, others are centered nicely in the wheel well. Whats the deal??

 

Are you running the stock, closed driveline? Or did you switch to open driveshaft with the change?

 

I switched to an open driveshaft.

 

I'm still running closed drive, so my description might be a little off, but...

The old rear was not centered front to back on the leaf spring. When the new rear was installed it was centered on the spring.

You'll need to drill a mounting pin hole. I think it needs to move back about 3/4". Do a search on here. its been discussed before.

That's a beautiful sedan delivery, by the way.

 

I've noticed that too. In stock configuration, the wheels/tires were just a tad forward...but just a leeetle bit. tomcat46 it correct in saying that the original leaf-spring had the pin-hole forward of center...that's 'cause of the small pivot-bracket that mounted in between the spring and the axle, to keep the leaf-springs from binding against the solid torque-tube as the suspension moved up and down. When a later rear axle is installed directly to the original springs, a new locator-hole needs to be drilled. When you buy a spring/bracket kit from the aftermarket, this is already taken care of. But...if the installer centered the axle directly over the existing hole in the original leaf-springs, then it's been mounted too far forward.

 

Thanks very much for your help guys. So my next question is, is this brand new drive shaft going to become a very large, very expensive paperweight? Or will there be some way to "adjust" it if the rear end needs to move back a bit?

 

I helped a friend move the rear end in his 47 Chevy ... There are companies who make a plate to do this. He got his from Chassis Engineering. It also lowered the coupe a little more than 1 inch.

 

Mine is moved back 1", you shouldn't need a new drive shaft, do a search ALL the early Chevies were like that