Hey, I'm a new guy and am not going to build a rod but will have to buy one for now (don't have the skills yet). As I look at different cars I notice some have the leaf spring in front of the axle and some have it behind the axle. Is there a preference as far as drivability? Safety? To me it looks better if the spring is behind the axle, but I think I've read that if you put it too far back other problems can occur (what??). Sorry for the basic and probably stupid questions..........
I can only speak for myself but when we have one "in the works" it really depends on the parts we've chosen to use in the build. Flower's roadster was built with as many stock Model A parts as we could possibly use off a "A" rolling ch***is, including the stock axle. Sometimes it depends on the "look" you are after which dictates how and where you mount the spring, whick type of steering you want and how low you want the ch***is. There are lots of good reasons for different configurations but at least here you'll find safe driveable cars rolling out of the H.A.M.B. shop doors. Search it and look around.
Ford installed the springs on top of the axle in the early years, then started putting the spring in front of the axle around '35. If the car originally had the spring on top, it's easy to get the car lower by moving it behind the axle and dropping the perches down.
The Jalopy Journal
