intro and lowering my 4` coupe
 

I don't know where on the site if people do intros Just wanted to say Hi. I finally have an old ford (41) at 50 years old. This is a good site and helped me when I was looking for a car. My 41 sits pretty high in the front probably not gonna do a dropped axle till spring but I heard you could remove every other leaf except the first 2 in the front and it will lower it a bit. I just wanted to find out if it will ride a little softer and if it will drop at all. Its a stock front end w/ a chevy drivetrain in it the wishbones were split when I bought it Thanks for any help

Re: intro and lowering my 4` coupe
 

Congrats! Great looking car!!

Re: intro and lowering my 4` coupe
 

Think you might be better with a reverse eye spring, don't think they are too expensive ( in the Us.) . The fun will be removing and replacing ...

Re: intro and lowering my 4` coupe
 

A reversed eye spring will lower the front end 1 inch. A 4 inch dropped axle will lower it 2 more inches. You will also need dropped steering arms. Removing spring leafs is the easiest way to go and cheapest.

Re: intro and lowering my 4` coupe
 

19 fordy probably gonna start w removing some leaves. if I do every other spring do I have to change the steering arms. also how much will it drop. It rides like a mack right now.

Re: intro and lowering my 4` coupe
 

thanks

Re: intro and lowering my 4` coupe
 

do not over tighen shackle bolts

Re: intro and lowering my 4` coupe
 

ok thanks

Re: intro and lowering my 4` coupe
 

You're asking for trouble (like loosing control in a turn) with a leaf spring that's been degraded that much. Wait and do it right with a dropped axle or reversed eye spring.

Re: intro and lowering my 4` coupe
 

Should be able to have one made at a spring shop for around $20.

Re: intro and lowering my 4` coupe
 

Agreed! $20.. you would get charged $20 just to walk into a shop over here, and a dollar every word after :rolleyes:

Re: intro and lowering my 4` coupe
 

I am kinda new to the straight axle game but how would this affect steering? I have no issue w getting a reverse eye spring but why is that safer. Thanks for the help.

Re: intro and lowering my 4` coupe
 

The leaf spring is engineered to provide stability from side to side as well as vertically. Sort of like the stability provided by an outrigger on a small boat. This keeps you from tipping over as the weight of the car shifts during a turn. If the spring is degraded, by removing leaves, you will loose that stability. I am speaking from experience.
PS. welcome to the forum.

Re: intro and lowering my 4` coupe
 

thanks 39 topless I appreciate it I

Re: intro and lowering my 4` coupe
 

I have a '41 Fordor and I run a reversed eye main leaf, every other leaf removed, radials in an otherwise stock front suspension.Key to "losing control" is a good steering box and a front sway bar in IMHO. Couple things I have discovered while experimenting with my '41 is stock front shocks are adjustable and you can "tune" the stiffness of the front. You have a Chevy drive train so I assume you mean parallel rear springs. I had no luck with gas shocks, too stiff. I went with hydraulics in the rear with a rear sway bar. I can cruise 75-80 on the highway all day and my '41 is extremely well behaved. I even took it around Watkins Glen racetrack couple weeks ago and was very comfortable with it's stability and even surprised seeing it's a fordor.Removing spring leaves is a cheap alternative to a dropped axle without contending with a steering arm issue ,just watch for proper tire clearance in fenders especially in a sharp turn

Re: intro and lowering my 4` coupe
 

Removing spring leaves is a very common practice to soften the ride on both cars and trucks! I have removed several on both the front and rear of my 33.

Re: intro and lowering my 4` coupe
 

the car has power gm power steering not sure which box it steers fine. it came with tube shocks in all 4 corners which are likely 30 years old I may start out by changing those first. tomorrow I am gonna take one off the front and one from the rear see if they are totally seized and drive the car around the block and see if the suspension is any more flexible. I found a reverse eye leaf on speedway for it also not expensive thanks again for the help everyone

Re: intro and lowering my 4` coupe
 

Looks good just like it is.[ old school\. easier cheaper and will drive better You do it your way. I did mine my way. good luck.

