Technical '32 Suspension Question

I need to lift the rear of my little pickup about a 1/2" for a little more suspension travel, even a 1/4" would help. I'm running an original '32 Chassis, the original '32 rear spring crossmember with Posie '40 Ford front springs. Speedway sells a 1/4" arched spacer for a Model A rear spring, but I cant find one for a '32. Can I just make a 1/2 block and install it between the spring and crossmember or will it need to be arched to the shape of the spring?
Any advise would be great....

 

On a '32 the crossmember and spring are pretty flat for a few inches either side of the centerline in which case i'd suggest a simple block would be fine. Or you could shape the block to match. Aluminium or even hardwood would shape readily or cut easily enough in a bandsaw.

Chris

 

I made mine from 2 pieces of 1/4 or 3/8 steel. Then you can arch each piece easy with a hammer . Then weld the edges in a few spots to keep them together.

But you also need a bolt head at the top of the spacer to fit into the center hole of the crossmember, and you need a recessed hole on the underside of the spacer to sit on the spring pack bolt head.

Before I welded them together, I welded a bolt for the centerpin, from the underside of the top plate. Where I welded, was in a chamfered hole on the underside, and the chamfer is for a place for that weld. Then grind flush.

Then drill a hole on the lower plate to sit on your spring pack bolt, before welding both spacers together.
.

 

That pin/hole detail is really important.

 

What the last 2 post said, done it many times without and issues^^^^^^

 

Thanks for the input, I'll be doing that this weekend!

 

Why not just use a longer bolt and bolt the spacer to the leaf stack? Much simpler. drill a straight hole thru the spacer and put in the longer bolt, done. You can buy leaf spring spacers from most suppliers. Not a big deal to find.
SPark

 

The bottom of the rear crossmember is basically flat, the top of the spring has a slight curve. That is so you can adjust for any tilt the chassis might have by tightening one side or the other of the "U" bolts that hold the spring in place.
That is why flat spacer blocks would work just fine. The center bolt would have to pass through the whole stack, and key into the crossmember, to keep the spring centered in the crossmember.

 

To do it this way you have to take the spring apart. To do that in any kind of even halfway safe way you almost always have to have it off the car. Do what F&J said it works and is easy.

 

All you have to do is put a C-clamp on the spring stack on each side of the center bolt with enough room between them for your plates, remove the bolt, add the plates and longer bolt and tighten it back up. Not that big of a deal to me.
SPark

 

Just tough to do with it in the car. I tried it on my car and couldn't get it high enough to replace the bolt without taking most of my suspension apart. I just put a spacer on top of the spring. I've had a lot springs apart and I agree it's not a big deal, just harder to do on the car.