Technical My truck is WAY TOO low! What do I do now?

Being so low stock springs and a spring spacer comes to mind.

But the lack of torque tube, calls for a rod, link or something else to control the roll back and forth. As suggested above!

Any update?

 

Here is a pic during the build of the rear Panhard Bar. That rear ain't going no where.

 

This truck belongs to a good friend of mine . He's been driving the heck out it for several years on Pennsylvania and Ohio roads . Bill

 

That's not the problem, its the lack of an upper torque arm or arms to keep the rear end from breaking or bending the radius rods under acceleration or braking. The rotational load, not the side load. Picture a 4 link, without the upper links and the lower links attached solidly to the axle. The radius rods are going to break. Maybe not right away, but they will.

 

That's a great explanation of how to do it.
However -

The question is how far does the arch need to go up. And that question comes from your remarks here. And its 2 fold.

On the surface -
His spring is 2" too long eye to eye.
Let's say the normal spring when loaded is 30" eye to eye in a straight line with an arch of 3". The arc section is 30.75. Now squeeze 30.75 into 28" and the arch is around 7".

Problem is that spring is measured loaded and when unloaded there's not much of a way to guess at how far to rearch it, is there? It's not that simple as you say. Nor is it gonna work very well if the spring is too long.

These springs need to be preloaded to work correctly and measured correctly. Preloaded the designed amount too, if its 2" too long for the perches the spring has a snowballs chance in hell of ever working correctly. I guess if a snowball showed up in hell it would be just seeking attention anyway.

 

I cannot dispute what you say, cause I do it the hard way, seems everytime. I THINK its too long because it has reversed eyes, and has been somewhat flatten By putting the arc the opposite way and putting more arc in it, wouldn't that pre-load it..?

 

No, stretching it between the shackles is where the preload enters. You should have to collapse the free arch of the spring just to install it. Takes quite a bit of force to do that on a built up spring pack. And at that point, the shackles are pulled horizontal at 180 degrees.

That initial preload is where the load and spring rate are calculated from. If the preload is wrong then everything else is off too.

 

I agree, and after the re-arc is achieved the main leaf will have to be stretched to reach shackles. Won't the shackles be horizontal, and then as he
begins to stack the shorter ones.... won't the arc be come less and put the shackles at about a 45 degree angle?
what am I missing?

 

Just the original post .
Draw it up
How far does the arch move up ?

Oh yeah,
And how does that fix the spring being 2" too long

 

I don't know SHIT !!! Cows make Puddles, Goats make pebbles, and horses make turds,
they ALL eat grass: How can that happen..???.
I don't have any reliable info it is too long. Only a State Patrolman, who I respect, but doesn't really know.
... Just for the hell of it lets bend the main leaf in a V shape, and sit in on a I-Beam axle NOW how far are the ends from the shackles? Now bend it in a U shape, NOW how far are the ends from the shackles?
Now arc it, HOW far are the ends from shackles? Now put one end of it into shackles and push in the middle until you can put other end into shackle, should be tuff, now stack shorter leaves with similar arc on it, and build them up to your desired ride height.

As I said: I really don't know shit.. but I get by..

 

I'd think that on that truck you should be able to change the springs or rework the springs as needed after it is pretty well finished and close to going on the road. That may give you a better idea of what the rest of the weight is going to do as far as pushing down on the springs some more.

 

48stude.....That thing looks killer. What I was going for initially but found my own direction and look forward to getting it on the road.

 

Yea, was so low the cat converter heat shield scraped the ground at high speeds just from dips in the road, had to redo my exhaust with smaller diamater pipe and get rid of the converter. Tried to get sears to do an oil change on it and couldnt even get it past the concrete lip into the shop....that CAR was beat to hell underneath when I was dont with it, haha...dont ask what it was, it was an era I am not too proud of....

 

A cost effective way to bring it up some is to just put some stock springs under the front and back. You could probably find some cheap if you don't have your originals. Keep your posies if you want to drop it down again. Easy peasy, no re-arching or buying new things that dont fit. Just a thought.

 

My $.02-
Get the right length front spring from Posie's, without the reversed eye main leaf. If they say that'll raise your car 2" I'd take 'em at their word. You should be able to sell your present spring without much effort.
Raise the rear end a like amount with the proper arch spring. If it's the right length and your shackle angles are right, the panhard bar is unecessary.
If you find you still want to raise it more, you could install a front axle with less drop and put a spacer on top of the rear spring.
With a flattie and skinny bias plies you might get away with not running a torque arm. Check out El Polacko's Industrial Chassis website or his Photobucket pages, he makes a really nice tubular torque arm with a short vertical link at the front. That setup would be perfect for your truck, the suspension won't bind and you could thrash it daily without worrying about breaking the wishbones at the rear end housing.

 

Buying new things that don't fit.

Lighten the wallet and fill the shelves.

 

I've been down that road a few times

btw: that was not a bash on posie's I am running posie reverse eye on my truck currently.

 

Well I decided a new front spring was the best fix. Talked to the folks at Posies and they are making me one, however it may take 4-6 weeks as they said "most folks want to lower their vehicles" ha ha! Anyway, for a couple hundred bucks I get the correct spring and can keep moving forward......literally! Thanks for the input guys. As usual, the HAMB is the place for great suggestions. And Halfdozen, I'm gonna check out Polackos for the torque tube.

 

Let us know how it goes. I think the current stance is perfect, but to each his own. You could always replace the rear crossmember as well.

On a side note, what color are the wheels? I like that color of beige.

 

To see if your springs will sit right without having to install all those parts, you could put water in all those places you mentioned.

I have used 55 gallon drums, trashcans or those rubbermaid storage tubs. I like water (instead of sand bags or other weighty items) because I can let the garden hose do all the lifting. When you're done, simply siphon it back out.

One gallon equals 8.34 pounds.

Steel 55 gallon drums full of water weigh about 500 pounds, give or take a couple of pounds. Plastic 55gal. Drums are about 480#'s.

 

Here are a few pics I took yesterday. The stance may be correct but the fact still remains my spring unfortunately is 3" too long. The new spring will be the correct length and my shackles will actually function as designed. If you look close you will see the one side pic with the jack under front cross member lifting it 2". This 2" lift translates to just over 1" at the frame under cab which will give me just over 4" clearance.

 

If you think it is too low ad some arch to the springs. That is if you have leaf springs. That would be the easiest.

 

I took my '28 Model A Sedan out for it's maiden drive yesterday, drove it down one of the worst streets in town. I have 3" of clearance, took the bumps and potholes better than my '65 wagon.

 

Seems you have half one style and half the other. If you stick with a torque tube and those wishbones ok but with that driveshaft setup you need different bars(4 link). Right now that rearend will twist up and down.What I would have done was build it myself right from the beginning. You would have understood the whole concept better and could have saved enough money to buy some equipment to do it maybe.. Go buy a good chassis book and read it 6 times.Failing yourself is alot easier to overcome. Stop the cash bleeding,take a step back and handle it by yourself.May take a little longer but you will be far better off.