Re: intro and lowering my 4` coupe
 

Re: intro and lowering my 4` coupe
 

good morning my 46 rode like dump truck talk to posie spring told me to back off shackle bolts boy did that help:):):):)

Re: intro and lowering my 4` coupe
 

The dump truck ride is a good comparison. I am looking into the posies spring also thanks

Re: intro and lowering my 4` coupe
 

SID and Okie Joe both provide excellent dropped axles (the are two separate shops, but work together, each doing different years of axles). I have an Okie Joe axle in my current 33 5w. I have visited with both of them, great to work with.

Re: intro and lowering my 4` coupe
 

Just out of curiosity? what rear axle do you have? A heavy axle in the rear is the major cause of a harsh ride and there's very little you can do about it.

Re: intro and lowering my 4` coupe
 

I remember seeing that car for sale on CL was it on Long Island? Nice find.

Re: intro and lowering my 4` coupe
 

its a chevy 10 bolt with leafs

Re: intro and lowering my 4` coupe
 

yup 2 or 3 weeks ago

Re: intro and lowering my 4` coupe
 

Hope this isn't too far off the subject of the post but thought this may be of interest to you. I bought these "lowering shackles" on ebay (I think) and I installed them on a 40' sedan that I had at the time. They really lowered the front end but they destroyed the stability of the car. I removed these after the first test drive. The concept with these is, they are (like about twice) the length of a stock shackle and when installed, they take the tension out of the spring which results in the front end dropping about 4". I found that these are a really bad idea and I will not resell these to anyone.

Re: intro and lowering my 4` coupe
 

Those long shackles create a cradle for the chassis to swing in. A panhard bar is necessary to keep the axle centered to the spring and chassis.

Re: intro and lowering my 4` coupe
 

Like 40cpe said, longer shackles will only work with pan bars (or something equlivent) to locate the axles. Early Ford depended on the tension in the spring and the shackle geometry. Later Fords went to a setup with little to no static tension in the spring and used pan bars. Have to keep the type of setup in mind when making modifications.

Re: intro and lowering my 4` coupe
 

I'll pass on the shackles for now I'll do the reverse eye spring from speedway. Thanks to everyone for all the input.

Re: intro and lowering my 4` coupe
 

My ride was rough until I changed back to the original length shackles from short shackles. Seemed to let front suspension flex better. With a stock sway bar I don't have any problem with stability. If you don't have a front sway bar I recommend you try one. Makes all the difference in the world. Had no luck with sway bar and panhard bar. '41 sway bar operates sort with a panhard bar effect and with both they tended to operate against each other

Re: intro and lowering my 4` coupe
 

I found a reversed eye '40 ford main will fit a '41 spring pack. Found mine at Chassis Engineering

Re: intro and lowering my 4` coupe
 

JSeery, can you tell me a good place in Wichita that does reverse eye springs?

Thank you.

Re: intro and lowering my 4` coupe
 

Yep, Atlas Spring and Axle, they even advertise on the radio:

"If it's a spring, give us a ring, Atlas Spring"!!

4500 West Irving Street
Wichita, KS 67209-2693
(316) 943-2386
Monday-Friday: 7:30 - 5:30

I have been using them for years, really nice guy runs the spring shop. If you are having one made from scratch be sure you know the dimensions. They can reverse the eyes on your existing spring or make a new one. It would be best to at least take in your existing spring for a pattern for the curvature and eye to eye dimension.

Re: intro and lowering my 4` coupe
 

Ha! Thank you JSeery, I appreciate it.

Re: intro and lowering my 4` coupe
 

So I took the car out on the highway yesterday It does fine up till about 50 and then starts to wanna go to the left. I know I need shocks all around in a bad way. I was gonna check the king pins for wobble on my next day off. Also does anyone know if my tie rod ends are 11/16 or 5/8" threads. theyre cheap enough and I figure it could only help to replace them. thanks

Re: intro and lowering my 4` coupe
 

How are the tires and wheels? Those items really start to make a difference at 50 MPH. Getting those balanced would be cheap and a really good idea. Hope someone else can help with the tie-rod question.

Re: intro and lowering my 4` coupe
 

thanks I will give that a shot

Re: intro and lowering my 4` coupe
 

I'm sure they're 11/16 R & L

Re: intro and lowering my 4` coupe
 

thanks