On a mid 30's ford with the wheels turn full lock, with a 230 lb person standing on the p***. side front bumper irons and a 160 lb person on the p***. side running board. Should the fender lip bottom out on the tire? has 6.50 x 16 firestone on k/h wires. fender lip has damage from tire contact w the fender. What is needed to fix this? re-arch spring? Looking at old factory pictures it appears that the bottom edge of the running board is the center of the hubcaps height. this car sits lower than that more so in the the rear. all ideas welcome. Thanks
It sounds like tired springs. You might try adding leafs to stiffen them up, or put on new ones. Rearching I don't know much about. My thinking is that over time it would sag again if done that way. Then again maybe keeping people off the running boards while driving might be a cheaper option. The more centered that the load is would probably put less stress on things, seeing how they pivot down the centerline. Good luck!
Easy, do you drive with a lard*** on the bumper and one on the running board? Also, is the damage from a tire or is it the normal early Ford stress cracks?
A 6.50 is a bigger tire and will not help. What rear suspension do you have? A test is to jackup the front in the middle of the axle and try the test again. Measure how much a side drops. Then try the test again with the rear jacked up. You can find which end of the car is soft in roll. I would get smaller tires ;-)
I looked at the Coker tire website a 6.00 x 16 is only a very tiny amount shorter and narrower than 6.50. what tires do you recommend? The suspension is all stock ford. The fender damage is from the tire not the normal vibration cracking.
Is it doing it on both sides? If it is all stock, it should be fine. I suspect that the spring is not seated in the center of the crossmember or you have some other problem or damage. I believe the mid 30's Fords had bump stops to limit travel. Do you have them and are they OK. Need more input. (Number 5)