I am using an 8" rear for this 29 coupe build and the previous owner welded the spring hanger to inward. First question is how far out do you guys weld these in? and would you try to save these cutting them out of just grab some new ones?
That's not good, no room for the shackle to swing. Here's a pic of the hanger I made and took this pic while comtemplating using a hanger cut off of my 53 Chevy. Either one would have worked fine. I think I remember Model A spring needs perches welded in to 48" eye to eye.
Yeah they are way to inward. Just trying to figure out how I can cut these out so they are reusable. 48" sounds familiar now that you stated that measurement.
If I was going to do that, I'd grind the weld down as best as I could with out touching the axle or bracket. Then I'd get a full length hack saw blade in a air powered body saw and cut it off. Let the blade ride the tube parallel, and cut the bracket.
Use a cut off wheel and grind the weld out. It will leave you with a nice beveled edge to weld it back on with. You may not be able to get the area under the shackel hole but if the rest is ground out enough you should be able to break the last little bit of weld with a hammer.
If the existing hangers are nicely done, you could have a spring shop build a narrower main leaf, or re-roll the spring eyes on the existing spring..
Do what Hank said; score through the center of the welds on both sides. Then a moderate whack from each side will crack those brittle welds very easily.
Before you reweld those brackets on the rearend be sure you are doing so at the correct eye to eye dimension as a stock Model A. When correctly mounted the spring is under tension and the shackle bars are horizontal with no weight on the spring. When the ch***is weight is on the shackle bars drop to about a 45* angle. This problem you have is common on cars being built by newbies as they don't know that pre-42 Fords have the springs mounted in tension and require a spring spreader to mount and dismount them.
Nice idea for a spreader! I have one but it was made for a stock rear so I will need to modify it to fit over the pumpkin of mine.
Well I used a cut off wheel and notched the welds best I could. Couldn't get the wheel in every where. BFH did the rest. Bent the hangers a bit but i can fix that. What I did notice is that under each hanger it was totally rusted! The previous guy didn't bother cleaning things up before he welded things together. Now I am glad he put them in the wrong location!
The correct spread eye for eye for the Model A Ford rear spring perches is 49.5". For those of using the Model T rear spring that dimension is 48.5". In either case when the spring is spread and shackles installed the shackle bars will be parallel with the ground. When the load of frame etc. is dropped on the spring the shackle bars will drop to something between 30-45* which is just fine.
Thanks for that measurement pasadenahotrod. I should also have my rear positioned 3 degrees up as well correct?
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