Geez, -the lowered blues.

I put 4 in. blocks in the rear of my '56 Cad & NOW I can't get the rear wheels off. What the hell is a guy to do?

I jacked up the body & the suspension was totally unloaded but I STILL couldn't do it. I have some crappy old bias-ply's on the car now, I would imagine it would be even more impossible with radial whites.

Lowering is COOL, but so is getting my rear wheels of the car. WTF?



Have never run into this problem before.

-r

 

With my 55 Olds, I have to jack the car up, disconnect the shock (installed shorter ones than stock), put a bottle jack between the chassis and rear, and jack the rear down to remove the tire.
One of those "The price you pay to be cool" things!

 

I have to use two 2x4's as a see-saw lever under the front bumper of my caddy to get the floor jack under the cross member...

 

Don't forget to let the air out of your tires before you try to remove them. I have the same problems on my '55.

 

The rear of my shoebox is so low I actually had to disconnect the leafs at the rear to drop the rear end low enough to get a tire off.

 

If it was easy, everyone would do it.

 

rear tires? why do you think they call em tail draggers?

 

i also put in 4 inch blocks in my comet and couldnt get the rear tire off. The 60s cars were a pain not even lowered. This is a reason why im a airbag guy now it may be alot more expensive to do bags but there are alot more advantages. The only way i got my tire off once was to deflate all the air and pull like a mother. ot take the lowerong block completly out and then put it back in. Hope this helped. nate

 

I used to jack up the truck, then disconnect the rear axle from the spring, then deflate the tire, and THEN I could JUST squeeze it out of the wheelwell. Reverse procedure for instalation.

 

Probably why '58-60 T-Birds had the really narrow rear axle. They were "lowered" from the factory and had miniscule skirts so they had a deep set axle so the wheel would clear the space between the drum and 1/4 panel.
You could do the same by going to a narrower rear end and deep set, but still narrow width rims to gain space to pull the wheel out.

 

That's why I run 3" blocks on the shoebox.... 4" = no tire removal...
What size rims are you running?
Sometimes the difference between 15's and 14's in the rear can make it where they will come out...
HC

 

OR, you could unbolt the body and raise it up.......

 

could always radius the fenderwells...

 

[ QUOTE ]
could always radius the fenderwells...

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That's what was in a lot of 'how-to's" starting in the mid to late fifties.
Definitly by the time "custom rims" instead of hub caps started appearing.

 

What about something like 2 in. blocks & dearched springs? Would the dearched springs "unload" enough to get the tire out.

If that doesn't work, I'll try the chopold's bottle jack trick or I'll let the air out of 'em.

Back to the trenches...

-r

 

I would think that dearching the springs may cost you a few bucks. I would go with air shocks. You can get a pair off ebay for dirt cheap. Thats what im going to be getting for my comet to i bag the back of it. I also have done the jack between the axle and frame and it does work with the tire delflated. Hope this helps. Nate

 

[ QUOTE ]
What size rims are you running?
Sometimes the difference between 15's and 14's in the rear can make it where they will come out...
HC

[/ QUOTE ]

that's exactly why I run little dipsy-doodle 14" Supremes with standard backspacing on the Galaxie, purchased after chassis modifications.
otherwise I'd need a Sawzall to change tires.

 

put a set of airbags on it and with a push of a button, up it comes to gain the necessary clearance.. Atleast that is how I get my rears of my wagon..

 

that's exactly why I run little dipsy-doodle 14" Supremes with standard backspacing on the Galaxie, purchased after chassis modifications.
otherwise I'd need a Sawzall to change tires.

[/ QUOTE ]

Foiled - what "chasis mods" are done to it??

 

damn, and i was just about to upgrade to some 4" blocks...

 

I remember seeing a Merc that was lowered without bags. The rear quarters were easily removable to change a wheel.

 

Would air shocks be helpfull in lifting the car up so you can access the tire?? I always wondered about that.

 

My shoebox is lowered (3" springs & 1" blocks) with 215R15 tires on 6" rims. I have to deflate the tire, unbolt the rim, pull the mounted tire out at the bottom and remove the brake drum. The tire will then pass between the fender well and the brakes after the drum is out of the way.

Vanity: guys lower their cars, women wear high heels.

 

collapse the tires with a VACUUM PUMP.