40 Ford suspension advice needed

Hello guys, MickeyC here. I am at the point where I need to make some decisions regarding the rear suspension on the 40 coupe I am trying to rebuild. The coupe currently has an original transverse front spring with a dropped axle. Out back is also a transverse original spring. The coupe has an early Olds rear axle with 65- 66 Chevy pickup trailing arms. The axle is secured with the original 1940 axle connecting pieces welded to the Olds rear. It is crude but does actually work well. The Chevy arms are stout
but quite bulky and take considerable space under the ch***is. I intend to install a 9 inch Ford axle. I need to know if the parallel spring ***embly
will work well with the transverse front spring? I may keep the transverse rear spring but switch to a ladder bar type ***embly such as Pete and Jakes or SO-Cal sells. Are these type ladder bars stout enough for fairly high power motor with a stick shift? Say 400 or so H.P. I am just trying to tidy up the underpinnings of the coupe and keep it simple and effective
as is reasonable. Thanks for any comments or tips. Mick.

 

I would think ladder bar setup from major companies would support 400+ hp. Any work on the 3w?

 

You have a couple options. You can replicate the set up you have by just changing rear axle with new brackets keeping the Chevy arms and cross spring. Or clean everything up with a ladder bar, and bracket setup, which is essentially the same configuration as the Chevy truck arms and same ride. Or go to a CE or Posie parallel rear spring set up. Up side to parallel leaf is ride improvement and elimination of some ch***is roll but Down side of the parallel rear is the tendency to wheel hop if you decide that you want to impress the troops. In any case the installation effort and expense is about the same for any of your choices.

 

Sure parallel rear leaf and transverse front will work together, lots of folks run that set up and it works quite well.

 

Excellent advice there from Mr. Spadaro. People have been putting parallel leaf setups under these cars for decades, even before the aftermarket addressed it. And yes they work just fine with the original style transverse front spring, much improving the issue of body roll. Wheel hop will definitely be an issue but it can be addressed with "******* bar" style traction bars to prevent spring wrap up and usually they don't look too obtrusive under the car especially if painted black.

 

Thanks for the reply guys. Can axle mounted ladder bars be used with parallel springs rather than ******* type bars.The thing about the Chevy bars is the condition of the bushings and whether or not I can find and replace them. I have not determined if they are worn or not, but would ***ume they may be. Also would removing a few leaves from the rear spring soften up the ride a bit, it is a little stiff. The rear spring is enclosed in a metal sheathing to retain grease. I think maybe an aftermarket spring
instead of modifying the original?

 

Bushings are readily available in rubber or polyurethane . You can dis***emble your rear spring and swap some of the leaves to the top of the pack, rendering them useless for function other than keeping your same spacing for your u-bolts.


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I am using a Ch***is Engineering parallel leaf rear set up and a transverse front spring in my '46 Ford wagon. I have about 35K with no major problems with the exception of the CE provided shocks. I changed over to Bilstein shocks. This set up will work great in your '40, it has been done many times.

 

I have the TCI rear parallel leaf set up under my 40 sedan delivery and a 460 HP crate motor from Edelbrock. The system works great and rides smoothly. As **** mentioned, if you have a heavy right foot, you will need some TractionMasters under the spring. You don't need the P&J style ladder bars.

 

I'm planning on using a Cal-Tracs set up on my '40 with parrallel rear springs. Nice ,tidy setup.

 

Ive had both parallel leafs and 40 style transverse in these cars and i'd do a transverse every time now with Pete & Jakes style ladder bars. This setup rides fine and with the right amount of leafs and reversing the eyes on the main leaf gives you a great stance
Wheel hop from the parallel leafs ****S unless you never intend to do a burnout (and then you might as well buy a new Impala or mini van) otherwise there fine and probably an easier installation. The Cal-Tracs are a good option to fix that but kinda pricey...Currently installing a new Johns 9" rear and Pete & Jakes ladder bars in my 36 with an original 40 transverse spring with reversed eyes. Gary