Hi, I'm thinking about swapping the front leaf spring on my model A in order to lower it a bit more, e. g. using a reverse eye spring. But I'm a bit confused tbh... Any help here is much appreciated. So the current one is 28" eye to eye which seams... uncommon? Can anyone help me identifiying it? I think a similar one with a reverse eye would be nice... The axle itself is 49" kingpin to kinpin, so probably a SuperBell tube axle. Also, is there a thumb rule on how much clearence is needed between the frame rails and the spring before having to notch them? Thanks a lot. Mario https://ibb.co/pdYxCkq https://ibb.co/17S3D6J https://ibb.co/jTysdzp
You can’t use reverse eyes or your spring will be hitting the clamp. You need to lower the axle. That is not a Superbell axle.
That main leaf is so flat you could probably just flip it 180 degrees without having to massage it back into shape, well maybe a little. There would also be adequate clearance so that the next leaf won't bump into the eye. I don't know what the clearance would be for a frame notch though it looks unnecessary. Edit: Upon a second look, I agree with Alchemy, there looks like there will be a lot of other interferences if you reverse the eyes, I would leave it alone or change out the axle with a deeper drop.
What exactly are you refering to? The highlighted clamp I got lasercut in several lengths and can adjust it to the required length in order to avoid any clashes. Thanks for the quick responses!
If you reverse the eyes, the main leaf will be right on top of the silver U-bolts for the steering stabilizer. They likely will hit when the car goes over bumps.
Drop the spring any lower and the middle spring clamp holding it to the crossmember will be touching the axle.
Axle is already too close to the crossmember. A dropped axle would be the simplest solution as already mentioned.
Mytea, How much lower are you looking for? I have Posie's springs in my Model A. Posies recommended removing leaves from the spring to get the ride high I wanted. Posies recommended removing leaf from the top side and placing back in the stack on the bottom, so that the spring pack will maintain the correct thickness for the U bolts. Good luck with project
The spring clamp looks rather flimsy and homemade. Already has some spacers in there under the spring. Actually the spring doesn’t look like it has many leaves to begin with. We need more pics and info.
Those shackles are too long for the spring. With the front suspension bearing full weight, the angle between the shackles and vertical should not be less than 45°.
in my opinion, there is not enough 'coverage' from the main spring to the next one up, IF you look closely, you will note that the long leaf is in fact bent there, which the second spring will dig into, heat it and snap it clean in two
Thanks for the feedback! I'd like to go as low as possible (cutting the grill would be ok with me...) @lostone no, smaller front tire is not an option at this point. Whats the reason for the 45° (apart from the risk that they might hit the axle) respectively what's the result of them being less that 45° under load? @gimpyshotrods Thanks, will keep an eye on that one @nobby about the travel, yea, that's what I've been thinking, too. But so far, it seems to work okay so far - at least I couldnt notice any issues. Thanks for letting me know your thoughts on the spring. Due to the missing "coverage" of the middle leaf, there is a load applied to the lowest leaf, leading to a weak point there that results in a slight bend... Here are some more pics as requested
The tension present in the system when the shackles are not slack is what keeps the front axle centered. Ford did move to slack shackles in later years, but added a Panhard bar. Your handling and steering could be somewhere between not that great, and remarkably awful, approaching dangerous.
The clearance for the spring clamp is probably why Ford axles have that nice curve in the center. Yours doesn’t.
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