Motion Pictures 32 pick up sits to high with 37 spring HELP!

Just got it on four wheels with bed and fenders sits to high. Would like to lower 3 or 4 inches. Has 37 crossmember and car spring, 36 bones.Going to add top bars to bones to make ladder bars. might want to pull bones in side frame? Ive heard of using a front spring in back? A reversed eye spring and taller rearend mounting plates may work. Any way to mount shocks and not use the heavy brackets under the rear? Thanks for your help Pete.

 

One approach is to modify the rear crossmember. You can either build your own or flatten the current one.

 

You can take a few leafs out of the spring, or take it down and have the****embly de-arched. 3-4 inches is a lot to get out of that set-up though.

 

Cut and flatten like this.. although probably not quite this much.



Brian

 

Pete, did you build that center crossmember yourself, or is a gennie 32?

I agree, flatten the rear crossmember to bring it down in the rear.

 

I was thinking exactly this then realised you'd already said it.
You could mock up taller plates by sort of spacing the existing plates up from the bones, maybe using some strips of scrap.

If you think ahead, you could design a plate that fits the bone, offsets the axle up a couple of inches and incorporates the upper attachment for the traction bar setup you mention (basically a torque arm)
Reverse the eyes, and maybe remove a leaf or two, but once up and running it will probably settle a further inch or so after driving a few months or a year.

It's a neat setup, no need for massive changes.

Mart.

 

I'd start by de-tuneing the spring before I modified the crossmember. There is a big difference in the rear weight of an empty Deuce P/U and an empty 37 coupe or sedan. You don't want it to ride like a truck, do you?

My Deuce roadster has the same later modle crossmember and spring in it as yours. It came that way so I don't know how many leaves it has. I did make 4" shackle plates that got mine down 2 more inches where I wanted it. The later model crossmember remains unchanged.



You said fenders so be careful about getting too extreme.



This is the same car before the 4" shackles. It was definately too high.

I have found that the first 2 or 3 short leaves can be removed with a spacer matching their thickness installed under the spring pack so that the Ubolts and clamps still work. You can get 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch right there while improving the ride. I like to keep it a tad high until everything is on the truck. If it is still way too high then you can still break out the fire wrench.

Lots of ways to do it.

 

Don't do anything until you have all the weight on it. Bare rollers sit high.