I'm planning to try and lower my Model A RPU in the near future, and I'm curious how many you think I should remove? It's a pretty stripped down RPU, no fenders, and the original banger engine. I probably won't ever haul more then 100 lbs in the bed, so I'm wondering how many leaf springs I should take out from the front and rear spring packs... I know the real answer will be to take out a few leaves and try it, because every car will be a little different, but I'm just looking for a good place to start..
I've currently got 6 in the rear of my pickup, haven't driven it yet and but it is pretty soft. I'm thinking seven is the lucky number.
Remove the odd numbered leaves, 3,5,7,9. When you get the stance and ride where you want them cut the removed leaves into a block which you can use under the spring so you'll still get good tight mounting with the lower plate up front and clip bars out back. You know the original 28-31 Roadster and Roadster Pickup rear springs are only 78 leaves and "flatter" (have a profile more like a T spring) than the regular Coupe or Sedan springs, yes?
I've got a leaf pack out of a '28 pickup originally, i had the main eye reversed and kept the longest four on the bottom, and the three next ones up i cut down to 12" long and put them underneath the four bottom ones. It puts the whole spring up an inch or so into the crossmember and uses the shortened ones as a spacer. Thats how it says to do it in the tardel book. I think my pack had 8 originally but the tardel book says for a roadster 7 is the right amount of leafs.
So it sounds like taking out 3 or 4 will do the trick- how low much did that lower the car? Thanks for the advice guys
I read in a couple of places that a "T" rear spring with 1 leaf removed will lower an "A" about 4" ( which works with a dropped axle in front to lower the whole car).I'm building an A coupe right now and was going to try this, but went in a different direction and "Z'd" the frame instead. Good Luck with the build. Mike from Mass.
I did a frame height rear step in mine, along with putting the top three leafs under the pack (7 leafs overall) and this is how it sits.. Granted by the time i put all the rest of it together it might go a little lower..
Original Model A Roadster spring pack is seven leaves, but not just any leaves. The part number and thickness for each leaf is engineered by Ford. Lowering a buggy spring Ford is not as simple as it may seem. The width at the desired ride height is what controls the lateral sway of the axles. where the arch is flattened out to lower the car, the main leaf must be shorter or the geometry of the shackles is unable to keep the axle from swinging like a porch swing and destabilizing the car. Poor suspension is the mark of a poorly done rod. Your choice. good Luck: Fred A
On my truck(31 closed cab) I have the rear stepped the widths of frame, hung the spring behind the rear, running a t spring with all the leaves(7 or 8) and 16" wheels and 750 tires ... That got me pretty damn low.. 3" clearance between tire and rear fender... Front has 4" dropped a axel, reverse eye spring, with 3 leaves removed, and 550 tires... Sits perfect, couldn't, and wouldn't want it any lower... If you plan on using a T spring, research it.. There are a few different leaf counts.. And I believe the eye to eye measurements are different...wider I believe.... Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
Mike, Is that with the original main leaf? Or a rev. eye main leaf? and was the T leaf mounted on the spring eyes at the same distance as the A spring? Thanks for any info. As I'm trying to figure this all out for my A. -Pat
How would you recommend lowering a Model A then? Is it safer to buy a spring with reversed eyes and go from there?
The T spring is much wider (eye to eye). In my opinion once spread correctly it would be very close to too wide for the axle... But I don't know original axle length so I'm not sure... I just set up speedways high arch A spring in my car and I think it's a good replacement. Only 5 leaves and spreads pretty short. My chassis is not stock so I can't give any real reference. Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
I removed about half the leaves from the front of my A. Its pretty much the same setup you've got. RPU, no fenders, no bumpers, original banger. It lowered the car about 3 inches or so and rides much much better. Now the suspension actually works when before the springs were too hard for the body to even budge them. Just make sure you keep the bottom leaf and the top leaf. All the rest are up for play.
Actually the roadster pickup used 10 rear spring leaves like the regular pickup. The roadster used 7 leaves. Regardless of what they used from the factory, I am running 7 leaves in the rear of my '31 roadster pickup and am happy with it. Charlie Stephens
Thanks- that's some good information. Did you reverse the eyes on the main springs, or just take out the others? I'm thinking of at least keeping the main leaf and the second longest along with the top one, and then start removing some of the others.
I did not reverse the eye. I know you can reverse the eyes by hand/press but I did the whole leaf removal job in about an hour and was on the road that afternoon. I still have to do the rear but its interesting to be able to see how much better the suspension works. I can watch the driver front tire while hitting bumps and not feeling them until the rear slams over them.
I know this is an Apples/Oranges comparison, but may provide a bit of insight as to the changes. On my 32 Tudor sedan, In the rear, I reversed the main leaf, then shortened the next so it didn't interfere with the spring eyes. The 3rd leaf was then removed, the 4th kept, then the 5th removed. Whatever was left was reinstalled, then a spacer made to make up the total stack. (All counted from the bottom.) When all done, this lowered the rear of the car 4", and made the suspension much more compliant. I also installed Gabriel Air Shocks in the rear in case I have to haul some fat folks around, ha ha
That sounds like what I'm going for... Perhaps reversing the eyes will drop it another 1" or so. Are you running shocks at all on your RPU? I'd love to see some pictures of it... Thanks for the advice Even if it is a different style, still some good info. I'm suprised that would droped it 4"... I think a '32 rear spring is much flatter then an A spring right?
Im running original crappy repop shocks that I pulled off another car for being bad. I filled them with 600w oil and they work good enough for me. Reversing the eye will drop it another inch. Theres a thread somewhere on here on how to do it by hand. I just don't like the reversed eyes because its easier to change the shackles on a standard leaf.
The stock spring and a modified original I bought at a swap meet. I put the top leaf with the tapers from the stock spring onto the modified one. It settled about an inch lower than this photo after driving.
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