Hey 1927Graham, that's a cool truck ! "avatar is 4 inches"...i'm a little slow, what's that mean ? avatar ? sorry to be so simple, new terms here . Turns out my oil pan drain plug is 3 3/4" from garage floor. no interior, no tank,etc. I'll be raising the engine and trans about 2 1/2-3" soon !
Pix. Pix. Pix. Avatar is the small pix above your location/handle/info on the left of each post. 4" is the minimum for most seasoned driver's. Pix of your car on the ground w/the wheel tire combo to be run.
too low is when you your oil drain plug spins off, twice, on cruise in area with rolling hills - did happen
Man, years ago we hit a police dog in a buddies Olds. Dog came outta no-where running across the street, got lodged under the front crossmember for about half a block, we had thought it was a near miss till we stopped at the next night, and this dog took off like a shot from under the car, poor bastard. I think he was ok, but probably lost some hide. Funny thing is, we were those guys, you know the ones, "known to police"? My buddies mom worked in corrections and used to listen to her scanner to keep track of what we were up to, she came looking for us (small town in those days) and told us we'd hit a police dog.
From the bottom of the cab to trailer is about 4 1/2". Oil pan is 3 3/4. Frame under cab is even with bottom of cab. Thanks again to all who reply to my posts !
Been running cars w/ 3" of ground clearance in front, cross member , Axel, or bodywork on 3 different rides and not had any real problems yet, for 15 years, all 3 of these violate the scrub rule, which might bite me in the ass someday. You do have to be careful, steep driveways, speed bumps , etc, luckily roads here in Wi. Are pretty good for the most part, do not know if this answered your question, Ideally, air bags are the answer, IMO, cruise at safer height and lay it down for show and show cruising.
4" that far back from the front axle centerline is too low IF that is the lowest part of the car. If the rails are lower you will be fine.
"that far back" is why I wanted to see a picture...I figured it might be a problem, or might not, depending on how far back the engine was from the axle.
I had a static dropped 60 chevy and the front crossmember was 2 to 3 inches from the ground. Scrubbed every driveway and pothole (Buffalo NY!). Jarred my teeth a few times.
The problem with a dropped car is usually not the front cross member it is in the middle. the longer the car the bigger the problem. I remember guys putting castors on the rear bumper on their early '60s cars because they had so much overhang in the rear you really couldn't get them into a driveway without dragging the bumper. On an older rod the problem is seldom the front or the rear as they seldom have much of any overhang it is almost always in the middle. Something to think about is that it is not just chug holes and speed bumps that are the problem. When you drive one that is low slung you have to watch for debris in the road, you can't straddle anything at all like you can in your stick late model pickup truck. I remember back in the '90s for a while I was driving that low slung late model pickup, the front was low enough that I backing into parking places so as to knot screw my bumper up on parking stops or curbs. We were boogying across South Colorado and we saw what looked like a 12 pack in the road, I started to straddle it and the missus hollars, "Bumper!!!!! "I swerved around it then we went back to get it. A cinder block was inside and not beer like we had hoped.
When I was a teenager we had a Chevelle that was lowered so much I could roll a pop bottle down the road. This is pre-airbag era. Just cut springs. I knew how to drive it and never had any problems other than sparks now and then. But one day my little brother was driving it and hit a tall manhole lid. He tweeked the front of the frame bad enough it needed to be put on the rack for straightening. It's all in how careful you are. Some practice and care and you'll never hit a thing with it.
And it depends where you drive it. If you keep it around on familiar roads you'll find out where all the bumps and grooves are that you need to avoid!
4" is like living in the clouds.. I'm 2.5" ground clearance off my frame and body.. Lowest part of my car is my frame by 1/8" then body. Oil pan and trans is above this by 3/4" I have no real issues. Car was designed to be a giant skid plate basically... You will drag frame pulling in and out of some gas stations.. 4" would be like owning a new OT high dollar sports car or something. Beaner has rolled low and knows all the in's and out's like I do.. You have to watch everything. .I know some guys with the bugs that run about 1.5" off the ground, and Its insane... What's your frame height off the ground?
I put 3" drop spindles in a C10 a few weeks ago. With shorter 15" wheels on the truck the lower control arms were 3" from the ground. I drove the truck 45 miles before giving it back to the customer after the alignment. All of the paint was off the lower side leading edge of the lower control arms before he got it back. The largest issue I had was intersections around here where there are ruts in the pavement from the dump trucks sitting at stop lights. I would have to ride the center of the lain any time I saw ruts or it would scrape. I never had a issue at cruising speed always going slow...
I took the 52 Buick in my avatar on a west coast trip this summer. The previous owner had it sitting very low in the front (front cross member about 4" off the ground) making it tough to enter some drives and continually watching for the speed bumps. Drug the front bumper or scraped the frame several times and made for a nervous trip. When I got home the first thing I did was order new front springs and put them in. Hoping it will settle down some and it is not as "cool" looking but sure is easier to drive. They are not as much fun if you can't drive them, at least to me.
When you knock the drain plug out of the oil pan it's too low,then you repair it and then take a page from the 4 wheel drive guys and add a skid plate! HRP
If you use magnesium for your skid plate you can say you learned it from the low rider guys. There are things that can be done to give you the illusion of being low. For example fenders on a square bodied car like and A or a deuce, or leaving the running boards on a pickup truck.
Wow ! I never expected all the great comments since I started this topic. Just an FYI , since I was last on here I have put in a new front standard eye spring from posies, and started to crank up the coil overs in the rear. Raised it up enough that I will likely leave it there , maybe 4 1/2 clearance at low point . Will be some work to raise engine/trans due to having to change floor/tunnel ! I really appreciate all the input, and I think I can learn to drive a lowww car ! BTW, my oil pan does have a "skid" of sorts. When the engine was getting done, discovered pin holes in the pan. Had my welder buddy tig an 1/8 "scab" on the bottom of the pan. So I got that going for me ! LOL
The back of my Belair is adjustable, but the front is static and a tad less than 3 inches at the front cross member. If I have another adult in the front seat, she can put the hurt on some city titties Hosted on Fotki
Too low is not being able to steer it if you have a flat on the front tires. Don't want axle doing the steering.
LOL I had a car that sat so low once that my butt made sparks when you hit a bump. Maybe the simplest answer to the question can be applied to a lot of things that we do to our cars, chop, channel ride height, is this. When it is no longer any fun to drive it then it is too insert questionable aspect here .
Changing out my springs and possibly shocks tomorrow. Will definitely be keeping this thread in mind...
I just got my front end set up, for a second time, and when I put my grill on my truck I was worried it was to low. It measured just over 4 1/2". When everything is on the truck it sits at 4". The first part to hit will be the grill shell. I am still thinking I might raise it.
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