Just picked up a 55 Plymouth plaza with a ford 8" rear end and want to bring the rear end down alittle. Trying to avoid causing any damage to my drivetrain and wanted to pick the minds of you guys first. What are the largest blocks you guys would trust in a Plymouth of this vintage? 2"? 3"? After installing blocks, what should I look for if the ****** & drive shaft are being strained by the new angle? Does the 8" rear combined with a ford AOD make any difference at all when lowering or am I looking into it too much? I'm guessing it does. Thanks for the help guys!
we built 4 inch for my 52 Ply. we made them wider then the off the shelve units then made new u bolts
As long as the rear doesn't bind up or beat the frame to death , you should be fine . Just make sure the brake lines are long enough and free from hitting anything or the exhaust . Also get the correct length shocks too . Other than that , you should be good to go . Retro Jim
How much play is needed in the trans yoke? I guess I should check to see if I have enough play right now before the drop. What's the deal with buying proper length shocks? Do I want shocks that are just as many inches shorter than stock as my lowering blocks? If I use 3" blocks, should I buy shocks 3" shorter than stock? From manufacturers specs it looks as if the block are only a 1/4 inch skinnier than my rear springs. Is that a safe fit?
How low do need to go? 2" seems safe for most car's. Are the leafs springs original/arched/kinda flat/or sagging?
Make sure nothing (like the u bolts or lower shock mount) will hang lower than the wheel rim, in case you get a flat it's not good to have something dragging on the road. The driveshaft needs at least 1/2" more travel into the transmission as slack. 1/4" narrower than the springs..the blocks should work fine.
I'm running 3" blocks from Butch's cool stuff on my 40 Plymouth with a chrylser Coronet rear end under it..They work great.
Has a 68 ford 302 and early ford AOD trans in it now with a ford 8" rear. I slid under her lastnight and tried as hard as I could to get movement from the driveshaft. Nothing. Couldn't get it to budge. Also the nose of my aod was dripping type F fluid with the front of the car raised. Do I need a new seal? How hard is that to replace? Or is it normal to have alittle leak when the front is jacked up like that? What do you guys think? Thanks guys!
Read through the entire thread and didn't see this mentioned. Make sure that the drive shaft is not banging into the tunnel/floorboard. A common problem when lowering the rear of any car.
There should be an inch(@ least) of slack for the D/S to move forward as the rear axle moves up n down. You won't move it by hand!
how you tell if it is bottoming out in the ****** @ normal ride height is you undo the U Joint & sliding it in & out.
Shocks are only a problem when they don't mount to the lower spring plate. If the shock gets shorter with the blocks they could bottom out. I have used up to six inch blocks without problems
See I was told by a local speed shop (not autozone) that I should be able to manually get the DS to slide in and out of the ****** with some good old fashioned muscle and that I should have at least an inch of travel. How do I go about checking the angle of the driveline? Sorry for the cornucopia of question but I'm trying to avoid all possible consequences of not doing my homework before attempting to lower. Thank you gentleman!
Use one of these thing like the yello doodad on my intake manifold. its called an angle finder, I think I gave 2 oe 3 bucks for this one at a swap meet but they are less then 20 bucks new and if you are going to be playing with things they are a very important tool to own.
With the 4 wheels on blocks, normal ride height, you unbolt the U joint & can slide the yolk forward, with the D/S bolted to the axle it won't slide forward, just out if you were to jack the axle up or drop it down below ride height. Normal ride height & parked it will be as far forward as it'll go, exept if you backed over something it may push forward a bit, that's what you're basicly checking.
Read somewhere years ago that blocks longer than an inch(or was it 2?) wasn't a good idea from an engineering view, probably because of the pry bar effect on the springs.
^ I doubt I'll end up going more than 2" just to be safe. I'll have to get under there and make sure all the angles of the tailshaft, drive shaft, and pumpkin are all set. Is there an acceptable amount of degrees or tolerances everything should be in?
http://jniolon.clubfte.com/drivelinephasing/drivelinephasing.html Best explanation I've found on setting pinion angle, etc. Do it with the weight on the car wheels. i.e. put the wheels themselves on ramps, blocks, etc. and be safe. You can use jackstands on the rear axle. I use a Butch's 3" lowering block on my 54 Chevy with no problems.
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