what tires will fit on standard 1938 ford Pu wheels ? I like white wall ones, but, they are high, i like low tires so that the car comes lower to the ground. How can i lowering the back of the car ?
I know its bad having a stock height car as Im scared of heights as well. I'm going 5-50 x16 Firestone on the front of my '36 roadster with stock width rims.Load rating will be fine @840 lbs.(420 Kilo) @32 p.s.i. per side. Funnily enough, 5.00 or 5.25 x 16 Firestones actually have a greater load rating at 1070Lbs. (535 kilo) @32 p.s.i. per side. The gap in the rear guards of your truck between tyre top and guard lip, I call 'guard- osis' It's a terrible disease but easily treated with a set of 7.50 x 16 Firestones, White or black, your call. My self, I'de go black.Get some Nissan Navara rims and weld them to your original wide 5 spider centres. They are made for each other and a perfect fit and are a safety rim to boot. Get your local spring man to flatten the springs a little and reverse the eyes, theres another 2 or so inches lower and make or get some longer shackle plates from Vern Tardell, theres another inch. Or go the whole hog and throw in a 4'' dropped axle or one from fellow H.A.M.B.er Sids Dropped Axles www.droppedaxles.com I think. Sid done an axle for my '37 Chevy and did a great job. He's in Oklahoma. Good luck, Hot-Rod Dude -Australia
I had 7.00x16" on 1939 wide five wheels and they were fine.. I can't remember if they were 3 1/2" or 4" wide rims.......
i remove the rear spring yesterday, can i remove some blades to lower the car ? you talk about'' turn the eyes'', when i turn the blade with the eyes 180 degrees, is there not a risk that this blade broke ? I also made longer shackles, how long are lowering shackles ? ( i made them by myself)
You don't flip the main leaf 180 degrees if that's what you mean, you have a spring shop heat and uncurl the spring eyes and recurl them the opposite direction.
Cool truck Do you have what looks like two spring sets (lumber truck springs)? You can get rid of the small stack that is on top of the main spring. Shackle should, when installed, have an angle to them. 45 degrees best, 30 degrees okay. If you make them too long they will hang almost straight down, then you will have sway. I used a drop axle and posie reverse in the back. It is a truck however and you don't have to lower it to be cool. I would actually like a little more height up front so I can get under the truck without jacking it up I went with NDT's. They were cheaper and looked truck like. Next set will be some vintage truck knobbies. Coker tire. Working on mine bit by bit.
Just went out and looked at the old spring on the truck. Removing the support leafs will do nothing to lower it. Ooops You can take out a few leafs though to get it down a an inch or two. Ford didn't skimp on springs on these trucks. Reversing and removing a few will get you the most. The posie I bought was a real nice setup.
No you really don't want to put low tires on that truck. Those look much better with high ones and compensating tires to make up for stance is not the way to go. Adjust your suspension first then pick the tire and wheel combo later. Use a traditional approach. Skinny high tires are all the rage.
I take a look in the parts book and i see that a rear spring have 12 leafs. the rear spring on my truck have 14! leafs. Wich ones can i remove ? (the short leafs on top or the long ones ?) here is a picture :
The wide 5 rims came in 3 1/2" and 4" width. The narrow ones were only used on '37-'39 cars that came with the 60 HP engine. 85 HP cars '36-'39, '39 Mercs, and '36-'39 pickups and panels got the more common 4" rims. The narrow rims came with 5.50 x 16 and the 4" rims came with 6.00 x 16 standard / 7.50 x 16 optional on pickups and panels. '36-'38 Lincoln Zephyrs also came with wide 5's, and I THINK (not certain) that the L-Z wheels may be wider, maybe 4 1/2". The hardest thing about using the old wide 5's is finding wheels that have all of the hubcap retainer clips intact, most have at least one broken off. Thanks for the heads up on the Nissan Navara rims fitting the Ford centers--is that Nissan model sold in the US, or is there something else from Nissan that uses the same wheels? I don't keep up much with late model stuff--is the Nissan Navara a pickup, SUV, or what?
You do flip the spring over. You reroll the whole spring to make the arch go the other way. There are some articles on here that show guys using a 2X4 and a press and mark the spring out every couple inches for spots to press. (do a search) I use a band roller I take soap stone and lay the spring on the floor and mark the arch, Then I put it in my band roller a roll it the opposite way to match the arch I have marked out on the floor. No heat is needed
I'd start, and this is me I'm not an expert, taking the top 3 out. Then every other... down a few. Top three gone... then 1 out, then save1, 1 out skip 2. Get it. That's about 2"s. Or start a thread called "how many leaf's can I remove". ***le will draw the people that have done it.
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